Assistant Director, Student and Alumni Connections

Position Summary

The Columbia College Development and Alumni Relations (CCDAR) team serves the more than 55,000 living alumni of Columbia College along with current and past College parents and friends. We are an innovative team of development and alumni relations professionals committed to fostering strong, lasting relationships between Columbia alumni, parents, students and friends through engagement, participation and philanthropic investment. We connect stakeholders to opportunities that support College goals and advance engagement and fundraising priorities.

Reporting to the Associate Director, Alumni Relations, the Assistant Director plays an integral role on the Alumni Relations team and is responsible for leading student-alumni programs and engagement for the Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA), including the Student Ambassadors for Columbia College Alumni (SACCA) student group who serve as ambassadors of Columbia College, representing the College to its constituency – the alumni, the campus, and the community, and Columbia College’s outreach to admitted students. They are a key partner with student-facing partners across Columbia College to develop innovative programming for students and alumni.

Responsibilities

• Establishes partnerships to develop meaningful events and programs that inspire diverse and enthusiastic participation by students and alumni
  1. Develops support materials and communications that motivate, activate, and inspire students and alumni to participate in mentoring and connections programming
  2. Works with College administrators to facilitate student-alumni interaction through small and large-scale programming efforts, including on campus and off campus events to support students and young alumni. Such experiences include but are not limited to: supporting New Student Orientation Program, Senior Dinner, My Alumni Journey Chats, and other programs throughout the year
  3. Coordinates the CCAA Class Day Prize selection and award process
  4. Advises and supports the Student Connections Co-Chairs and Committee of the CCAA Board
• Identifies, recruits, stewards, motivates, and manages alumni and student volunteers, including board and committee members, who support the development and growth of the mentoring community and student-alumni programs. This individual will manage the Student Ambassadors for Columbia College Alumni (SACCA) in planning events independently and in collaboration with alumni groups to foster student-alumni interaction and collaboration. Furthermore, the Assistant Director creates strong partnerships with colleagues across the school and represents the Columbia College Alumni Relations and Development team at meetings, events, working groups, and through ongoing inter-departmental communication within the University
• Manages admitted student programs by engaging alumni leaders to support Columbia College yield goals through a series of global events and outreach efforts. They are tasked with growing the regional presence of the Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA) by engaging admitted students, families, alumni, and current students through targeted welcome events. They will be the project manager and point of contact for hosts, participants, and internal partners. The Assistant Director will track and report data in order to identify trends, demonstrate progress and develop strategies for enhancements and growth
• Serves as a liaison to partners within CCDAR and across Columbia College including the Columbia College Fund (CCF), the Center for Career Education (CCE) and Undergraduate Student Life (USL)
• Creates, monitors and reconciles budget for student-alumni programming as well as assigned events
• Other related duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
• 2-4 years of direct experience in alumni relations, volunteer management, program management, student services or related fields
• High level of experience and comfort working in technology systems, with a curiosity to follow industry trends to identify new tools and innovations
• Must possess excellent oral and written communication and organizational skills and demonstrate the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously
• Must be self-motivated, creative and work well in a group setting

*This position will often require long hours, including evenings and weekend assignments. Some travel may be required.*
**Applications submitted without a resume and cover letter will not be reviewed.**

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education or a similarly complex institution is preferred