Associate Director of Academic Advising & Academic Services

University of Chicago•Chicago, IL

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy is seeking an Associate Director for Academic Advising to join the Harris Student Affairs Dean of Students Office. This role reports to the Associate Dean of Students: Academic Services and Advising and will be responsible for advising master’s students in public policy. The position is part of a team of academic advisors and will manage a caseload of 115-150 advisees. A key focus of this role will be supporting students with documented disabilities, which includes planning testing environments, collaborating with faculty on academic accommodations, and assisting with pre-orientation planning for incoming students with disabilities. The Associate Director will play an integral part in helping students achieve their academic and personal goals and will contribute to initiatives that enhance the overall student experience at Harris, working within a collaborative, high-performing, and student-focused team.

Requirements

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree
Master’s degree
Degree in public policy, student development, student affairs, higher education, counseling, or similar
Academic advising experience strongly preferred
Familiarity with academic information systems and database systems
Familiarity with higher education environment strongly preferred
Interest in working in a student facing, high touch environment
Student-centered approach and willingness to go the extra mile for students
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Strong organization and project management skills
Detail oriented
Professional demeanor, including tact, discretion, and a customer-service oriented approach to the job required
Ability to quickly garner credibility with students and faculty
Ability to problem solve with minimal supervision, exercise good judgment, prioritize, and work under pressure during high volume times
Demonstrated ability to review and prioritize work in order to take appropriate actions without advanced approval, ensuring close attention to detail
Ability to work collegially and collaboratively in a team setting
Ability to work in an open office environment
Knowledge of and eagerness to root work in student development theory and best practices
Experience updating websites preferred.
Ability to operate Microsoft Word, Excel, the internet and email at the intermediate level.

Responsibilities

Serve as Academic Advisor to 115-150 master’s students
Serve as first point of contact for all needs for assigned advisees.
Learn essentials of financial aid, billing, registration, and campus services to best assist students
Conduct intake advising meetings with all advisees at the beginning of the year
Keep accurate advising notes in a database/CRM system (Salesforce)
Monitor each student’s progress toward degree completion, intervening appropriately as needed
Conduct accurate graduation degree audits for all advisees
Gain expertise about Harris curriculum and courses in other divisions at the University to best guide student course selection
Collaborate with other student-facing offices to best understand programmatic and career opportunities which enhance the student experience
Identify and communicate student needs and interests to Harris Administration to help shape curriculum and co-curricular offerings
Create official letters and other necessary documentation for students’ scholarship providers and other sponsors as needed
Monitor all advisees enrollments and update tuition projections each month
Serve as a support for Harris’ large international student population, including assisting advisees with CPT and OPT paperwork and acting as a liaison to the Office of International Affairs (OIA)
Create resources for all advisors to share information
Collaborate extensively with the Harris academic advising team to ensure alignment in practices and give students the best possible service
Support advisees who are in crisis or experiencing extenuating circumstances
Collaborate with the Associate Dean of Students or Dean of Students on leaves of absence and other complex student cases
Serve as the Harris Disability Liaison, meeting with the university’s disability working group and being the point-person for academic accommodations for students at Harris
Communicate approved academic accommodations to Harris instructors at the beginning of each quarter
Answer questions from students and instructors about accommodations and processes, consulting with central Student Disability Services as necessary
Produce training materials for teaching assistants to educate them on federal and university policy around disability accommodations
Hire and manage a Graduate Assistant and team of proctors to administer extended time and reduced distraction testing for eligible students
Collaborate with instructional teams for core classes and large elective classes to best accommodate testing procedures for students with testing accommodations
Work with instructors to collect information about acceptable modifications to attendance and deadlines for students with flexibility accommodations
Manage aforementioned accommodations processes for Harris students taking courses in university departments outside of Harris, as needed
Collaborate with the Dean of Students about tricky situations involving student accommodations
Participate in the Pre-Orientation Working Group that plans and executes our two summer bridge programs: Jumpstart and Math & Coding Camp
Author communications to incoming students about disability accommodations, processes, and timelines
Help guide policies for core waiver exams and the mandatory math exam to ensure compliance for students who have testing accommodations
Assist with a portfolio of planning tasks to otherwise plan and execute the programs
Serve as the primary user of the shared department inbox
Send disability accommodations information out to students and instructors from the shared inbox
Forward general inquiries that come into the inbox to the appropriate staff person on the team
Organize and clean out inbox regularly so that other staff members can pop into the inbox when needed
Designs, implements and maintains student academic and administrative policies.
Translates specialized knowledge of academic functions to complicated advising matters.
Has a deep understanding of the activities of Study Abroad/ International Programs and functions for the University's graduate and undergraduate programs
Manages on-boarding efforts related to coursework and academic planning delivered through various channels and on-line tools.
Works mostly independently to facilitate graduation-related functions related to academic and degree requirements
Acts as a main point of contact and recommends process improvements for other University Schools and Divisions' joint-degree programs
Has a deep understanding related to the development of programming for non-academic matters, such as health and wellness and curricular programming.
Designs and produces material for the handbook and other academically-related publications
Performs other related work as needed