Student Services Manager

The School of Humanities and Sciences (H&S) is the foundation of a liberal arts education at Stanford. The school encompasses 24 departments and 24 interdisciplinary programs. H&S is home to fundamental and applied research, where free, open, and critical inquiry is pursued across disciplines. As the university’s largest school, H&S serves as the foundation of a Stanford undergraduate education no matter which discipline students pursue as a major. Graduate students work alongside world-renowned faculty to pursue and shape foundational research that leads to breakthroughs and discoveries that shed new light on the past, influence the present, and shape the future. Together, faculty and students in H&S engage in inspirational teaching, learning, and research every day.

Applied Physics is a graduate department in the School of Humanities and Sciences. It is one of three elements—Applied Physics, Physics, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory—in the broader physics community at Stanford. Over the past 50 years at Stanford, the department has acted nimbly and evolved rapidly to combine diverse approaches at the boundaries of physics, engineering and biology, to both create and leverage new research opportunities. We seek out and develop new areas of physics with broad impact on science, engineering and society through research and education.  We believe that the key to our success as a department, both in the past and going forward, lies in strongly encouraging intellectual agility and interdisciplinarity through the creative mixing of ideas from the physical sciences, engineering, and biological sciences.

The Applied Physics team supports the research and teaching of 28 faculty and 167 graduate students.

The Department of Applied Physics is seeking a Student Services Manager (SSO2). The Student Services Manager will work under general supervision of the Director of Finance and Operations and must possess and demonstrate a positive outlook on continuous process improvement efforts while maintaining a team-based and customer-focused mindset. It is critical that this position exhibit the abilities to practice sound judgment and decision-making, effective written & oral communication, strong attention to detail and respectful relationship management. This position must also exhibit a strong desire to continuously learn new and unfamiliar business topics, policies and procedures as they relate to managing the student services team and serving as a primary resource for approximately 167 graduate students– the ability to translate this information into operational successes will be critical. The ideal candidate will display an executive and strategic mindset coupled with a willingness to actively participate in day-to-day tasks such as grad-aid entry and course maintenance.

This is a 100% FTE, continuing position exempt position. This position will be based on the Stanford campus and will be considered for an option of telecommuting (hybrid of working on-site and off-site, maximum of 2 days off-site per week), subject to operational need.

If you believe that this opportunity is a match for your knowledge, skills and abilities, we encourage you to apply. Thank you for considering employment opportunities with the School of Humanities and Sciences.

CORE DUTIES:

·       Administer an area or program in student services, evaluate and recommend decisions on program eligibility; support student attainment of degrees in timely manner; through activities such as milestone tracking, ensuring timely accuracy of Handbook, student communication and outreach, approving petitions, etc.

·       Work closely with other Applied Physics staff to execute complex student-centered administrative processes in the department such as quarterly rotation forms and degree progress related reports, meetings, and check-ins.

·       Collaborate with others to help resolve program issues and concerns, interpret policies, and mediate complex and sensitive issues. May be tasked with evaluating, recommending, and carrying out program improvements.

·       Resolve multi-dimensional matters in response to students in crisis, at risk, or who have other program issues, counsel students and parents on sensitive and confidential issues.

·       Serve as a subject matter expert to students and other departments; represent unit/department.

·       Reconcile complex issues; analyze diverse transactions from multiple sources. Includes supporting maintenance of course information (existing and new) and section information in CourseDog, both directly and in coordination with other departmental staff.

·       Identify and evaluate data needs, manage the implementation and development of technology, prepare/manage reports and presentations. Oversee development and launch of AP student dashboard that includes degree progress, timeline issues, exceptions made, etc.

·       Develop and implement plans for outreach efforts, develop and maintain external community and represent department and university at meetings and events.

·       Provide advice to matriculated and admitted students on a range of issues, including, but not limited to, academic progress, academic program policies, career plans, accessibility, community standards, etc., in order to guide them in making appropriate choices and decisions. May have to escalate issues to a senior advisor.

·       Lead, create and contribute to development of business practices and organizational change to improve processes and workflow.

·       Input funding into GFS working closely with other department staff; provide staffing and administrative support to Admissions process; work closely with DFO on financial and budgetary projections for the department’s grad aid budget.

* Other duties may also be assigned.