Senior Administrative Assistant

Overview

The Senior Administrative Assistant provides high-level administrative and operational support to the Chair of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, while also supporting department faculty, staff, and trainees in alignment with departmental priorities. This role is critical to the smooth execution of academic, clinical, and administrative functions and is carried out in full compliance with University policies, procedures, and confidentiality standards.

Serving as a key point of contact for the Chair’s Office, the Senior Administrative Assistant is responsible for the day-to-day administrative operations, coordinates departmental activities, and provides advanced administrative support. The position requires the utmost discretion and professionalism, as it routinely handles confidential, sensitive, and time-critical information related to faculty, trainees, departmental operations, and leadership decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide comprehensive administrative support to the Chair, including complex calendar management, meeting coordination, and prioritization of competing demands.
• Offer administrative and logistical support to department faculty, staff, and trainees, as appropriate, to ensure efficient departmental operations.
• Represent the Chair’s Office in interactions with Yale administrative offices, departmental leadership, faculty, staff, students, alumni, the New Haven community, and visitors from other academic institutions, countries, and corporate organizations.
• Coordinate and manage Department Grand Rounds, including scheduling speakers, coordinating logistics, room reservations, audiovisual needs, and communications.
• Assist with the planning and coordination of additional departmental lectures, seminars, workshops, and academic events.
• Plan, organize, and execute special events and initiatives sponsored by the Chair’s Office.
• Coordinate domestic and international travel arrangements; prepare and submit expense reports and reimbursements in accordance with University policies.
• Procure goods and services; manage office supply inventory.
• Process facilities and maintenance requests; manage conference room reservations.
• Handle incoming and outgoing mail and correspondence.
• Maintain confidentiality of all sensitive information and exercise sound judgment in all communications and interactions.
• Perform additional administrative duties as assigned to support departmental goals.

Required Skills and Abilities

1. Ability and willingness to work on campus five days per week to provide consistent, in‑person administrative support.
2. Demonstrated experience organizing academic workshops, seminars, or similar events, including scheduling, logistics, communications, speaker coordination, and day‑of execution. Strong interpersonal skills and a team-oriented mindset, with the ability to build effective working relationships across departments.
3. Ability to work independently, problem-solve, and exercise sound judgment while managing day-to-day operational needs.
4. Proven experience coordinating travel, processing reimbursements, procuring goods and services, managing mail, handling facility requests, and reserving conference rooms. Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to interact professionally with faculty, researchers, administrative staff, and external partners.
5. Proven ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously, prioritize competing deadlines, and maintain meticulous attention to detail in a fast‑paced environment. Comfortable using Microsoft Office Suite, online scheduling tools, procurement systems, and other administrative platforms required for daily operations.

Preferred Skills and Abilities

1. Familiarity with Workday.
2. Prior experience working in an academic or medical environment or supporting faculty.
3. Ability to learn new technologies quickly, adapt to changing work environments, and take initiative in a highly dynamic setting.

Principal Responsibilities

1. Oversees and coordinates administrative, program, and office activities. Establishes, selects, implements, and coordinates office procedures and systems.  Serves as principal source of information to students, staff, and faculty on policies, procedures, programs, and office activities.  
2. Oversees, instructs, and coordinates activities of support staff.  Oversees the preparation of materials for grants, contracts and budgets. Monitors expenditures and reconciles financial statements.  
3. Provides editorial support for a journal/publication.  Proofreads and edits material for grammatical and factual accuracy. Tracks copy through various editing and production stages. Communicates with authors, printers, and others concerned with published work.  
4. Determines administrative, facility, and equipment needs for symposia, lectures, seminars, and conferences.  Assembles and arranges for necessary items.  Determines sources of data. Compiles, synthesizes and manipulates data. Summarizes findings and writes reports or portions of reports.  
5. GREets visitors. Answers and screens telephone calls. Assesses nature of business. Responds to requests for information and provides assistance.  Screens and responds to mail.  
6. Formats, keyboard, proofread, and edits correspondence, reports, manuscripts, grants, and other material. Assembles attachments and corresponding material. Reviews outgoing material for completeness, dates, and signatures.  Composes substantive correspondence and written material.  
7. Coordinates travel arrangements.  Schedules and coordinates meetings and appointments.  Orders and maintains inventory of supplies.  Takes minutes or dictation.  Performs additional functions incidental to office activities. 

Required Education and Experience

Six years of related work experience, four of them in the same job family at the next lower level, and high school level education; or four years of related work experience and an Associate's degree; or little or no work experience and a Bachelor's degree in a related field; or an equivalent combination of experience and education.