Academic Administrative Specialist

Special Instructions to Applicants: All interested applicants must attach a cover letter and a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application in a PDF format. Please note that the applicant tracking system does not convert attachments in Word format successfully. 

Annual Salary: $50,500

Position Summary

The Jones Graduate School of Business of Rice University is seeking an Academic Administrative Specialist (the official working title would be a Faculty Support Specialist) to provide comprehensive, expert level direct support to faculty, and indirect to students and staff by implementing and administering day-to-day administrative support for Rice Business faculty and academic programs. This role serves as a primary contact to the faculty to ensure the efficient administration and delivery of Rice Business courses and related services. Position responsibilities include a mix of course/program/teaching support, including but not limited to supporting faculty administrative needs, Canvas management, grade entry, room reservations, and processing course information and material needs. 

The Academic Administrative Specialist will work closely with faculty and staff to maintain a high-level understanding of program and course logistics, and administrative policies and procedures. 

The ideal candidate possesses good administrative support experience, is task-driven, and thrives in a fast-paced working environment. They enjoy learning new things and are willing to act as the single point of contact for the faculty they support. The incumbent takes pride in their work, is thorough, pays attention to detail, and enjoys playing a supportive role to enable their faculty to focus on their teaching and research objectives. They are skilled at multi-tasking and are able to work with multiple deadlines and varying personality types, as they will be supporting an average of ten faculty.  

This position will be based in Houston, Texas at Rice University and be partially remote. The candidate should expect to work a minimum of three days in the office per week.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree
  • In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience, above and beyond what is required, on an equivalent year for year basis may be substituted 

Essential Functions

• Serves as the assigned faculty member’s primary support person; maintains expert level understanding of JGSB academic and administrative policies and procedures; supports faculty administrative needs, either directly or indirectly by sourcing and communicating information.
• Implements, administers and evaluates day-to-day business and administrative activities of the function or program.
• Manages course Canvas sites – duties include but are not limited to creating assignments, uploading files, creating announcements, entering grades, and posting syllabi.
• Organizes, manages and completes special projects as/when needed.
• Collects and analyzes data, creates reports, reviews and explains trends; formulates and evaluates alternative solutions and recommendations to achieve the goals of the program or function.
• Analyzes and interprets policies; develops, revises, and implements procedures. 
• Plans and implements outreach activities that may include communications, events, training, conferences, and fundraising.
• Performs all other duties as assigned.

Additional Functions

• Manages all course preparation, coordinating faculty to meet course deadlines set by the registrar and office of academic programs and student experience. 
• Manages course breakout room logistics & scheduling conflicts. 
• Manages purchases for faculty and courses. 
• Generates routine communications and coordinates production and distribution of documents such as course handouts, syllabi, and recommendation letters.
• Assists faculty with research, service, or other special projects as delegated by faculty services operations manager. 
• Coordinates IT, AV, software, and simulation needs for courses.

Preferences

• Administrative experience
• Experience working with Canvas, or any Learning Management System. 
• Experience working with faculty or higher education course support.
• Experience working with reimbursements processing, reconciling accounts, and purchasing.
• Served as an expert resource to other staff and faculty. 
• Demonstrated creativity, problem solving, critical analysis, initiative, judgment, and decision-making skills.
   

Rice University HR | Benefits: https://knowledgecafe.rice.edu/benefits

Rice Mission and Values: Mission and Values | Rice University

Rice University is an Equal Opportunity Employer with commitment to diversity at all levels, and considers for employment qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status.

Faculty and staff are expected (but not required) to have completed a full vaccination series for COVID-19 (currently defined as full course COVID-19 Vaccine (typically two shots of a WHO-approved COVID-19 Vaccine or one J&J) and a COVID-19 booster. Rice does not require documentation for COVID 19 vaccination at this time for faculty and staff. More information can be found here: https://coronavirus.rice.edu/policies