Associate Director, Academic Development

About the role

This role is an on-campus, in-person position. This position holds a leadership position within the unit responsible for training, oversight and guidance of Senior Academic Counselors, Academic Counselors, Department Coordinator, and interns/assistants. Working closely with the Assistant Provost and two Associate Directors of ADSA, this position will interact heavily with athletic staff, campus partners and other members of SAES for the purpose of facilitating the academic success of prospective, undergraduate and graduate student-athletes.

Essential Functions

• Serving on the ADSA leadership team, this individual provides key leadership, strategic planning, and insight in a collaborative format that impacts the academic support and outcomes for all SMU student-athletes and unit operations.
• Supervises 2 Senior Academic Counselors, an Administrative Specialist, and Learning Assistants. Acts as supplemental support for teams assigned to direct reports.
• Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of comprehensive recruitment and retention initiatives designed to attract, engage, and support incoming students.
• Oversee all aspects of Peruna Success (Incomer Programming), including strategic planning, program design, stakeholder collaboration, volunteer and staff coordination, logistics management, and assessment efforts.
• Manage staff: hiring, performance evaluations, and goal setting; ensure compliance with university policies and practices.
• Sustain a vision for academic support that fosters a culture of elite performance aligning with university goals.
• Ensure staff report potential rules violations, participate in Athletics recruiting programs, support the broader initiatives of the University and Athletics.
• Create academic reporting information to be distributed and oversee academic updates to coaches.
• Lead interactions and communications with a wide variety of ADSA partners to facilitate student-athlete academic success: faculty feedback, travel letters, and other communications.
• Work collaboratively with the Assistant Provost to provide oversight, training, mentorship and set procedures for the ADSA Academic Counseling program.
• Maintain awareness of campus & NCAA rules & regulations.
• Provide support to academic counselors in the form of initial transfer credit evaluation and petition review. This may require attendance at athletic conferences such as N4A/ NCAA.

Education and Experience

• A Master’s degree is required, preferably in counseling, sport administration, educational leadership, psychology, teaching, sociology, or a related field.
• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience providing academic advising for student-athletes is required.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrate strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, both written and otherwise, with the ability to communicate broadly across the University and develop and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of constituencies.
• Show strong written communication skills.
• Show strong organizational, planning and time management skills.
• Show strong conflict management skills.
• Show enthusiasm and collaborative problem solving abilities.
• Show experience working independently and as a member of a team toward shared goals.
• Show a working knowledge of Microsoft Suite.
• Show a quick learner who is comfortable leveraging various technology in a work setting.
• Show a strong knowledge of education based learning platforms (e.g. Teamworks, Canvas, and PeopleSoft) preferred.

Physical and Environmental Demands

• Sit for long periods of time
• Stand

Position occasionally requires recruiting work on weekends or evenings. Some study hall supervision may be required in evenings. Availability on University holidays may be necessary. Position requires some travel with respective team(s).

Benefits

SMU offers staff a broad, competitive array of health and related benefits. In addition to traditional benefits such as health, dental, and vision plans, SMU offers a wide range of wellness programs to help attract, support, and retain our employees whose work continues to make SMU an outstanding education and research institution. SMU is committed to providing an array of retirement programs that benefit and protect you and your family throughout your working years at SMU and, if you meet SMU's retirement eligibility criteria, during your retirement years after you leave SMU. The value of learning at SMU isn't just about preparing our students for the future. Employees have access to a wide variety of professional and personal development opportunities, including tuition benefits.