Job Description

Department:

Residential Education

Pay Rate Type:

Salary

Employee Type:

Job Summary:

Colby College seeks interested candidates for the Assistant Director of Residential Education. The Assistant Director is part of a residential experience that is evolving and focused on integrating the academic, social, experiential, and cultural dimensions of college life with on-campus living. The Assistant Director provides direct leadership and management to an area of approximately 14 residence halls and 25-30 undergraduates who serve as Community Advisors and Area Residence Directors (student hall staff). The Assistant Director will focus on building community, offering individual student support, and enhancing the residential experience of all Colby students.

Essential Functions

To perform successfully in this position, an individual must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily as well as possess education/experience, employ the knowledge, skills, and abilities as listed in representative fashion. Colby College actively supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and will consider reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.  This listing of essential duties is not all-inclusive, but representative; other duties may be assigned.

• Oversee day-to-day administration of the assigned residential area, consisting of student and family concerns, community events, staff, facility needs, student behavior concerns, etc.

• Directly supervise student staff including 3-4 assigned Area Residence Directors (ARD) and indirectly supervise approximately 25 Community Advisors (CA).

• Supervise the social and educational programing efforts for CAs and contribute to the development and implementation of the community development model.

• Maintain regular contact with the CAs and ARDs; conduct weekly staff meetings and participate in monthly full team meetings.

• Assist with the recruitment, selection, training, and ongoing development of ARD and CA student staff.

• Contribute to the financial planning and oversight of area-specific budgets for residential education and staff development.

• Support community development efforts led by Faculty and Staff-in-Residence through regular communication, liaising between Faculty and Staff-in-Residence and CA/ARD staff, and program design support.

• Promote shared community governance and international development efforts, and implement restorative practices to empower and elevate student voice.

• Provide student advising, mediation, and referral to campus resources when appropriate.

• Educate resident students on College policies and community expectations.

• Serve as a community values hearing officer for lower-level policy violations within the residence halls. 

• Support and collaborate with the Assistant Dean and Director of Housing Administration to assist in operational processes.

• Contribute to the management of major events, including opening/closing of residence halls, student orientation, first-year convocation, senior week, commencement, and summer housing.

• Participate in evening and weekend programming, events, and operations, as required by the nature of our residential community and support necessary for the Dean of the College division.

• Serve in the on-call rotation responding to emergencies and student needs/concerns each semester, including evenings and weekends.

• Liaise with the Dean of Studies Office and Class Deans to ensure student success and remediation of student concerns.

• Collaborate with the College and Dean of the College colleagues to develop, articulate, and execute plans for compass initiatives, including programming that supports the mission of a residential college.

Position Qualifications

Education and/or experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in education and experience; Master’s degree in student affairs or related field preferred

• 1 to 2+ years of professional experience working in a residence hall environment is preferred; graduate-level experience with hall staff oversight and working/living in a residential environment is also acceptable.  Excellent interpersonal, listening, collaboration, and communication skills to effectively support a variety of individuals

• Knowledge of and experience in implementing community development initiatives are preferred

• High degree of motivation and strong work ethic

• Proven ability to work independently and as a member of a team, establish priorities and work collaboratively as a member of a diverse community

• Possess skills to form and maintain positive relationships with a broad range of individuals and a commitment to treating all members of the community with respect

• Deep commitment to creating an equitable and inclusive campus community

• Commitment to high-level cooperation between student affairs and academic programs

• Possess strong interpersonal communication, planning, decision-making, critical thinking, and mediation skills

• Demonstrated skills in advising, coaching, and supervising a diverse group of students and staff

• Must be flexible, have great attention to detail, show initiative, and have a results-driven philosophy with the ability to problem solve and work collaboratively

Physical/Mental Demands

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform essential functions of this position and/or may be encountered while performing essential functions.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• To successfully perform the essential functions of this position, an employee must be able to maintain appropriate confidentiality with regard to employee data, documents, issues, etc., and respect privacy needs of employees and past employees with regard to the same.

• The ability to comply with highly inflexible deadlines is required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position; there will be multiple occurrences of sudden, urgent task completion required.

• There may be occurrences of employees, past employees, members of the general public, and others who express opinions, may exhibit strong emotions, which will require the employee to interact professionally, diplomatically, and appropriately in such situations.

• While performing the essential duties of this position, an employee would frequently be required to move around the office space as well as within hallways, meeting rooms, and other parts of the campus facilities. 

• There may be multiple/daily instances of prolonged personal computer use which would include keyboard and/or mouse usage as well as viewing a computer monitor.

• An employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds to perform essential position functions.

• Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and ability to adjust focus.

• The overall work environment requires the mental ability to shift focus quickly due to interruptions; an employee must be able to mentally track multiple projects and tasks as well.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate; however, there may be unexpected instances of somewhat loud sounds.

To Apply:

Interested candidates should apply electronically by clicking the “Apply Now” button on the Colby College website.  Please upload a cover letter and resume to your application.