What are the responsibilities and job description for the Academic Life Coach (2 Open Positions) position at Slippery Rock University?
Position Purpose
Provide transformational coaching experiences to students that promotes a relationship-rich college experience, progress to degree, and increased self-efficacy as students address their academic experience.
Best-Practice Coaching
- Connect with and empower students in their adjustment to college academic life, by establishing trust, addressing knowledge gaps, and bridging students to various campus resources.
- Assess students’ academic needs and identifying opportunities for coaching on overall college readiness, commitment to degree, academic decision-making, academic habits and strategies, self-regulated learning, goal orientation, and academic motivation.
- Empower students, through contemporary coaching pedagogy, to design and build connections with a variety of campus and community partners based on students’ needs, interests, and goals.
- Use best practice coaching skills and processes, and work proactively to coach students toward their individual academic success goals and college persistence while also identifying potential barriers to their persistence, goals, attendance and degree completion.
- Use best practices in relationship building and sense of belonging literature to form connections with assigned caseload
- Provide ongoing accountability and support a sense of belonging by monitoring student progress, providing follow up outreach, primarily through leveraging the university student success CRM.
- Empower students toward using life design approach to their college experience through self-knowledge, values awareness and encouraging productive, intentional action.
- Keep concise and clear written records – in the university student success CRM – detailing student outreach, coaching activity, and outcomes pursuant to process goals established in CCAP.
- Help students to understand and encourage students to engage campus resources that address holistic student needs and contribute to student development, leadership, and advocacy programming.
- Refer to campus resources that support student success, and provide information that facilitate customizing student needs and support academic-related persistence; assure seamless referrals, linking students to appropriate services based on individual needs.
- Engage students, applying research-based coaching, learning and career development theories, while showing a commitment to team accountability and a culture of high-quality student academic support.
Intentional and Data-Informed Visibility & Collaboration
- Participate in and help track the effectiveness of strategically designed, data-driven outreach campaigns, particularly for diverse student populations and students who may be most at risk to persist.
- Demonstrate a commitment to values and best practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion and student learning, to enhance a sense of belonging and address historic and systemic inequities for academic success; focus efforts on relationship-building and dedicated outreach and resources to students based on predictive analystics and institution-specific student achievement gaps.
- Monitor and outreach to caseload using CRM, predictive and institutional data provided by the associate director or AVP; support outreaches and nudges according to the CCAP nudge calendar.
- Use persistence and institutional analytics as provided by the associate director or AVP, to improve connections and mentoring with students based on data-informed patterns/needs
- Implement best practice strategies to connect students least likely to engage with academic success resources.
Effective & Efficient Program Coordination
- Assist with success coaching program referral management using the university’s student success CRM.
- Assist with completing coaching work plans for students new to academic coaching who have a need and/or preference for professional staff intake.
- Assist with completing Financial Aid Academic Plans and designing academic progress coaching plans for students who do not meet Satisfactory Academic Progress.
- Demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning and professional development, engaging in department, as well as off-campus development in policies, practices and theories that relate to student persistence, coaching theory, learning science, student development, cultural humility, learning pathway development, and research-proven methods of academic support.
- Maintain a dedicated coaching caseload of students that is driven by predictive analytics and institutional data that show students with the greatest academic need; the caseload will be identified with the support of the associate director, assuring effective, individualized coaching dosage, driven by internal studies and effectiveness data.
- Assist with presentations and group coaching activities/workshops, marketing events, and related programming for prospective and current students, that promote student knowledge of, and inspire student action toward good academic habits and higher use of academic resources.
- Complete appropriate student outreach and engagement tracking in alignment with unit policies and procedures.
Support Office Operations and New Enrollment
- Provide staffing support/assistance and representation at prospective student/admissions events to connect with students and families and provide information related to college readiness.
- Assist CCAP with presentations and group coaching activities/workshops, marketing events, and related programming for prospective students, that promote student preparation for college, and college academic readiness.
- Participate in continued training and professional development, to inform best practice relationship-building and programming.
- Assume other tasks consistent with classification and in alignment with the unit mission, and strategic plan, that might be assigned by the assistant vice president or the associate director for academic success design.
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelors Degree from an accredited university, and one year of experience working in an academic or career coaching role supporting at-risk college students toward graduation, while employing coaching pedagogy.
Preferred Qualifications
Masters Degree and one or more years of experience working with academic coaching, plus one or more years of experience working with at-risk college students in a higher education setting. Training experience or certification through an accredited coach training program preferred (e.g. Inside Track or CTEDU).
Posting Detail Information
Posting Date
04/29/2025
Closing Date
Open Until Filled
No
Notice of Non-Discrimination
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, age/or veteran status in its programs or activities in accordance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other applicable statutes and University policies.
The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies:
Chief Human Resource Officer
205 Old Main Building
104 Maltby Avenue
Slippery Rock University
Slippery Rock, PA 16057
724.738.2016
The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies:
Chief Human Resource Officer
205 Old Main Building
104 Maltby Avenue
Slippery Rock University
Slippery Rock, PA 16057
724.738.2016
Respect for Individuals in the Community
Slippery Rock University provides an environment that respects, encourages, and promotes the talents and contributions of all. Slippery Rock University values a community with a shared sense of purpose, where people demonstrate mutual respect and appreciation. Slippery Rock University values diversity that honors and includes all persons regardless of age, creed, disability, ethnic heritage, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status in academic and extracurricular endeavor, in the working environment, and in the daily life of the university community.
Special Instructions to Applicants
Full consideration of applications received by May 15, 2025.
