"Director Undergraduate Academic Advisement"

Job Summary

The Director of the Academic Advisement Center reports directly to the Associate Vice President for Student Success and is responsible for providing leadership to a team of advisors for the development, organization, delivery and evaluation of comprehensive academic advising and career services. The Director provides leadership for Integrative advising and career-based Initiatives to facilitate student enrollment, promote access, retention, progression and graduation. Responsibilities include day-to-day leadership of assigned staff and management of focus area unit operations, integrating guiding pathways strategies, academic advising, and connecting students with other academic support and student affairs representatives.

Responsibilities

MANAGE THE ACADEMIC ADVISEMENT CENTER: Manage the departmental budget, allocated personnel, and fiscal resources, and conduct annual performance reviews of personnel. Supervise Academic Advisors, support staff, and student help. Develop and mentor new staff in center. Assist in training and supervision of student assistants and graduate students.

LEADERSHIP: Development of annual goals for the Academic Advisement Center in collaboration with AVP and staff. Coordinate semester planning for programs/services, documentation and reporting for benchmarks. Provide vision, leadership and oversight for the Academic Advisement Center and its intervention programs, advisor training, student tracking and monitoring, and assessment of advisement activities. Lead development of innovative strategies utilizing new technologies to provide the highest level of student contact and service to contribute to student success goals. Maintain current knowledge of the institution's academic programs, curriculum, practices, and academic and student policies.

COLLABORATION: Professionally represent and promote the department through involvement in campus wide programming, presentations, committees, events, and departmental marketing initiatives. Work collaboratively across faculty, academic and student support units on shared goals/objectives. Develop programs with the Academic Advisement team to accomplish departmental goals. Continue to serve as the lead advisor on all academic advisement initiatives and practices in the Office. Develop and maintain appropriate relationships with students, faculty, and staff. Demonstrates strong commitment to student development and success through advocacy, positive attitude, adaptability, approachability, problem-solving and support.

LEAD PROJECT MANAGER: Update and maintain detailed records and reporting of department's progress using office tools, departmental systems, and university databases. Manage the compilation of documentation, reporting and assessment initiatives for Advisement. Lead in the assessment of programs, services, and tools regularly to track progress needs department and division goals and coordinate initiatives with team members. Demonstrates knowledge and competency in Advisement procedures, policies, and information technology systems. Serve as a lead project manager for programs that require coordination, such as information systems used by the office. Maintain academic advisement and other student records in compliance with University and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Continually improve advisement skills and practices for staff through the ongoing use of training tools, professional association, and engagement in researching best practices. Actively participate in professional development opportunities and professional organizations. Develops a personal professional development plan with short -and long-term career goals. Engages regularly in professional development and scholarship, both as a member of the Institution's academic community and as a member of the local, regional, and national advising/career professional community. Mentors and supports the development of staff resources within the focus are unit.

ADMINISTRATIVE: Functions cooperatively within a team format. Ability to establish productive relationships with constituency served, co-workers/others and deliver services in varied environments. Utilize a communication plan to engage the college community in the academic advisement process. Provide cooperative support for all departmental programming to meet goals. Maintain a positive work environment, coordinate schedules with other staff, communicating regularly with staff regarding projects, providing and soliciting assistance when needed. Manage time effectively to maximize service to students and fulfill departmental goals.

PROGRAM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION: Articulates the vision, mission, and philosophy of the Department of Student Success and assigned focus area programs. Promotes academic/career advising in achieving the vision, mission, and philosophy of the institution. Provides leadership for the Department of Student Success with a mission to develop and deliver timely, supportive advising and career outreach services to students. In alignment with the AVP of Student Success, develop the goals, tactics, and expected outcomes of the unit focus area in accordance with the AU planning process. Develops and maintains a focus area syllabus that articulates the mission, curriculum, student learning outcomes, and academic/career advisor and student responsibilities. Develops assigned academic/career advisor caseloads as appropriate per focus area student headcount. Utilizes the institutional Student Success Management System to communicate, track, and manage students and focus area academic/career advising services. In collaboration with the AVP Student Success and other Directors within the unit, develops a system for training new advisors in the focus areas, and develops and maintains appropriate training materials. Teach at least one INQR 1000 focused section per year. Work collaboratively with Instruction Data Analysts to examine assessment and outcomes data to enhance and develop programs and services that are responsive to student needs, increase retention, persistence, completion, and is responsive to the needs of students.

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: Serves as the academic focus area point of contact, and serve on committees as assigned, to develop collaborative relationships with faculty in the academic colleges aligned within the focus area. Operates in partnership with the focus area college administration and faculty mentors, Academic Success Center coaches, FYE/SYE, and Enrollment and Student Affairs units to advocate for students within the assigned majors and focus group area. Maintains relationships between focus area academic/career advising and campus resources to support staff to know when, and how, to refer students to these resources.

OPERATIONS: Manages available resources and advocates as needed for additional resources. Manages the program office efficiently, maintains accurate and confidential student records, and develops advising initiatives, programs, and services as needed. Supports development and implementation of policies and procedures to structure academic advising/career services processes to meet student needs. Assess the effectiveness of the focus area services including tracking student satisfaction/outcomes, acceptance rates, professional school placements, available employment information, etc. Tracks focus on student population and maintains statistics about the population and programs. Facilitates funding sources and opportunities.

: Perform all other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

Master's degree from an accredited college or university in higher education or student services personnel administration or related area with five years of experience providing comprehensive and creative educational planning and advising services and three years of leadership and supervisory experience in developing and directing the work of a team of professional staff in a higher education setting required.

Preferred Qualifications

Successful experience working with advising and career functions such as transfer advising, career planning, academic counseling and testing. Experience with data tracking, analysis, and reporting using technology to track student Interaction and services. Knowledge of current practices in higher education: student learning outcomes assessment, educational technology, retention strategies. Knowledge and understanding of both the higher education and workforce systems and current labor market trends. Experience working with college eligible students of all ages from academically, culturally, and socio-economically various backgrounds.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

SKILLS: Detail-oriented, with the ability to multitask in a dynamic, fast-paced environment using multiple databases and software.

ABILITIES: Ability to work independently without extensive supervision. Ability to maintain confidentiality, tact and diplomacy in dealing with sensitive situations. Strong emotional intelligence with the ability to interact and develop relationships with a broad range of individuals. Strong work ethic and commitment to a positive approach to student development.

Shift/Salary/Benefits

Shift: Days; M-F (Work outside of the regular business hours may be required). Salary to be commensurate with qualifications of the selected candidate within the established range (generally minimum-midpoint) of the position. Recruitment Period: Until Filled. Augusta University offers a variety of benefits to full-time benefits-eligible employees and some of our half-time (or more) employees. Benefits that may be elected could include health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, Teachers Retirement System (or Optional Retirement Plan), as well as earned vacation time, sick leave, and 13 paid holidays. Also, our full-time employees who have been employed with us successfully for more than 6 months can be considered for the Tuition Assistance Program.