Faculty Affairs & Governance Specialist

Wesleyan University•Middletown, CT

9d•Onsite

About The Position

Wesleyan University is seeking a Faculty Affairs & Governance Specialist to manage faculty employment transactions, onboarding, and immigration services. This role supports the Office of Academic Affairs and works closely with the Associate Provost for Budget and Personnel. The Specialist will serve as a key resource for faculty, department chairs, administrators, and university partners on faculty employment, onboarding, and immigration matters, coordinating visa processing, employment records, and federal compliance. The office supports approximately 380 continuing faculty and 120 visiting faculty. This position provides comprehensive faculty affairs support across the entire faculty employment lifecycle, ensuring continuity of service and consistent support for faculty, department chairs, and academic leadership. The Faculty Affairs & Governance Specialist serves as the primary administrative resource for faculty, department chairs, deans, and university committees regarding faculty appointment, review, governance, and leave processes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
Minimum 4 years of progressively responsible administrative experience in human resources, academic administration, or a comparable professional environment managing confidential employee information and complex administrative processes.
Demonstrated ability to independently manage multiple recurring annual processes with competing deadlines while maintaining exceptional attention to detail.
Demonstrated ability to analyze, interpret, and apply complex policies and procedures while exercising sound judgment in a confidential environment.
Experience providing administrative or operational support to senior leaders, committees, or governing bodies requiring discretion, diplomacy, and sound judgment.
Experience maintaining and administering confidential records with a high degree of accuracy in a regulated or compliance-sensitive environment.
Experience processing or coordinating compensation, payroll, or financial transactions in an HRIS or comparable system.
Demonstrated ability to build collaborative working relationships while providing responsive, customer-focused service to faculty, academic departments, and administrative partners.
Demonstrated ability to draft correspondence, prepare documentation, and communicate clearly in writing for senior audiences.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Experience with Workday HCM or comparable HRIS platform.
Demonstrated commitment to working within a diverse environment and interacting openly with individuals of diverse backgrounds.

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education, academic administration, or a similarly complex institutional environment.
Familiarity with faculty or academic appointment cycles, review and promotion processes, or comparable multi-stage personnel review systems.
Experience supporting formal governance bodies including agenda preparation, documentation management, and election or appointment coordination.
Experience with leave administration or comparable employee lifecycle processes.
Familiarity with shared governance structures or faculty handbook administration.
Experience with faculty compensation administration including additional pay and summer salary processing.

Responsibilities

Coordinate all processes related to faculty reappointment, tenure, promotion, and periodic reviews in conjunction with the Associate Provost and academic deans.
Serve as the institutional coordinator for review timelines across all departments; maintain a master tracking system for all faculty due for review, renewal, tenure, or promotion.
Process faculty appointment changes, renewals, and mid-year appointment modifications in coordination with the Associate Provost.
Notify department chairs each semester of upcoming review and promotion deadlines; provide process guidance and required materials in coordination with the Associate Provost.
Support the collection and tracking of required review materials; maintain confidential review files and documentation.
Track faculty course loads and appointment data for 380 faculty across all appointment types.
Facilitate sabbatical, parental, medical, and unpaid leave processes in coordination with the Associate Provost; maintain leave records and communicate deadlines and procedures to faculty and department chairs.
Maintain faculty data that feeds institutional systems and publications.
Coordinate additional pay, summer salary, and faculty overload payments in conjunction with the Associate Provost and Finance.
Process end of appointment actions in Workday for tenure-track, tenure, and continuing faculty.
Collaborate with Payroll, Finance, Benefits, and other university offices as needed on faculty compensation matters.
Provide comprehensive administrative support for faculty governance committees including the Advisory Committee, Academic Council, Educational Policy Committee, Review and Appeals Board, Faculty Meetings, and for the faculty reappointment and promotion process including teaching evaluation report.
Support the Academic Secretary in setting meeting agendas; prepare faculty personnel documentation, by-law documentation, and governance materials for committee meetings in coordination with the Associate Provost.
Coordinate faculty elections and committee appointments.
Maintain faculty governance records; support the update and maintenance of the Faculty Handbook in coordination with faculty governance leadership and the Associate Provost.
Support the Campus Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees as assigned.
Provide faculty information and institutional reporting support for commencement, the Binswanger Distinguished Teaching Award, faculty awards, publications, Board materials, and other Academic Affairs initiatives.
Maintain confidential personnel files for tenure-track and tenured faculty, including MoUs and other pertinent documents.
Coordinate faculty communications and university-wide correspondence.
Serve as back-up support for faculty immigration and employment functions as needed.
Participate in special projects within Academic Affairs.