The Placement Exchange Job Board

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $65,000 to $73,500

Position Summary

Reporting to the Associate Director of Graduate Admission Operations, the Assistant Director of Graduate Admissions is responsible for the overall financial and operational management of the Office of Graduate Admissions. The Assistant Director will be tasked with the execution of strategy in the area of admissions operations to meet the institutional enrollment goals and targets of the Office of Graduate Admissions and the School. The Assistant Director serves as a point of contact for Admission Staff and others throughout the college to support all things related to the Technolutions Slate CRM, and other admission-related technology. They will uphold and strengthen the integrity of the admissions process flow from application through enrollment.

Responsibilities

• (35%) Admissions Operations:

  Through the Technolutions Slate application system, manage the lifecycle of an application throughout the admissions process for graduate applicants to SEAS.

  Manage all activities tied to Slate and related business systems, including design, implementation, testing, enhancements, integration, and maintenance, while following best practices on behalf of the Office of Graduate Admissions, Columbia Video Network, Student Affairs, Academic Departments, Information Technology, Registrar, Specialty Program Leaders, and Institutional Research.

  Lead and execute projects related to admissions processes from project inception to implementation, maintenance, and analysis.

  Analyze complex business problems to identify and independently implement solutions consistent with the School???s vision, exhibiting a high level of analysis, creativity, and resourcefulness

  Manage all aspects of graduate admissions and enrollment operations, including application review and verification, decisioning, and ensuring compliance with School and University policies.

  Implement the graduate application reader review process between admissions and external offices/departments, including reviewing graduate applications for admission decisions, assigning and distributing files for review, and making admissions decisions and recommendations.

  Plan and administration of a graduate admissions operations workflow that engages initial prospects, drives application submission, processes applications and decisions in a timely manner, and supports the onboarding and enrollment of all new students. 

  Recommend, establish, and enforce admissions policies and procedures in consultation with the graduate admissions team and/or external offices utilizing Slate for application processing.

  Act as a collaborative member of the Graduate Admissions team, participating in all Admissions activities when needed ??? such as recruitment and yield events, open house, and more.

• (35%) Finance Management:

  Manage financial operations, including oversight of all financial reporting, variance analyses, and compliance reports. Responsible for the integrity of the financial data for the Office of Graduate Admissions. Remain abreast of changes to financial systems and processes centrally and implement changes where required. Maintain close collaboration with finance colleagues within the Dean???s Office.

  Lead responsibility for creating long-term budget projections, modeling, and forecasting for all projects managed by the Office of Graduate Admissions.

  Identify opportunities for process improvement and create policies and procedures to streamline services using all finance information systems at the University.

  Manage all vendor agreements, and payments, and streamline billing/collections. Ensure that all facilities, information technology, and related requests are handled seamlessly.

  Serve as primary contact with CUIT and other IT partners (including 3rd party vendors) to develop critical IT solutions when required. Collaborate with CUIT on the ongoing assessment of business processes, program applications, and data security.

• (25%)Data Management

  Uses University and institutional systems and software to collect data, prepares detailed and high-level financial reports and perform benchmarking analyses. Develops and provides on-demand reports as required.

  Conducts accurate analyses and reporting related to expenditures on Fellowships and other internal SEAS programmatic funds, and other financial activities exercising significant independent judgment.

  Works independently and collectively to prepare reconciliation/collection reports, ensures timely monthly completion, and maintains supporting documentation for reconciliations in an organized manner (electronic/paper, as needed) and other projects and reports as assigned.

  Identifies, researches, and ensures compliance with University financial policies and procedures. Responsible for independently identifying and disseminating financial internal controls policies and procedures as needed.

  Responsible for providing data analysis for enrollment management, including data cleaning, data management, and statistical analysis tasks, identifying and solving data issues, and tracking, organizing, and maintaining data and metrics.

  Oversee the process to identify, build, and manage audit queries to reconcile student records throughout the applicant life cycle and ensure accuracy and consistency of data across various systems.

  Analyze data and manage historical data for use by School leadership and other offices/departments.

• (5%) Other duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and/or its equivalent required. A Master???s Degree is Preferred.

• Minimum 2-4 years of related experience required.

• Experience with Slate Technolutions is strongly preferred.

• Experience with Columbia financial systems, particularly the Accounting at Columbia (ARC) system, is desired.

• Experience running a financial report for project reconciliation and budgeting; experience in the University Budget Tools, handling labor accounting in People @ Columbia (PAC), working in TLAM and RASCAL systems desired.

• Must have, or be able to acquire quickly, detailed knowledge of university policies, procedures, and systems.

  Must have the ability to exercise good judgment while working collegially in a high-pressure, deadline-driven environment.

• Proficiency with SQL, systems/technology integration, spreadsheets, database applications, programming/scripting, desktop/hardware support, html, xml, and other web technologies.

• Ability to track multiple projects, set priorities, and meet deadlines under pressure and with frequently changing priorities. Ability to manage time effectively. Strong communications skills, both spoken and written; excellent proofreading and writing skills. Great organizational and interpersonal skills with meticulous attention to detail.

• Demonstrated commitment and ability to maintain compliance with established guidelines, policies, and procedures in order to ensure consistency. Ability to clearly and effectively convey complex information to individuals or groups of people of varying experience levels.

• Must have the ability to exercise good judgment while working collegially in a high pressure, deadline-driven environment.

• We value competence, self-motivation, resourcefulness, flexibility, collegiality, and professional communication skills.  A good sense of humor is a must!

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.

About Columbia University

Columbia University is one of the world's most important centers of research and at the same time a distinctive and distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the university to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.

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