Spark Fellow

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.

Scope of Responsibilities

The Spark Fellow helps operationalize the Spark initiative at Duke, a signature pillar of QuadEx. Spark welcomes our second-year students to West Campus with a kickoff event and subsequent small-group programming designed to help them reflect on their values and make choices (at Duke and beyond) that are aligned with those values. Spark will provide mentorship and intention to all sophomore students and foster smaller, course-based, co-curricular, and residentially-based immersion opportunities for students interested in interdisciplinary innovation and incubator-style skill development. Spark is a collaborative program between the Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Undergraduate Education, but the fellow is a member of the Intellectual Community team in the Office of Undergraduate Education.  

With a focus on the Spark initiative, the Spark Fellow is responsible for and empowered to collaborate with campus colleagues to amplify, curate and create programs and structures that directly impact the lives of Duke students through reflection, discovery; resilience, and wellness.  Guided by the best available research and emerging innovations, the Fellow will coordinate and deliver new approaches to program development, community building, intellectual discovery, peer education, assessment, and mentoring. Beyond Spark, the Fellow will work cross-departmentally to coordinate, support, and contribute to transformational educational initiatives.

Additionally, the Fellow will contribute directly to QuadEx programs and initiatives across campus. In addition to coordinating and launching signature events, the Fellow will also work directly with departments and student organizations throughout the university to create integrated efforts focused on the Sophomore class.

Duties

Programming: 30%

• Collaborate with Senior leadership from Undergraduate Education, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs to launch initiatives.
• Launch, manage, and track the progress of specific projects and deliverables for OUE, by enhancing faculty-student engagement and opportunities for intellectual exploration for students.
• Facilitate stakeholder communications, engagement, and outreach.
• Network frequently with student groups to assess educational needs and identify best paths to implementation of programming. Work directly with students to identify current programming and initiatives that can be amplified or adjusted.
• Use best available research and emerging trends to design developmentally­ appropriate programs.
• Partner with stakeholders to integrate efforts across the divisions and to advertise and execute as required.

Administrative: 30%

• Provide administrative support to faculty and administrative leaders by identifying agenda items, taking minutes, tracking action items, and managing other details to facilitate forward progress of initiative planning.
• Coordinate with academic departments, faculty and senior leadership from Student Affairs, Undergraduate Education, Academic Affairs and other administrative offices on issues related to initiatives. This work should be performed with an eye towards setting up and maintaining long-term success and sustainability of initiatives.
• ­­­­Support the financial administration of OUE initiatives, including managing and tracking agreements for faculty, TA stipends, guest speaker honoraria, and program costs.

Engagement and Marketing: 25%

• Assist with the development and execution of comprehensive marketing and outreach campaigns to promote initiatives.  Utilize social media to create excitement about the program and to recruit participants.  Manage event graphics, maintain website content, and coordinate distribution of event flyers and information. 
• Ensure that material speaks to current events, intellectual curiosity, decision making and exploring purpose-driven experiences and emerging trends.
• Serve as a liaison with a wide range of students and student organizations serving Sophomores to better understand the issues they face and to communicate those to appropriate individuals and groups. Meet with student groups and student leaders to report on progress and garner feedback for the ongoing stewardship of the Spark program.

Assessment: 5%

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research on career and leadership development topics and track the success of the program. 
• Write and prepare presentations of the results of this research both for internal use and for external constituencies. Prepare complex reports, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, and proposals requiring the identification of sources, compilation, analysis, and evaluation of data. Conduct online research, interviews, and focus groups to gather data for research projects.

Teaching & Training: 5%

• Become an expert in current Duke student culture. Train students and staff as facilitators as needed.
• Identify creative solutions for students to develop their raw talents into a set of competencies that provide them the perspective to take on the world and understand their place in it.

Other: 5%

• Support management and implementation of a variety of special projects in service of the mission and strategic direction of QuadEx, as assigned.

General Qualifications:

• Exceptional organizational and project coordination skills, including attention to detail, prioritization, and multi-tasking.
• Experience organizing and planning events.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Evidence of collaborating well with others.
• Evidence of taking initiative and reliably following through on responsibilities.
• Comfort with tackling challenges and navigating ambiguity.
• Experience with creative problem-solving.
• Ability to excel as an independent and flexible worker who easily adapts to evolving university needs.
• Strong interpersonal skills, along with a positive, friendly manner appropriate to working with undergraduate students, faculty, administrators, parents, alumni, and trustees.
• Proven ability to work as part of a team in a collaborative work environment.
• Deep understanding and experience with social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Demonstrated familiarity with and interest in the critical contemporary challenges associated with OUE’s mission: to deliver a transformative, residentially-based undergraduate education to a diverse student population.
• Sustained and increasing leadership in student organizations during the candidate’s undergraduate career is preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google suite and tools for project planning/organization.
• Experience with Adobe Design suite, Canva, Saka i, HTML, WordPress, Drupal, Qualtrics, and social media platforms is preferred.

Duke is an affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunities without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

N/A

Experience

N/A

Duke is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essentialjob functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and provision for requests for reasonable accommodation will be provided by each hiring department.