Program Coordinator, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Furman University•Lexington, MA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

In the last three years, the WGSS Program at Furman has more than tripled in size. In this context, the WGSS program at Furman University seeks a program coordinator to help sustain and expand current program support in line with the WGSS Director’s vision. As WGSS transitions from a program to a department, the program coordinator will serve as a vigorous advocate and ambassador of the program, professionally interact with students and faculty on a daily basis during the academic year, and provide daily administrative support and communications for internal and external-facing events and operations, planning and logistics as well as fundraising and budget management. The coordinator will assist the Director in sustaining effective collaborations and relationships with other Furman departments, institutes, committees, student organizations, alumni, and external university partners.

Requirements

Possess effective interpersonal skills, including the ability to collaborate with individuals and groups with varying levels of expertise, education, and working styles
Ability to work with various identities, cultures, and backgrounds including, but not limited to, gender and sexual minorities
Ability to operate and thrive in a supportive role in collaboration with the WGSS director and oversight committee/department members, faculty affiliates
Ability to maintain confidentiality and discretion with regard to programmatic and personnel matters, student privacy, etc.
Ability to creatively and largely independently problem-solve, prioritize multiple projects, and seek information and appropriate contacts to move tasks forward and meet deadlines
Possess excellent editing skills and the ability to remain organized and show high attention to detail
Ability to balance competing priorities, meet deadlines, and work through interruptions
Ability to work outside of usual office hours as needed, including some evenings and occasional weekends
Ability to positively represent WGSS and Furman University in proactive and professional manner both on campus and off students, parents, donors, stakeholders, including providing introductions and overviews of the WGSS missions, events, programs, undergraduate major and minor.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, etc.)
Proficiency in Adobe Creative, Canva, or equivalent illustration and design tools
Ability to learn other software packages and web programs as needed, and be adaptive to ongoing changes in technology and procedures
Bachelors’ degree from an accredited 4-year university

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree with a minor or major in WGSS or related field
1-2 years' experience in administrative support, office management, project management, event planning, etc.
Experience working in higher education
Knowledge of and enthusiasm for issues related to women, gender, sexuality, advocacy, feminism, and social justice
Ability to apply fundamental working knowledge of concepts critical to the mission of WGSS Program
Proficiency in WordPress, Qualtrics, Workday, Survey Monkey

Responsibilities

Serve in ambassadorial and student-facing role as first point of contact and referral for the WGSS Program, including prospective and current students, faculty, alumni, community members, and others
Increase visibility of decentralized but rapidly growing WGSS program by consistently staffing an open, inclusive physical space to serve as a WGSS “home” on campus where members of the community can easily find a WGSS representative
Help identify, research and maintain communication and positive relationships with Furman WGSS alumni, keeping up-to-date records that reflect these relationships
Provide logistical support for LGBTQ+ Alumni Council, as needed
Provide logistical support for WGSS speaker series, including working with multiple departments, scheduling and coordinating itineraries of visiting speakers. Such duties may include researching and booking flights, hotel, meals, class visits, ground transportation, reserving rooms, assisting with AV needs, catering, designing and disseminating advertising
In collaboration with professors, organize and host study breaks and drop in hours in WGSS office for students
Work with third-parties to organize WGSS service/volunteer days each academic year
Maintain and continually expand records of WGSS-related internships, jobs and master’s programs for student consultation
Conduct exit interviews for graduating seniors, documenting and comparing trends over time
Purchase, maintain inventory, and disseminate attractive WGSS branding across multiple platforms as needed, with the potential to create new logos, t-shirts, thank you notes, etc. in the future
Support program budget management by keeping accurate and up-to-date records of program expenditures, making and reconciling purchases as needed, creating invoices, travel-related reporting and ensuring accurate payments of honoraria to speakers and partnering programs through Workday
Organize and publicize special events as needed, such as benefit concerts, archive openings, student trips to regional conferences, and special fundraisers
Potentially help plan and coordinate logistics for a regional WGSS conference at Furman
Perform other duties as assigned by the Director in support of the goals and objectives of the WGSS Program as they evolve, potentially including helping to organize job searches and campus visits of future faculty
Assist in identifying potential donors through analysis of alumni data and discussions with WGSS faculty
Assist in analyzing enrollment data to identify patterns among past and present students who enroll in WGSS courses
Assist in coordinating needs and responding to questions of over two dozen faculty across at least 13 departments and over forty students
Assist in promoting the teaching of WGSS-elective courses across campus, as well as communicating necessary procedures and requirements to interested faculty
Assist in developing plans for education and outreach of students and parents unfamiliar with WGSS programs
Assist in developing modes of assessment for tracking the success of WGSS events and programming, including but not limited to creating and analyzing results of Qualtrics surveys
Collaboratively work with and assist members of the WGSS Oversight Committee Members on evolving WGSS initiatives
Maintain effective written and oral communication with students, faculty, staff, alumni, prospective employees, and other stakeholders outside the university in the service of strengthening engagement with the WGSS Program
Examples of these communications include but are not limited to timely responses to email inquiries, assisting in the creation and distribution of publicity, including event fliers, a WGSS digital newsletter published three times a year, and updates for the WGSS Program website
Ensuring accessibility standards are met in print, digital, and video resources
Maintain active WGSSatFurman Instagram account, increasing followers, creativity and relevance of posts to maintain a dynamic presence on WGSS social media accounts
Prepare annual report on WGSS activities, including graphic representation of data on enrollment numbers, attendance and feedback at events, etc.
Regularly interact with campus partners such as the Malone Center for Career Engagement, the Office of Alumni Relations, Office of Communications, etc.
Maintain and use multiple WGSS mailing lists, including oversight committee members, affiliated faculty, minors, majors, interested students and alumni correspondence with affiliate WGSS faculty and members of the WGSS oversight committee
Assist in creating and maintaining organized written records of WGSS program history, practices and policies, including taking notes at all meetings, documenting the evolution of the program, actions of the oversight committee, course approval processes, attendance at events, etc.
Assist in researching and collating information for founding governance documents as needed for transition from program to department, as needed
Assist in scheduling meetings and maintaining Director and Department calendars
Assist in conception and implementation of future initiatives that will enhance student engagement and provide curricular and extracurricular support for WGSS
Assist in identifying applicable grants and funding opportunities
Assist in the preparation of grant applications and reporting requirements, as needed
Assist in representing the WGSS Program at signature events such as Fall for Furman, Furman Showcase, homecoming, and summer orientation, as needed
Help identify, regularly meet with, and lead multiple WGSS Student Ambassadors who will function as liaisons between students and WGSS faculty
Office support tasks (copying, scanning, library pickup and return, document prep, etc.)
Complete performance review process with supervisor to understand job performance expectations and how they fit into the program and university goals.
Ensure compliance with policies and procedures of the university
Potentially provide limited assistance to a second interdisciplinary program on campus, as needed