Assistant Director Fellowships
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
Full-time
Education
Posted on April 4, 2024
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 Summary: The Assistant Director will manage multiple awards from recruitment through submission, including several awards that will help build strong pipelines to our office. These awards may vary, depending on the position holder’s strengths and interests. Beyond managing this individual portfolio, the Assistant Director will contribute to larger awards processes, such as Fulbright, which requires multiple staff to manage. The Assistant Director will oversee relationship building across campus, handle large-scale communications efforts (newsletters, story-telling, etc.), and contribute to a high-functioning office that supports a significant number of scholars annually.
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.
Qualifications :
Qualifications:
Education
Required: Master's degree Preferred: Doctoral degree
Experience
Required:
2-3 years of full-time professional experience supporting the academic pursuits and intellectual development of diverse college students. Examples of relevant professional experience include college/university teaching positions or advising experience in the context of fellowships, study abroad, honors, undergraduate research, writing support, TRiO programs, or academic or career services. Alongside full-time professional experience, graduate assistantships in a relevant area noted above and postgraduate experience working, studying, teaching, and/or conducting research abroad, such as through a nationally competitive fellowship (e.g., Fulbright), can be considered as part of a candidate’s body of relevant professional experience. Experience writing literary, journalistic, or scholarly publications and/or successful grant applications.
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities
Required:
· Ability to teach personal and grant statement-writing in 1-on-1 and group/workshop settings; develop related resources/documents; and motivate and support students to tell authentic narratives
· Ability to effectively challenge, support, and develop rapport with diverse, talented students across all disciplines and career interests
· Superior skill in written communication
· Public speaking skills necessary to present and teach effectively
· Knowledge of experiential learning in a higher education context, such as international education, undergraduate research, service-learning, internships
· Ability to exercise sound judgment/discretion/confidentiality and work effectively 1-on-1 and in groups with diverse students as well as faculty and staff
· Knowledge of the diverse populations on a university campus, their needs, and the resources available to them
· Ability to work well and remain organized/composed under pressure of national deadlines and high-volume times of year that require some evening and weekend work
· Knowledge of research methods of an academic or creative field
· Ability to take direction, initiate action, develop ideas, and work as a collaborative team member
· Ability to work effectively independently
· Skills in Microsoft Office suite
Preferred:
· Knowledge of external/nationally competitive fellowships opportunities, application processes, and selection criteria
Salary: Salary Range $54k – 58k and accompanied by a university benefits package.
Application Process: A review of all applications begins immediately. For full consideration, applicants must apply electronically through the Taleo system including submission of cover letter, resume, and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three references.
