Events and Office Coordinator - The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York

• Job Type: Support Staff - Union
• Bargaining Unit: Local 2110
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $58,000-$63,000

Position Summary

Reporting to the Assistant Dean for Student Life, the Office and Events Coordinator provides comprehensive administrative support for the day-to-day operations within the SIPA Office of Student Affairs (OSA) suite as well as for the many related student services that stem from the SIPA OSA mission. In particular, this coordinator assists with the management of SIPA student groups. The SIPA OSA suite is the primary station for a hectic, complex, and diverse student affairs/student life operation that provides a wide range of student and academic services throughout the SIPA community. Serving as first point of contact in the suite and as SIPA OSA representative, the incumbent must be able to address student, faculty, staff and guest inquiries with considerable knowledge and poise. With respect to SIPA OSA core services, they provide support for OSA-led events and programming that occur throughout the academic year and summer months. As the work of OSA is varied and voluminous, they hire and train student staff in all aspects of OSA operations to help with the many tasks to ensure that OSA services run smoothly. In addition, they manages busy appointment calendars for student advising and programming, provide logistical support to student leaders and student event organizers, and serve as liaison to University event organizers, external vendors, and student groups. The incumbent coordinates office support coverage, manages office workflows, and ensures that the office and its services are well provisioned.

At SIPA-the world's leading school of global policy-we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. We work to cultivate these values in our practices, programs and policies. We aim to create a workplace and celebrates the unique lived experiences of all our staff, students and faculty. We are particularly interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the School. Applicants are encouraged to include information in their cover letter about how they will further this goal.

Responsibilities

Student Life and Student Group Support:

• Plan and coordinate a diverse range of student life events and programs including social, cultural educational and recreational activities.
• Assist with semi-annual Student Group Leaders and Peer Advisor training
• Assist with budget oversight for student organizations
• Work with Assistant Dean of Student Life to review and approve student event requests to ensure that events comply with school policies and regulations
• Provide support to the Assistant Dean for Student Life in managing room reservations for student group events via our room reservation platform, Event Management System (EMS)
• As directed by the Assistant Dean for Student Life, serve as a secondary support and resource to student organizations and/or other student populations
• Point-person for inquiries from students, staff, and faculty on Campus Groups. Assists with Summer communication with new MIA and MPA students

Operations and Administration:

• Greets and directs students, faculty and visitors to the SIPA Office of Student Affairs; answers and addresses telephone inquiries, directing callers as appropriate; and manages the traffic flow to the various deans' offices in the OSA suite. Primary responsibility is ensuring appropriate front desk coverage at all times during regular business hours
• Coordinates the OSA budget, reconciling charges, researching charges, and liaising with the SIPA Business Office on regulations and requirements.
• Maintains the OSA calendar and posts relevant deadlines/events and related alerts.
• Assists OSA staff with mailings and other administrative tasks.
• Manages office orders (supplies/event materials) and maintains office supplies.
• Processes PAs timesheets
• Maintains updated contact list of Concentration/Specializations/Pertinent-SIPA-Offices directors, program managers, coordinators, PAs, etc.
• Maintains, updates and distributes advisors, coordinators, support staff, and PAs schedules
• Provides support in managing OSA's email account when responsible person is out of the office to ensure timely responses to inquiries.

Events and Programming:

• Provides support with preparations and programming for fall and spring orientations and other OSA-led events by organizing student training and support, coordinating with outside vendors for breakfast/lunch/reception orders, ordering workshop program materials. Researches and arranges venues, contacts caterers and event-related providers, and liaises with the SIPA Business Office on regulations and requirements governing such events.
• Works with the SIPA building manager to ensure that conference center reservations and facilities orders for OSA events are entered on the Kellogg calendar and that potential conflicts are resolved.
• Liaises with student services offices (Academic Affairs/Admissions/Career Advancement Center/specialized degree programs programs/specializations/concentrations/DEICE) to promote cohesive office scheduling/calendars/office hours to reduce scheduling conflicts and allow time for better student engagement.
• Promotes consistent and comprehensive sharing of student and staff information to support better services across various offices.
• Provides support for graduation, primarily organizing procession lists with name pronunciations for each MIA/MPA graduate and assisting with the coordination of the procession line-up.

Student Hiring and Training:

• Hiring
  • Conducts screening interviews with candidates by email using three guided questions
  • Conducts in-depth interviews with candidates to rank best fits for hiring consideration.
• Provides summer communications to student hires to plan start of orientation and fall semester.
• Meets hires individually or in groups to discuss office operations and expectations.
• Determines student start dates depending on internship completion dates and assigns duties accordingly.
• Sets weekly schedules depending on student class schedule and availability.
• Further delineates student responsibilities and provides training to students on each of the following:
  • Front desk management
  • Orientation
  • Registration Add/Drop
  • Helping to manage advising hours.
  • Events support
  • Graduation

Performs related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

• High school diploma or its equivalent required.
• Minimum of three years of experience in a high volume administrative/customer service environment required.
• Must be a highly organized self-starter with excellent customer service and communication skills.
• Must be capable of working efficiently under pressure and with minimum supervision.
• Must be able to interact with a wide variety of visitors and professional contacts in an effective and gracious manner.
• Proficiency in MS Office required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with SIPA and its programs, or comparable educational setting, is highly desirable.