Program Manager

University of Arkansas•Little Rock, AR

21h

About The Position

The Program Manager for the College of Public Health’s (COPH) Department of Epidemiology works closely with the department chair, the Vice Chair for Education and the Director of the PhD Program in Epidemiology. The person hired will administratively support the educational programs, faculty, and students for the Department. The Manager will be the point of contact for department academic programs, manage the recruitment and admissions process, guide prospective and existing students, maintain academic records, manage departmental course preparation and course scheduling, and provide student financial assistance. The Manager is an integral part of the academic programs in the Department and College and will support fulfilling the academic mission. The Manager will serve as a liaison to other programs regarding updates and changes to curriculum, best practices, and opportunities to extend recruiting, marketing, and other outreach. The Manager will lead review of the Department’s academic programs and manage program updates and assist with maintaining accreditation. The Manager will manage implementation of new programs in the Department and consult in similar efforts in the College as needed. Specifically, the Manager will manage the Department’s existing programs: the Master of Public Health in Epidemiology; the PhD in Epidemiology; and will support any future programs developed by the department. The Manager is responsible for administratively managing student admissions and matriculation and other matters while completing these programs. The Manager will conduct marketing and recruitment activities including creating and maintaining flyers for print, digital resources, and web pages and will go to recruitment events both on and off campus. The Manager will coordinate activities intended to provide outreach and learning opportunities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students to create a path for prospective students. The Manager will oversee the activities of any additional academic support staff hired by the department. The position requires extensive experience coordinating academic programs or complex research projects, proficiency in MS Office products, skill in instructional design, excellent interpersonal skills, graphic design experience, web-management capabilities, exceptional writing and editing skills, and a high level of professionalism. This position will be cross trained to back-up other support staff in the department as needed.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree plus four (4) years of project/program management experience required.
MS Office suite, Adobe Acrobat software.

Nice To Haves

Six (6) years of program coordination and project management experience
Workday system software preferred.

Responsibilities

Manages activities pertaining to department promotion and recruitment by creating and maintaining promotional materials (i.e., flyers, posters, targeted emails), creating and managing department web content such as homepages and research blog), and developing scripts and concepts for promotional videos. Generates and maintains lists of prospective students for all department degrees and maintains communication and assistance with prospective students. Provides quality, accessible, and consistent support to facilitate successful student recruitment, admission, retention, progression, and graduation. Participates in recruitment opportunities to recruit students into the programs.
Manages the admissions process for the department in coordination with the COPH, including accessing and managing applications in SOPHAS, scheduling admissions interviews, providing logistic support for students and faculty on interview days, coordinating with department PhD Program Director, Vice-Chair of Education and department admissions committee. Serves as admissions officer for the Graduate Certificates representing staff, serves as academic advisor to the MPH and PhD students for matters pertaining to course enrollment, financial services, student records, and any other needs. Works to enhance the educational experience, facilitate graduation, and support career development for certificate, masters, and PhD students. Manages activities related to updating and maintaining curriculum and competencies for all department certificate, masters, and doctoral degrees, and planning curriculum and degree requirements for new programs at certificate, masters, and doctoral level. Enhances inter- and intradepartmental communication and cooperation as the principal liaison between students, faculty, staff, other departments, and/or external constituencies on day-to-day programmatic, operational and administrative issues to optimize education, research, recruitment, and promotional opportunities throughout the department, college, and university. Facilitates classes, seminars, meetings, special projects, and problem resolution; coordinates activities of faculty and staff engaged in implementation and administration of program objectives. Manages and facilitates doctoral comprehensive examinations, scheduling of dissertation proposal and dissertation defenses. Edits, copies, distributes, and maintains archival course materials. Collects and analyzes data pertaining to student enrollment, class size, and relevant trends in the student body to address class scheduling needs and make recommendations to leadership or direct decisions. Prepares special reports and interprets data to make and inform decisions; maintains records and statistical information; coordinates faculty activities in areas of research, service and teaching. Provide Blackboard, Workday, and related support for department faculty teaching as appropriate. Maintains department course calendar for department and schedules courses in Workday, including teaching assignments, course size, and format. Manages opportunities for preceptorships, practica and culminating experiences projects. Assigns and maintains faculty assignments for student practica, directed mentored research projects, Masters culminating experience projects and preceptorships. Maintains academic program history to facilitate continuity and provide input regarding changes. Manages and monitors student funding, student tuition and stipends as well as payment of student tuition and stipends. Manages and tracks student-faculty advising assignments. Maintains and updates records and student files. Interprets and explains institutional policies regarding curriculum, procedures, opportunities, and guidelines for academic programs to faculty and students. Assists students in course selection, registration, drop/add, and withdrawal of courses. Advises students of course requirements to fulfill certificate and degree programs.
Performs office management functions such as allocation of workspace, maintaining assets inventories, training incoming faculty and staff, event planning, attending meetings on behalf of Program Director(s) and/or Vice-Chair, and processing department financial reports. Assist with addressing workspace and resource issues. Attends and provides support to department committees. Develops agendas for meetings.
Assist with planning, organizing, and execution of various events, including meetings, workshops, site visits, seminars, social events and conferences related to community partners, students, and research participants. Oversee all aspects of event logistics, including venue coordination, catering, and audio-visual requirements. Ensure execution of events, meeting or exceeding participant expectations. Manage event timelines, resources, and deliverables to achieve successful outcomes.
Perform other duties as assigned.