Career Center

Position Overview

The College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota seeks to hire two Administrative Consultants. The Administrative Consultants address both the challenges of interim department administrative needs as well as training, development and retention for our professional administrative staff community. The Administrative Consultants work closely with each other and in collaboration with a department’s leadership, faculty, and staff and serve as a liaison to various collegiate and university administrative offices.  These positions report to the CLA Senior Director of Operations and require a high level of skill and experience with a broad range of competencies to support and enhance the academic, professional and community missions of the college.

Salary Range: $65,000 - $90,000.

Job Responsibilities

Interim Unit Administration – 40% (typically limited to no more than 2 departments at time):

• Coordinate and/or provide remote coverage of the department's most essential administrative responsibilities during times of administrative position vacancies and other extended staff absences. On-site presence may be necessary, but on an extremely limited basis (e.g., critical event, meeting, staff training/support).
• Work with the other Administrative Consultant,  chair/director and key staff to develop a coverage plan describing the essential responsibilities to be performed by the Interim or other in-department personnel during the time of the position vacancy. Responsibilities will vary, based on the department's prioritized needs, and will be limited to those that can be completed within the allocated time frame. Examples of responsibilities that could be performed over time may include:

Fiscal Operations -

• Advise and assist chair/director on fiscal issues related to funding, budget priorities, strategic planning and annual budget.  Responsible for fiscal activities including budgeting, managing expenditures and forecasting, and, for a few units, preparing transactional documents. Types of funds may include O&M, foundation, and/or sponsored. 
• Research and resolve payroll issues.  Review and sign off on bi-weekly payroll abstract.  
• Oversee, administer and monitor grants through close communication with the department accountant. 

Human Resources -

• Supervise unit office staff. 
• Serve as the unit contact for faculty, civil service, labor represented, professional and administrative (P&A), graduate and undergraduate personnel.  
• Ensure all faculty, staff and student payroll documents are submitted accurately and in a timely manner
• Serve as the primary unit expert on University and College policies and procedures involving promotion and tenure; faculty and staff searches; faculty and staff annual reviews; annual report of outside professional activities and business procedures. 
• Work with ISSS to manage immigration requirements for international employees.

Curriculum Management -

• Plan annual curriculum in consultation with chair/director, DUS and DGS in accordance with classroom scheduling policies.
• In consultation with department administration, assign teaching assistants, instructors and graduate assistants for the academic year and summer session. 
• Coordinate CCS and ECAS entry.

Undergraduate and Graduate Programs -

• Serve as a resource for the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Graduate Studies and chair/director in interpreting University student policies and procedures.

Administrator Training and Development & Retention – 40%:

• Serve as the primary mentor for new administrators.
• Develop and coordinate a team of administrator subject matter experts, who could be leveraged and consulted, as needed.
• Facilitate ongoing training for administrators whenever a new process or system is rolled out.
• Develop hands-on onboarding and training materials and programs for new administrators, including an Administrator Handbook. Survey existing training resources, identify gaps, and work with subject matter experts to address them.
• Develop professional growth and development opportunities and curriculum for administrators, including criteria for pathways to promotion. 
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• Cultivate a deeper “bench knowledge” of department administrative staff knowledge, skills, abilities, and interests into the future. Examples may include succession planning, ‘stay interviews,’ and otherwise engaging in mindful conversations about future career interests.

Consultation, Change Management, and Retention – 20%:

• Provide context-based advice for faculty and staff with regards to the services, functions, and structures offered by the college and the University, especially in regards to changes with PEAK, and provide assistance with directing people to the appropriate personnel or tools to complete tasks.

• Spearhead initiatives to improve administrator retention, including but not limited to: addressing salary and workload equity across administrator positions, promoting and supporting administrator well-being, building community, and enhancing climate. 

• Work with department and collegiate leadership and administrative offices to navigate nuanced change management, including aspects of staff leadership, organizational/structural and general departmental transitions. Navigate political landscapes of the various CLA academic and administrative units.  
• Evaluate staff capacity and ability within the department to cover or step up into ‘stretch’ assignments using overtime or salary augmentations as appropriate. 
• Develop  prioritization protocols and standard operating procedures to address administrator staff vacancies, particularly when the vacancies exceed the administrative consultant coverage capacity.
• Identify additional resources to address situations where  internal staff or the administrative consultant do not have capacity or ability to address the need.
• Assess operational needs in core practice areas of finance, curriculum, space, human resources, IT, etc. as outlined in the template administrator position description. 
• Partner with the chair/director to make recommendations and to set priorities and achieve the best use of unit resources to meet instructional, research and administrative needs. Provide strategic consultation and identify options to issues within the parameters of University and collegiate policy and practice.
• Collaborate with collegiate offices (e.g., OFAA, HR, ORGP), as needed, to ensure ongoing communication and operational effectiveness.
• Help coordinate collegiate initiative rollout as it pertains to the administrator role.

About the College

Home to the arts, social science and humanities disciplines and programs, the College of Liberal Arts comprises 31 academic departments, and over 20 interdisciplinary research centers and administrative/support units. CLA has over 1200 faculty and staff spanning research, teaching, advising, outreach, and administrative functions. CLA units reside in over twenty buildings on the East Bank and West Bank of the Twin Cities campus. CLA enrolls nearly 14,000 undergraduate students, half of the undergraduate enrollment on the Twin Cities campus, and over 1,600 graduate students and has an annual all-funds budget of over $250 million.

CLA is a destination for curious, compassionate individuals who are committed to making our increasingly interdependent and diverse global community work for everyone. That foundational commitment begins in our CLA Constitution. CLA is committed to increasing enrollment of underrepresented and under-resourced students, diversifying our faculty across all disciplines, recruiting, and retaining a diverse staff, and promoting the expression and exploration of diverse perspectives and viewpoints—so that we all gain the background knowledge and analytical skills we need to understand and respect differences.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in CLA

Working in CLA

The Benefits of Working at the U

How to Apply:

Applications must be submitted online at: http://jobsearch.cla.umn.edu/349233.  To be considered for this position, please click the Apply button and follow the instructions.  You will be given the opportunity to complete an online application for the position and attach a cover letter and resume.

Additional documents may be attached after application by accessing your "My Job Applications" page and uploading documents in the "My Cover Letters and Attachments" section.

In order to be fully considered, applicants must submit the following required application materials:

• Resume
• Cover Letter

To request an accommodation during the application process, please e-mail employ@umn.edu or call (612) 624-UOHR (8647).

Initial review of applications will begin August 1, 2022. This position will remain open until filled.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree plus 4 years experience or a combination of related education and work experience to equal 8 years
• Experience with budget planning and financial resources management and one or more of the following: human resources, promotion and tenure administration, curriculum management/course scheduling, university administration, or undergraduate/graduate programs.
• Experience with and commitment to working with diverse groups of people.
• Effective oral and written communication skills.
• Strong initiative and ability to work independently.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s Degree or advanced training. 
• Administrative experience at the University of Minnesota or in a higher education setting 
• Providing assistance to the Department Chair or Director of an academic unit.
• Demonstrated supervisory experience.
• Experience in developing and implementing training programs.
• Prior project management experience and experience managing multiple complex tasks.
• Proven ability to develop timelines, implement innovative strategies, identify problems and solutions and conduct systematic process/program evaluation and improvements.
• Ability to make sound decisions, set priorities and work with deadlines and interruptions.