Administrative Specialist

About the Center for Dairy Research (CDR)

The Center for Dairy Research (CDR) is seeking an administrative specialist to support a complex, growing research center on the UW-Madison campus. Housed in a new, state-of-the-art facility in Babcock Hall, CDR is the largest dairy foods research program in the US. The Center has over 60 full-time staff, supports graduate and undergraduate research, and provides technical and training support services to hundreds of dairy producers and processers around the globe. As part of the administrative team at the CDR, the administrative specialist will focus on employee and guest relations, daily administrative management, and special project coordination.

Responsibilities

• Employee Relations and HR: Provide critical employee support by owning processes and procedures related to unit level employee onboarding/offboarding and student employee recruitment and onboarding. Serve as the subject matter expert in travel and conference coordination and work directly with employees and guest speakers to ensure their business travel is booked and purchased following UW policy.
• Guest Relations: Serve as main point of contact for all guests and coordinate with program managers to ensure all visitors have what they need prior and during their visits. Assure logistics for 45 short courses and 40+ group tours annually are executed seamlessly and support short courses as needed. Ensure logistics are in place, meeting rooms are reserved, catering is ordered, and meeting materials are ready for weekly visits from dairy industry clients and major funders. This requires high level coordination with both internal colleagues and clients.
• Daily Administrative Coordination: Provide overarching administrative service to the center and serve as back up to financial and research/grant management teams. Manage office supply inventory, coordinate with facilities for office custodial and maintenance requests, prepare workstations for new employees, prepare reports, coordinate with key industry partners, manage leadership and shared calendars, and assist with agreement processing.
• Key Job Responsibilities:
  • Schedule logistics and secure resources for meetings, conferences, travel, and work unit operations
  • Serve as a first point of contact for individuals and groups, provide basic organizational information via phone, in person and through other communication mediums, and route more complex inquiries to the appropriate entities
  • Collect, analyze, and prepare various communication materials from established sources utilizing technology mediums
  • Send, receive, copy, and distribute communications to the appropriate entities according to established policies and procedures under general supervision
  • Maintain established methods and organizational systems directed at the maintenance of electronic/physical records related to work operations according to established policies and procedures

Qualifications

• Required:
  • Experience in an administrative support role requiring excellent organizational and time management skills to address competing priorities and a high variety of daily responsibilities
  • Experience organizing and managing operational details and logistics including scheduling, calendar management and coordinating meetings
  • Experience using Microsoft Office Suite and ancillary systems to support business operations (i.e. Workday or other systems to support human resources, finance, and program management functions)
• Preferred:
  • Experience with various stages of the employee lifecycle including recruitment, onboarding, and offboarding coordination
  • Experience coordinating conference and business-related travel for colleagues including booking hotels, registration for conferences, assisting with expense reporting, and coordinating ground and air transportation
  • Experience with financial processes and systems including purchasing card transactions and other procurement activities

Education

Bachelor's degree in business administration or a related field preferred; OR a minimum of three (3) years of experience in administrative support or program management.

Compensation & Benefits

• The minimum starting salary for this position is $55,000. Final salary will be based on experience and qualifications.
• Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits.

Additional Information

• This is a full time, onsite position
• A 12-month evaluation period may be required
• A criminal background check may be required

This response is AI-generated, for reference only.