Assistant Director of Graduate Program Operations

About the role

The Assistant Director of Graduate Program Operations is responsible for managing the daily operations of all post-Baccalaureate (Graduate) programs within the College of Engineering (CoE).

Responsibilities

• Develop and assist in the implementation of consistent enrollment procedures in collaboration with academic departments to ensure timely advising and comprehensive student support.
• Manage critical processes, including the Graduate Assistant (GA) Offer Letter request and release, and the I-20 Visa process for international students, in partnership with University offices.
• Manage operational aspects of the PhD program, including ongoing assessment to ensure streamlined processes for qualifying exams, proposal defenses, dissertation defenses, and degree verification using institutional software.
• Enhance and manage operational processes for BS/MS, MS, and Certificate programs, including student tracking, course scheduling, academic audits, and graduation lists.
• Apply academic policies and procedures to ensure consistent program administration and departmental, college, and university compliance.
• Collaborate with other Villanova colleges and UTS to establish university-wide norms, and disseminate best practices for shared systems.
• Participate and contribute as a resource for University wide CRM and Data Integrity committees around student data. Provide technical feasibility input as well as assisting in the evaluation and implementation of new software components to admission information systems.
• Manage budgets for Graduate Endowed Fellowships and Tuition Remission Credits, in a integrated workflow with the College Finance and Administration team.
• Manage financial records for expenditures, and tuition remission allocation for GAs, including coordinating with the Finance Office on Tuition Remission submissions and with the Office of Research Administration on grant-related student activities.
• Directly supervise the Graduate Assistant for Graduate Studies.
• Supports the Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions and Recruitment at recruiting event to promote graduate programs.
• Serves as Chair of the College Committee on Graduate Student Events.
• Manage and optimize key graduate academic and administrative processes, including MS and PhD degree completion and the I-20 issuance process for international students.
• Coordinate and execute the Graduate Assistant (GA) offer and onboarding process as well as facilitate tuition remission submission.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for GA onboarding within the CoE.
• Perform other duties and assist with projects as assigned.

Qualifications

• Formal Education: Bachelor’s Degree required
• Work Experience: 3 years of work experience
• Work Skills: Must be a team player with strong writing, interpersonal, organizational, project management and planning skills. Must be a flexible, upbeat, energetic self-starter who enjoys collaboration with a wide variety of constituencies (departments, college, university partners, potential students, and students, etc.). Must have strong communication, problem-solving and decision-making skills with the ability to maintain excellent relationships. The individual must be able to work independently as well as with others in a productive manner. Must have the ability to handle multiple tasks, priorities, and deadlines in a fast-paced, multifaceted environment. Must have a deep commitment to the well-being of the University, a commitment to the University’s mission and heritage, and to serving the needs of a diverse community.

Skills

• Knowledge and experience with higher education management software
• Equipment Knowledge: Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, etc.), Zoom and other videoconferencing services

Preferred Qualifications

• Higher Education experience
• Specific Job Knowledge: Understanding of budget management, Experience with Ellucian/Banner or similar ERP system(s), Experience with DegreeWorks or similar degree auditing tool(s), Experience with Softdocs or similar document management platform(s)