Assistant Director, Student Engagement

Duke University:

Duke University was created in 1924 through an indenture of trust by James Buchanan Duke. Today, Duke is regarded as one of America’s leading research universities. Located in Durham, North Carolina, Duke is positioned in the heart of the Research Triangle, which is ranked annually as one of the best places in the country to work and live. Duke has more than 15,000 students who study and conduct research in its 10 undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. With about 40,000 employees, Duke is the third largest private employer in North Carolina, and it now has international programs in more than 150 countries.

Positional Summary

The Assistant Director, Student Engagement (AD) is an integral part of the Jewish Life at Duke (JLD) team, and helps the organization strive to meet its mission to empower students to learn and grow intellectually and spiritually, to inspire and nurture personal paths to Jewish identity, and to cultivate community and friendship.

The AD engages in JLD’s one-on-one engagement strategy, uses Hillel International best practices and student engagement data to help JLD improve the overall organization’s outreach strategy, plans and executes programming (educational, social, cultural, etc.), coaches students in developing and executing programming, leads student-facing marketing/communications efforts, and strengthens the overall support that JLD offers to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students at Duke.

Key Position Duties

Student Engagement & Programming - 50% of Effort

• Meet one-on-one with undergraduate and graduate/professional students re: their Jewish journeys and engagement at Duke. Time allocation should be 75% undergraduate student engagement, 25% graduate student engagement. Set student engagement goals accordingly.
• Coach and assist JLD’s Springboard Fellow with logistics of large-scale, student-collaborative programming such as the JFAM (Jewish First-Year Advisory Mentorship) program and the B’nai Mitzvah, including managing budgets.
• Serve as the staff advisor to various student groups, including Jewish Service Club and Jewtinos.
• Liaise with graduate student groups including Jewish Business Association, Jewish Law Student Association, and Jewish Medical Student Association. Assess needs and support graduate and professional Jewish students. Administer JLD’s funding support to these student groups.
• Develop leadership initiatives for leaders of JLD-affiliated student groups; work with other JLD staff advisors on such initiatives.
• Supervise JLD student interns, including hiring, training, mentorship, project assignments, and evaluation.
• Develop collaborative programming with other Identity and Cultural centers and build relationships by meeting regularly with ADs of those centers.
• Meet regularly with the student leaders of the Jewish Business Association, Jewish Law
• Assist with and attend key ritual/holiday events, including Shabbat services and Friday night dinners weekly during the academic year, High Holidays, and Passover, so as best to engage with students. Help with set-up, sign-in, and logistics for these and other events as needed.

Assessment and Strategy - 25% of Effort

• Serve as JLD’s team lead for Hillel International best practices for student engagement; gather and implement these best practices; educate JLD team members and student leaders and coach them to implement these best practices in programming and engagement.
• Serve as JLD’s student engagement database super-user: ensure data integrity and accuracy, attend Hillel International trainings related to database improvements, run regular reports, coach JLD staff and student users on the database features.
• Use student engagement data to inform JLD’s weekly engagement strategy and student outreach objectives.
• In collaboration with Campus Rabbi, develop goals and evaluative measures to assess and improve student outreach.
• In collaboration with Director, draft segments of annual assessment report.

Communication – 15% of Effort

• Oversee and execute the weekly student email newsletters, texting program, and social media calendar. Coach and guide student interns to create content for review and posting.
• Collaborate with other Identity and Cultural Centers to be sure that, where appropriate, JLD content is included in their weekly communications, and that their content is included in JLD’s weekly communications.
• Annually, oversee and execute JLD’s welcome efforts to first-year students.
• Along with JLD’s team, communicate with incoming students and families to assist with their transition to Duke, including giving tours of the Freeman Center for Jewish Life and meeting with prospective students and families.
• Serve as digital communicator for JLD. Serve as responsible staff person/web editor for the JLD website, proactively maintaining accuracy and accessibility. Attend Student Affairs and Duke Communicators meetings, collaborate with fellow communicators, create and execute communication strategy.

Other Duties & Responsibilities – 10% of Effort

• Serve as JLD mentor (not supervisor) to Springboard Fellow and Israel Fellow.
• Perform related duties as assigned or required to meet departmental, Division and University goals and objectives, as assigned by their Supervisor, Director, or respective designees.
• Attend and represent Jewish Life at Duke at appropriate department, division, university, and Hillel meetings, committees, and programs.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representative outline of the type of responsibilities that will be required of positions given this title and shall not be construed as all-encompassing or as a declaration of all specific duties and responsibilities of this position. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.

Anticipated Pay Range:

Duke University provides an annual base salary range for this position as USD $47,940.00 to USD $75,990.00. Duke University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position; candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills; internal peer equity; as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer.

Your total compensation goes beyond the dollars on your paycheck. Duke provides comprehensive and competitive medical and dental care programs, generous retirement benefits, and a wide array of family- friendly and cultural programs to eligible team members. Learn more at: https://hr.duke.edu/benefits/

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum Education
• Work requires analytical, communications, and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a bachelor’s degree program.
• Minimum Experience
• Work generally requires two years’ experience in personnel, college or university administration, or a related field to acquire skills necessary to provide program management, advising and general administrative support.
• OR ANY OTHER EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE.

Strongly Preferred Experiences:

• At least one year working with students in a campus environment.
• Knowledge about Jewish people, practices, history, culture, and identity.
  
  

Preferred Skills and Competencies

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills.
• Fluency with office productivity platforms, social media platforms, Box, MailChimp, and web tools.
• Having served as planner of or staff on a student educational / experiential trip abroad is not required, but is preferred.