Senior Academic Advisor for Strategic Student Support

About the role

Academic Exploration Advising is seeking a Senior Academic Advisor for Strategic Student Support (Student Services Advisor II) to join a collaborative team that empowers students to adopt a growth- and goal-oriented mindset. Reporting to the Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Advising, this role serves as a university-wide referral point for complicated academic advising situations—ensuring consistency, fairness, and supportive student outcomes. Complicated cases may involve undergraduate leave of absence policy and procedures; students dismissed from an academic major; students working with multiple administrative offices; students with a foreign language substitution accommodation; students who have had multiple withdrawals or failed classes. The Senior Academic Advisor will also support a population of Undergraduate Success Program students, a population of Exploratory major students, and collaborate with other academic advisors on projects and tasks.

Responsibilities

• Assists in resolving non-routine problems and provides policy or procedural interpretations for matters that are not clearly defined
• Intervenes with university central student services as necessary to connect prospective students with the right staff member or department
• Evaluates student situations and requests and takes appropriate action
• Provides academic counseling for undergraduate students
• Advises on matters of curriculum, course, and degree requirements
• Monitors student progress
• Researches demographics, plans outreach programs and events
• Evaluates student problems—academic, administrative, or personal—and refers students to appropriate student services offices for additional counseling
• Liaises with other offices on behalf of students to facilitate problem resolution
• Maintains academic unit student records and coordinates registration activities, grading, degree progress, enrollment, and transcripts with the USC Office of Academic Records and Registrar
• Assists with Petition applications and letters of recommendation
• Participates in committees at the college or university level that deal with student services issues
• Provides administrative support for local committees and works on committee-assigned projects
• Maintains currency on policies, procedures, and regulations pertaining to admission, financial aid, registration, transfer credit evaluation, course and degree requirements, graduation requirements, petitions, and other student services
• Maintains and compiles statistical data and prepares reports for internal and external use

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum of 3 years of experience advising and developing student programs
• Combined experience/education can be used as a substitute for minimum education
• Academic advising experience in a non-profit, higher education setting
• Committed to working with a wide range of students interested in enriching their undergraduate experience
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills, able to distill and convey information to diverse audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Student Affairs, Higher Education, Counseling or related field
• Demonstrated knowledge of USC programs, services, and offices across campus including Campus Support and Intervention, Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity, Student Life, and Office of Student Accessibility Services
• Demonstrated strong technical skills in the use of USC’s Student Information System, Advise USC, and Slate
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Flexibility in the face of changing priorities and information
• Demonstrated experience with problem identification, novel solutions, and conflict resolution
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with students, staff, and faculty across USC

Pay

The annual hourly range for this position is $34.35–$41.70. When determining an offer, USC considers factors such as the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate’s experience, education, training, key skills, internal peer alignment, applicable laws, contractual requirements, grant funding, and market conditions.