"Scholar and Alumni Engagement Manager/Senior Manager"

Job Details

Scholar and Alumni Engagement Manager/Senior Manager

Kessler Scholar Collaborative

Location: Remote or Ann Arbor, Michigan

Employment type: Full-time (40 hours/week), Exempt

Salary range: $85,000-$115,000

How to Apply

A cover letter is required for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. All material should be submitted to jobs@kesslerscholars.org by 11:59 (EST) on Monday, December 8.

Overview: Organization and Role

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative guides and amplifies the work of Kessler Scholars Programs supporting first-generation college students at 16 colleges and universities across the United States.

The Manager of Scholar and Alumni Engagement is a newly created role that will design and implement strategy to support the cross-institution engagement of Kessler Scholars, a national network of more than 1,200 first-generation, limited-income (FGLI) college students, and to track and assess their post-graduation outcomes and experiences. The position is designed to advance our goals of creating a vibrant and engaged community of Kessler Scholars and alumni across our partner campuses and ensuring the Kessler Scholars experience is transformative and meaningful for students – both during college and beyond.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Manager of Scholar and Alumni Engagement will work in close coordination with all members of the Collaborative team as well as with campus-based program staff to design innovative virtual and in-person opportunities for student connection and systems for supporting meaningful engagement by program alumni and ongoing understanding of the program’s impact on their lives.

Location

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but we employ colleagues in multiple locations, and fully remote employment will be considered for this role. Employees are expected to travel for in-person team meetings and activities approximately 5-6 times per year in addition to other travel related to the role.

Compensation

The salary range for this full-time position is $85,000-$115,000. The top range of this salary band will be considered for an exceedingly strong and more experienced candidate starting in the role as a Senior Manager of Scholar and Alumni Engagement. The Kessler Scholars Collaborative offers comprehensive employee benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401K matching contributions, and generous paid time away from work, including annual end-of-year office closure.

Who We Are

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative is closing gaps in opportunities and outcomes for FGLI college students through holistic, cohort-based support led by campus-based Kessler Scholars Programs. The Collaborative staff guide implementation and development of campus-based programming, create opportunities for cross-site engagement for staff and students, and support evaluation activities across a diverse network of colleges and universities committed to putting first-generation students first.

Our campus partners are Bates College; Brown University; Centre College; Cornell University; Johns Hopkins University; Queens College; St. Francis College, Saint Mary’s College (IN); Syracuse University; The Ohio State University; University of California, Riverside; University of Dayton; University of Michigan; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Pittsburgh; Washington University in St. Louis.

The Kessler Scholars Collaborative is an initiative of the Judy and Fred Wilpon Family Foundation in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies. Learn more about our work here: www.kesslerscholars.org

About This Role

The inaugural Manager of Scholar and Alumni Engagement will join a small, start-up-minded team of higher education professionals and have the opportunity to shape and advance how our organization engages Kessler Scholars and alumni across our national network. This position offers an enterprising candidate the opportunity to both establish organizational strategy and systems for scholar and alumni engagement and execute against that planning. The role will have responsibilities across these core areas:

1. Cross-Site Kessler Scholar Engagement

• Develop and implement strategy for in-person and virtual events and activities to ensure Kessler Scholars are connected to the broader national network of current scholars and program alumni.
• Design and execute opportunities to connect Kessler Scholars across campus sites (currently 1,200+ students on 16 campuses) to drive a broad sense of community and belonging.
• Create distinctive, value-added opportunities for scholars beyond offerings at the campus program level to support academic and leadership development, and career exploration and readiness.
• Oversee an existing cross-site student leadership board and manage virtual meetings and student-led initiatives connected to this group.
• Organize and support travel to relevant student conferences or other in-person points of student and alumni engagement.
• In concert with the National Director of Campus Partnerships, establish opportunities for Kessler Scholars to engage in high-impact experiences.
• Support campus-led cross-site initiatives to support Kessler Scholar engagement and community building.
• Work with the Senior Communications Manager to support direct-to-student communications, such as welcome cards for first-year scholars and graduation gifts to seniors, related outreach to campus program teams, and content development for social media (e.g., profiles of scholars and alumni) with the intent of promoting scholar and alumni awareness of the national reach of the Kessler Scholars Collaborative.

2. Tracking and Engaging Kessler Scholar Alumni

• Design and implement a comprehensive alumni strategy that engages Kessler Scholar alumni (500+ current program alumni nationwide) and creates rewarding experiences designed to foster lifelong connections between alumni and the Kessler Scholars Collaborative.
• Advance opportunities for alumni to volunteer and give back to Kessler Scholars Programs through opportunities for mentorship and engagement with campus-level programming.
• Manage all aspects of the Collaborative’s alumni database in conjunction with campus partners to understand who alumni are, where they are based, their fields, and professional activities.
• Lead tracking and evaluation of Kessler Scholars alumni, including survey development, execution, and reporting, to inform alumni support and programmatic initiatives and to capture alumni outcomes (e.g., graduate degree attainment, career outcomes).
• Support alumni communications through various platforms, in concert with Senior Communications Manager.

3. Organizational Operations

• Manage organizational CRM for student and alumni records, roster management, and maintenance alongside Collaborative team and campus partners.
• Manage inquiries from prospective students and facilitate their engagement with appropriate campus teams.
• Support content delivery related to regular engagement of campus program teams with Collaborative activities, including execution of an annual in-person convening of program staff members.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in related field.
• At least 8 years of higher education experience, including student-facing and program leadership roles.
• Passion for supporting first-generation and limited-income student populations.
• Experience with alumni tracking systems and engagement efforts.
• Skill in design and execution of distinct student programming focused on academic, professional, and personal growth, including virtual engagement efforts.
• Experience in data analysis and data management in a research or programmatic setting.
• Experience building strong relationships with varied stakeholders and collaborating productively across diverse organizations.
• Nimble and adaptable to evolving work priorities within a small team structure.
• Demonstrated skill managing complex projects and organizational systems.
• Deep familiarity with history and current contexts for student support and success interventions related to first-generation and limited-income college students.

Desired Qualifications

• PhD in related field.
• Experience working within a multi-campus or national higher education organization
• Research or programmatic experience tracking and assessing post-graduation outcomes.