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Senior Administrative Assistant:
SLP Administration & Residential Life Programs

Overview
Under minimal supervision, performs complex and diverse duties in support of Student Life Programs Administration and Residential Life Programs. Provides advanced administrative support for multiple programs and projects. Anticipates and initiates actions regarding office operations which require in-depth knowledge of the Institute and other departments. Functions as a high-level individual contributor or coordinator of multiple projects and processes.

Job Responsibilities and Requirements
Graduate Resident Tutor and House Team Programs Support (30%); Coordinate Departmental Administrative Processes and Reports (20%)

• Takes full responsibility for successfully coordinating and delivering departmental reports and administrative processes. In some cases, composes and edits documents and reports. In other cases, delegates sections of reports to Assistant Deans and other staff and ensures submissions are made on time. Brings all documents to final draft for final review by Director.
• Maintains House Team and SLP administrative databases and files, such as staff time-off and personnel files. Identifies need for new databases and/or when new databases will create efficiencies. Is able to create new databases.
• Monitors and reconciles Graduate Resident Tutor budgets and accounts using SAP and Microsoft Excel, based upon budgets set by individual faculty Housemasters. On behalf of Housemasters, signs for and approves individual Graduate Resident Tutor expenditures. Works with the Student Activities Finances Office to investigate and follow-up on purchasing and accounting discrepancies.
• Coordinates and schedules faculty Housemaster and SLP staff search processes.
• Takes ownership for the coordination and oversight of the annual summer Resident Advisor and Graduate Resident Tutor recruitment and selection processes. Promotes the programs, organizes and facilitates information sessions, receives and reviews applications, and distributes to House Teams for review. Assists the RLP staff in making placement decisions.
• Creates and updates the Graduate Resident Tutor, Summer Resident Advisor, and Housemaster training manuals and resource information. Creates and updates procedures for departmental processes. Maintains timelines and communicates to relevant staff to enable them to plan effectively.
• Coordinates events, typically replicating established events, though often using new content to meet current needs. Examples include all training programs for over 90 Graduate Resident Tutors and 20 faculty Housemasters, as well as departmental staff meetings and retreats. For GRT and Housemaster training programs, event planning begins months in advance. Drafts staff meeting and retreat content for review; compiles guests lists for final review. May develop and deliver content for individual training and/or retreat sessions.
• Deals with confidential and/or sensitive issues, such as faculty Housemaster search processes, review and organization of Graduate Resident Tutor and Summer Resident Advisor applications, staff performance reviews, and student life and critical individual student issues through both the Director’s projects and the MIT Dean on Call system.

Provides Administrative and Project Management Support to Director (30%) and General Administrative and Program Support to Residential Life Programs (20%)

• Responds to internal and external inquiries requiring an in-depth understanding of work-area and MIT policies and procedures. Director has regular contact with a wide variety of internal MIT offices, as well as local governmental agencies. Takes ownership of inquiries by providing explanations and instructions. Ensures inquiries are addressed and resolved with minimal involvement of Director.
• Resolves highly complex problems requiring information from multiple sources or advanced knowledge in a thorough and timely manner. Often requires ability to evaluate and make decisions among multiple priorities. Resolution is achieved through unique approaches or reference to a variety of policies, precedents, and past practices.
• Identifies the need for and creates filing systems and monitors efficiency.
• Provide comprehensive staffing services to committees and working groups, often around complex issues with varied perspectives. Attends high-level and/or confidential meetings; records, interprets, drafts, and distributes (pending approval) minutes from said meetings. Manages and tracks progress of committee and working group members between meetings without supervision.
• Schedules diverse and complex appointments and meetings for Director and, on occasion, Assistant Dean for Residential Life Programs, often involving faculty and/or directors and other administrative staff from departments across the Institute.
• Researches and gathers information from multiple sources for highly complex projects, particularly for working groups and committees. Past examples have included creation of MIT’s Dean-on-Call system protocols manual and coordination of various aspects of Institute reviews of our residential system.
• Composes and edits internal correspondence and documents and, on occasion, documents meant for external audiences such as local licensing agencies. Writes content and designs PowerPoint presentations, particularly for working groups and committees and/or departmental presentations to various MIT departments and student groups.
• Maintains budget accounting records for SLP Administration and RLP. Serves as a liaison between the Division of Student Life Financial Services Team and the SLP Administration and RLP, ensuring that the Financial Services Team is delivering effective and efficient financial support to the Offices.
• Performs other related duties as required, including work performed at lower levels, when necessary.

Supervision Received
Receives minimal supervision from Associate Dean and Director of Student Life Programs and the Assistant Dean for Residential Life Programs.

Supervision Exercised
Provides team and departmental leadership and coordination to variety of processes. Sets professional and performance standards for front office and student staff.

Qualifications
Associate/Bachelors degree or a combination of equivalent education, and at least seven years of secretarial, office, or related experience required. Requires thorough understanding of own work and how it impacts operations outside own work unit. Ability to recognize needs of unit and how it impacts other areas at MIT and understand own role relative to all areas. Varied computer software skills required. Able to identify and learn new programs and software skills as necessary. Easily negotiates Internet to perform searches. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills in order to represent the work area and the larger MIT community.

Descriptors

Collaboration:
Collaborates with team; shares relevant information with those who may be affected by decisions. Participates in formal or informal group problem solving for immediate issues. May provide basic facilitation for group discussions. Identifies and resolves issues in own work group. Assists with issues that impact other areas.

Communication Effectiveness:
Communicates, interprets and trains others on departmental policies. Develops internal procedures. Conveys complex information to others and takes steps to ensure understanding. Shares information in a clear and concise manner. Tailors communication to different audiences.

Decision Making:
Decision making guided by varied and less defined instructions and practices requiring broader interpretation. Automatically makes decisions on issues and priorities for own work area. Makes recommendations to resolve department-wide and/or residential system-wide problems.

Influence and Leading:
Serves as a training resource to less experienced staff, providing an example with regard to quality of work. Provides guidance and leadership in non-routine tasks. Ensures that others comply with established standards.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving:
Through in-depth information gathering and a high level of analysis, identifies problems and develops solutions to highly complex problems. Prioritizes work, taking into account own work area and needs of larger work area, project timelines and sponsor, and other deadlines.

Responsibility and Accountability:
Work affects all Student Life Programs units, as well as the work of other Division of Student Life and partner departments. Determines and may develop departmental procedures and recommends changes to work area processes. Work is reviewed at final stage. Accountable for the end product of own work as well as work of others; however, is not responsible for performance of others. Exercises confidentiality of highly classified information due to nature and type of work, based on security procedures.