Position Title : Assistant Director of Fellowships, Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships

Reports to : Associate Director of Fellowships, Office of Undergraduate Research & Fellowships

Grade/Classification: MR09/Exempt, full-time staff position

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville invites applications for the position of Assistant Director of Fellowships in the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URF).

The University: The University of Tennessee is the state's flagship research institution, a campus of choice for outstanding undergraduates, and a premier graduate institution. Enrolling over 30,000 students, the campus is located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains and beautiful East Tennessee. As a land-grant university, it is committed to excellence in learning, scholarship, and engagement. In all its activities, the university aims to advance the frontiers of human knowledge and enrich and elevate society. The university values intellectual curiosity, pursuit of knowledge, and academic freedom and integrity.

The Division: The Division of Student Success at UT works to engage each student scholar's experience by supporting their unique strengths and goals. It collaborates with UT faculty and staff to help each student scholar maximize their individual strengths and understand how their strengths contribute to their academic dreams, career paths, and personal well-being. As a member of Student Success, the center's mission is empowering student scholars to create and achieve lifelong goals by providing comprehensive education and access to resources.

The Department: URF manages multiple programs that support undergraduate research, from travel grants and research grants to on-campus symposia and workshops. URF also manages the application process for national and international competitive awards--open to undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni--including the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Truman, CLS, NSF-GRFP, and Udall, among others. Staff includes a Director, a half-time Faculty Director, 4 additional full-time employees, 1 part-time employee, and several student employees. URF is committed to diversity and inclusion and helping students explore how research and fellowships can guide or enhance their other UT experiences.

Position Summar y: The Career Coach assists undergraduate and graduate students in designated majors in the Tickle College of Engineering or STEM/Pre-health with career plan strategy and implementation through individual and group career coaching; delivers presentations/programs to student groups, classes, and university staff as needed; builds relationships/connections among the career community to create opportunities for experiential learning, networking, job searching, and graduate school admission. Coach also assists employers with their hiring needs and making connections with students.

Position Responsibilities :

Management of Student recruitment and development:

* Using strong student advising and project management skills, manage a portfolio of awards from recruitment through submission. Awards could include CLS, NSF REUs, Fulbright Summer Institutes, Boren Scholarship/Fellowship, DAAD-RISE, and/or Udall. Assistant Director responsible for process/student management from start to finish: identifying key characteristics of successful applicants for each award, strategizing to determine effective recruitment efforts at a large (R1) institution, establishing relationships with faculty and student groups from which to recruit, meeting regularly with applicants to lead competitive application development, and leading students through the submission process.

* Work alongside the Director and Associate Director to co-develop a strategy to recruit and maintain a robust Fulbright cohort annually. Director, Associate Director, and Assistant Director will each manage an assigned Fulbright US Student Program caseload. Assistant Director will be responsible for singlehandedly advising their caseload from recruitment through submission, including leading students through grant/country selection, managing one-on-one and cohort-based review processes, and developing/refining written application components. Caseload management also includes developing strong relationships with faculty/staff recommenders to encourage the timely completion of all recommendations and language evaluations as well as creating creative solutions, often in the moment, to common student roadblocks to successful application submission.

* Lead or co-lead student review panels to make difficult decisions regarding student nominations; provide insightful, objective feedback regarding student progress to Associate Director and Director to facilitate important decisions regarding the advancement of candidates for top awards.

* Use creativity, student-centered design, and prior experience to envision, build, evaluate, and manage multiple Canvas sites to develop uniform advising standards for the Office. Lead the office in researching and advancing strategies for the successful management of large application cohorts.

* Envision, design, lead, and evaluate writing workshops, writing retreats, and other student-facing support to successfully manage large cohorts.

Management of pipeline development and communications:

* Develop, maintain, and expand strong relationships with faculty and departments across campus to recruit and retain top fellowships candidates. This may include building on existing relationships, but it will often include identifying underrepresented colleges or departments, establishing new contacts, and expanding the reach of the office through careful and considered promotion of Office functions.

* Forge and develop new relationships to expand applicant draft support through a new strategic partnership with the Writing Center. Lead the office through the research and development of a peer review programs; lead cross-training as appropriate, including with URF staff, of this new program.

* Manage office communications to aid in pipeline development including biweekly student newsletter; short- and long-form profiles of applicants, finalists, and recipients; and regular social media posts. Envision and develop new methods of reaching new and returning campus partners.

Cross-functional Support

* Supervise all student workers in the office, assigning challenging and level-appropriate tasks. Provide training as needed to student workers to ensure success.

* Provide URF office-wide support as needed, especially during peak seasons. For example, Assistant Director will be asked to lead or participate in written candidate evaluations and nomination letters, mock interviews, and major campus events, including Discovery Day and EUReCA.

* Contribute to URF mid-year and annual reports. Aid in decision making regarding data collection, evaluation metrics, and reporting strategies.

* Manage data collection and data maintenance for several hundred fellowships applicants annually.