Academic Program Coordinator

About the Opportunity

JOB SUMMARY:

The Department of Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering is seeking a highly motivated Academic Program Coordinator (APC) to join their team and provide integral support to this growing department. The responsibilities will include coordinating administrative leadership, supporting, and providing policy guidance for the Graduate and Undergraduate Committees and Associate Chairs. The APC is involved with all aspects relating to admissions, recruitment, and retention efforts, including tracking student progress and qualifying exams, and conducting student exit interviews. The APC is the primary contact for undergraduate and graduate students for all inquiries and assists students with solutions and collects their feedback to analyze trends to continuously improve department services and processes.

The APC works with the Director of Operations and Business Management on various strategic special projects and provides data analysis on the above functions. The AC will also coordinate academic aspects by managing the teaching schedule (undergraduate and graduate), classroom change requests, TRACE evaluations, and updating the Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogue. The APC will also process reimbursements, student graduate assistantships, and other financial administration for students and student-based programs. The AC will be the point of contact for communications and administration regarding student-involved events such as the Conference Recruiting booth, Town Halls, Capstone events, Welcome Back events, and faculty-student luncheons.

The APC is the liaison between the department and other departments in the College of Engineering, such as Undergraduate Advising and Graduate School of Engineering. The AC will be supervised by the Chemical Engineering Director of Operations and Business Management and will be on a team with other staff members.

This hybrid role is located on our Boston, MA, campus. We value in-person engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and community building to foster a dynamic environment for our students, faculty, and staff. The position requires a minimum in-person, on-campus presence of three (3) days per week and at times across buildings on the Boston campus, with the specific schedule subject to departmental needs.

Some occasional travel (~<5%) may be required to coordinate and staff the department conference booth at annual conferences.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

A successful candidate is a flexible team player who enjoys an independent and collaborative work environment and possesses the following:

• Associate degree and/or at least 2 years of administrative experience required; Bachelor's degree preferred.
• 2 years of experience required in administrative duties. Experience in an academic setting is highly desired.
• Strong project management/organizational skills with attention to fine detail, and commitment to quality.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral presentation, and written communication skills.
• Must demonstrate a professional presence and maturity in dealing with a variety of audiences, external and internal to the university.
• Value and provide confidentiality around sensitive issues and can determine appropriate levels of communication around sensitive information.
• Effectively set goals, multi-task, and manage time.
• Display self-motivation and initiative.
• Computer literacy requirements, including a strong working knowledge of Microsoft Windows environment including MS Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams, and PowerPoint.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES & ACCOUNTABILITIES

Undergraduate and Graduate Committee, Admissions, Recruitment, Affairs, and Data Analysis Management:

• Provide administrative leadership and guidance for the Undergraduate and Graduate Committee and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in their Admissions and Recruitment efforts.
• Work with Faculty and staff to coordinate all aspects of the undergraduate and graduate programs related to admissions, recruitment, and graduate affairs. Leads the committee in ensuring compliance with recruitment and admissions processes, including guidelines within the graduate handbook, are kept up to date and being followed.
• Continually assesses and recommends changes to the Guidebook based on faculty and student feedback, as well as current college and university guidelines, and education best practices.
• Work closely with COE Academic advisors to collect, track, and analyze student undergraduate and graduate candidacy requirements.
• Lead undergraduate and graduate committee meetings and take meeting minutes.
• Work closely with the Associate Chairs for Undergraduate and Graduate Studies and other department and university staff to plan and coordinate events such as Conference Recruiting booths, Town Halls, Capstone events, Graduate Candidate Day for Admitted Students, Welcome Back events, and faculty-student luncheons.
• Assist in budget-related matters regarding events.
• Keep the rest of the department aware of Undergraduate and Graduate-related issues at meetings, including representing undergraduate and graduate committees at department faculty meetings.
• Coordinate the advisor selection process during a student's first year and maintain department database records of the graduate student's advisors.
• Maintain student department records and assess data across graduate programs concerning placement, attrition, time-to-degree, stipends, etc.

Undergraduate and Graduate Student Key Contact and Data Analysis:

• As the primary department contact for students, handles all undergraduate and graduate student inquiries and needs.
• Also serve as key contact for applicants or potential applicants to the graduate programs.
• Prepare and work closely with the Associate Chairs for Undergraduate and Graduate Studies and other departmental staff to organize and attend the student orientation and recruitment events.
• Proactively anticipate and solve potential future problems in ongoing administrative service to students.
• Collects and analyzes student feedback data to make and recommend process/system processes to Senior Business Manager, department executive committee, and COE Grad student services as applicable.
• Analyze Data for Recruitment, Admissions, and Retention, and other related data as necessary.

The Academic Coordinator maintains various duties such as assisting with:

• TA/Grader Expectations
• Financial Management of Expense Reimbursement Vouchers
• Assist with the assistantship process of RAs and TAs, including managing the process of inputting financial data into the software system to generate assistantships, etc.
• Other special projects as needed.