About Empire State College:

Empire State College was established in 1971 by Dr. Ernest Boyer as a distinctive statewide institution focused on innovative and nontraditional teaching and learning.

The college continues its 48-year commitment experimenting with new, flexible, and individualized modes of learning through such practices as mentoring students throughout their academic studies, creating individualized degree plans, valuing learning gained from life and work experience, building professional and social student support communities and creating flexible modes of delivery to meet students' diverse learning preferences. The college now boast over 87,000 proud and successful alumni and partners with nearly 17,000 students a year who want to expand their personal and professional horizons.

Empire State College is a part of the SUNY System and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. With headquarters in Saratoga Springs, New York, ESC serves mostly working adults pursuing associate, bachelor's and master's degrees online and onsite at 35 locations across the state of New York and abroad.

Job Description:

SUNY Empire State College's Division of Student Affairs - Office of Student Success and Development seeks a full-time Student Success and Development Specialist (State Title: Staff Assistant) in our Capital District region (Saratoga Springs, Latham or Albany NY locations) with the expectation to support students online as well as face-to-face. This position requires dedication to providing an excellent student support experience through different modalities of service delivery.

The successful candidate will be able to do the following:

• Work under the supervision of the coordinator to collaborate with students, faculty and staff across the college, advocating on behalf of student success and retention.
• Develop and maintain a shared understanding of the processes and policies of the College to ensure that students' concerns, issues and questions are received, processed, and resolved in an efficient, clear, and timely manner.
• Provide student services support, referrals, and resources for students, faculty, and staff in multiple modalities.
• Participate in the implementation of student success initiatives to assist students in achieving their academic goals, fostering a climate of student advocacy and empowerment.
• Orient and provide intensive, proactive outreach and support to first term students.
• Compile and create reports on student retention data for the coordinator in order to identify retention gaps and design effective intervention strategies.
• Respond to and investigate student issues within the assigned areas of responsibility (regional/at a distance).
• Support regional activities, events, and relationships as needed related to student success/student services.
• Assist coordinator or other team members with projects, resource development as needed.

The selected incumbent must be knowledgeable about student services at the college level and should have familiarity with working with adult students in both face-to-face and online learning environments. The selected incumbent will work as part of a larger college wide team of specialists, assistants, and coordinators to provide high quality student services to students across all of SUNY Empire State College. These teams work very closely with professionals, administrators and faculty at the undergraduate levels to:

• identify and respond to student needs,
• identify, create, evaluate, and connect students to appropriate resources, and
• resolve student issues

The Student Success and Development Specialist -works closely with other the Coordinators and Assistants to identify opportunities for improvement in levels of support, systems and processes.

Essential Functions:

• Work with coordinator to develop and deliver student success and development services at specific locations and online.
• Use tracking system (currently Advise) for alerts, note taking, activities, and tracking.
• Collaborate with other Student Success and Development team members to better facilitate college wide delivery of direct service to students.
• Facilitate orientation at a location or online as assigned.
• Promote student success services and events. Help in the production of promotional materials for each term.
• Assist Student Success and Development Coordinator (SSDC) with data collection and reporting.
• Assist Student Success and Development Coordinator (SSDC) with targeted proactive and reactive outreach to students at key times in the student life cycle/term.
  

Knowledge, Ability and Skills:

• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to empathize with students in need of academic support
• Ability to assess student needs and make referrals as appropriate
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to work in a setting that promotes both teamwork and independence

Requirements:

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree
• Two or more years of experience in higher education
• Strong interpersonal and excellent customer service skills
• Ability to meet deadlines and handle multiple tasks
• Demonstrate ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Strong, well-developed organizational, written and oral communication skills
• Have a high degree of computer literacy;
• Experience in adult and non-traditional education
• Be capable of fostering safe, supportive learning environments in person or at a distance

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in a related field
• Experience working collaboratively as part of a multi-person team to provide student services and support resources to students
• Ability to work effectively with students, the public, the college community and external constituencies with sensitivity to the needs of older learners and an appreciation for cultural and group differences.

Additional Information:

Rank/Salary: $45,000

Empire State College is an EOE employer.

IF YOU NEED A DISABILITY-RELATED ACCOMMODATION, PLEASE CALL THE ADA COORDINATOR AT (518) 587-2100, ext. 2240. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TITLE II CRIME AWARENESS AND SECURITY ACT, A COPY OF OUR CRIME STATISTICS IS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST BY CALLING (518) 587-2100, ext. 2800. IT CAN ALSO BE VIEWED ON-LINE AT THE SAFETY AND SECURITY WEBSITE AT http://www.esc.edu/safety-security

Application Instructions:

Applications Due By: Applications accepted until position is filled.

If you are interested in applying for this position, please submit the following documents, which are required for consideration by clicking on the APPLY NOW button :

• Resume
• Cover letter
• Name and contact information of three references

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Returning Applicants - Please click here to login to your Empire State College Employment Account to check your completed application or to update your account.