How to Apply
A cover letter and resume are required and should be submitted as a single document with your online application. The cover letter should address your specific interest in this position and outline your skills and experiences as they relate to the specifics of the position. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
Job Summary
The Department of American Culture in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA) is excited to announce an opening for a Student Services Assistant. This is an excellent opportunity to join a supportive and welcoming team of professionals who are passionate about their work in an environment that prioritizes individual professional growth for staff at all levels. We seek a highly motivated, dynamic individual with excellent organizational and communication skills to provide administrative and programmatic support to the department and its programs. The ideal candidate will work effectively with a variety of groups with a service-oriented approach, while demonstrating emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills in day-to-day operations. The successful candidate will be one of six staff members working as part of the administrative team to provide a high level of service to the American Culture community in three main areas: office management, student services support, and administration. This position reports to the Chief Administrator (CA).
Who We Are
The Department of American Culture is an academic department that traces its origins back to 1935. It has been one of the top American Studies hubs in the country and is recognized internationally. We are committed to interdisciplinary scholarship in the multivalent field of humanities and humanistic social sciences and to undergraduate and graduate education that fosters understanding of complex histories, struggles, and various creative productions and expressions that reflect the many complex cultures of the United States and the Americas in a global context. The department's mission and values arise from long-standing commitments to rigorous inquiry and knowledge production. Our groundbreaking understandings, interpretations, and critiques probe intersections of transnational, national, and diasporic identities and their socially constructed aspects such as race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, disability, indigeneity, religion, and region. Our wide-ranging faculty includes historians, literary and cultural studies scholars, and social scientists, as well as artists and practitioners. American Culture's impressive interdisciplinary reach encompasses areas from Native languages, museums, and architecture, through technology, medical histories, dance, music, to religions, social movements and institutions, material culture, cuisines, and digital media.
Why Work at Michigan?
We are so proud that the University of Michigan offers comprehensive benefits to support your wellness as you plan for a stable and secure future. To enhance a career filled with purpose and opportunity, other benefits include:
- Generous time off programs.
- Our retirement plan provides two-for-one matching contributions.
- Comprehensive options for health, dental, vision, life, disability, and other insurance.
- Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses.
- Tuition support, including the ability to take undergraduate courses in LSA at no cost.
- Meeting-free days and communication norms that help you to "unplug" from work.
- Access to deals, discounts, and attractions; see Uniquely Michigan for details.
While you will primarily work from our central campus in Ann Arbor, LSA offers flexible work options. To support work-life balance, LSA has an email policy that limits non-essential emails to weekday business hours. We invite you to take a look at LSAs mission, vision, and values.
Responsibilities*
Student Services
- Provide timely and accurate responses to queries; direct students to appropriate advisor or resources
- Provide support for the majors (2) and minors (5) including declarations and administrative withdrawals
- Coordinate course evaluation process
- Facilitate course guide submissions
- In consultation with faculty instructors, develop fliers, course cards, and other promotional items to advertise courses to students
- Manage student advising calendars and files for department academic advisors
- Coordinate departmental writing awards
- Provide administrative support to department's undergraduate student group
- Facilitate planning of student-facing events, including Back to School Social, Festifall, Major/Minor Meet-Up, Major/Minor Expo, MESA-palooza, weekly AC study breaks, as well as student events planned by our Ethnic Studies programs
- Plan major event (200 guests) - department's graduation luncheon
- Identify, in consultation with departmental advisor, creative ideas for promotional items for undergraduates; order from vendors and maintain inventory
- Participate in Undergraduate Studies Program Committee and other meetings, as needed
- Provide support to department student internship programs
- Provide support to graduate certificate programs
- Other student services related responsibilities, as needed.
General Office Management
- Office reception; assist visitors and respond to queries, directing matters to appropriate individuals for action and follow-up, as needed
- Coordinate use and maintenance of department equipment
- Monitor/Anticipate and re-order/stock office, kitchen, and meeting space supplies inventory, including ice, beverage, and snack items for meetings
- Facilities management, including office assignments and coordination with Facilities for furniture orders, work orders, key requests.
- Serve as primary contact to collaboratively schedule department conference rooms and confirm outside meeting rooms; assist in set-up and breakdown of department meeting space including technical assistance as needed
- Manage department mailroom; coordinate daily outgoing and incoming mail distribution, and departmental UPS account management
- Hire, train, and supervise work study student(s); delegate daily/weekly tasks for effective support of administrative office and undergraduate program
Administrative
- Provide on site coordinator for movers, maintenance, and contractors, and for caterers and other deliveries..
- Coordinate with CA to manage funding request process for department and ES programs
- Track faculty computer inventory and schedule for replacement.
- Maintain contact information for all instructors, including office hours.
- Maintain MCommunity group email accounts as requested
- Provide back-up support to the event coordinator and ethnic studies program coordinator.
- Other duties and projects, as assigned.
Required Qualifications*
- A high school diploma.
- At least 2 years of experience in student services.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds;
- Strong writing skills with proven ability to draft original and complex correspondence;
- Ability to meet deadlines and prioritize appropriate tasks while handling various projects simultaneously; ability to exercise initiative, independent judgment, and diplomacy;
- Excellent accuracy and attention to detail while working in a fast-paced environment with frequent interruptions;
- A self-motivated individual committed to finding opportunities for greater efficiency and collaboration
- Demonstrated ability to successfully project plan, envisioning the entire scope of a project and then seeing it through from beginning to end;
- Extensive computer experience with email, spreadsheets, and word processing;
- The ability to practice discretion when dealing with sensitive matters.
- Capable of setting up/breaking down rooms for events with the ability to move items weighing up to 25 lbs.
Desired Qualifications*
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent work/educational experience
- 3-5 years of experience working in an academic department or higher education student services.
- Experience fostering a welcoming and respectful work environment through effective communication and collaboration with multiple groups.
- In-depth knowledge of U-M and LSA policies, procedures and systems.
- Advanced proficiency in all Microsoft Suite software, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Experience Manager, and Google applications.
Work Schedule
This is a full-time, seasonal position with an in-person work model during the academic year. There may be opportunities for remote work occasionally. Rare evening work may be necessary, typically scheduled well in advance and may occur only a few times annually.
Modes of Work
Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.
Additional Information
This position has an unpaid seasonal leave of absence from mid-June to mid-August each year. The target salary range for this position is $40,400 to $50,500 full-time rate (the annual salary range with the unpaid seasonal leave is approximately $33,600 to $42,000).
As one of the world's great liberal arts colleges, LSA pushes the boundaries of what is understood about the human experience and the natural world, and we foster the next generation of rigorous and empathetic thinkers, creators, and contributors to the state of Michigan, the nation, and the world.
To learn more about LSA's Mission, Vision and Values, please visit lsa.umich.edu/strategicvision.
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.