Assistant Director of Student Affairs Operations

Columbia University (Staff Jobs)

Position Summary

Reporting to the Senior Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, the Assistant Director of Student Affairs Operations advances coordination, visibility, and project delivery across the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' Academic and Student Affairs portfolio, which serves nearly 4,000 M.A. and Ph.D. students in nearly 80 graduate programs. The portfolio includes academic records and student progress; dissertation and degree completion; student life and well-being; and academic programs, fellowships, exchanges, and academic governance.

Working with leaders and staff across the unit, the Assistant Director maintains an integrated view of the unit’s priorities and workflows, manages projects that span functions, and supports timely follow-through on the Senior Associate Dean’s priorities. The incumbent coordinates and monitors work, assists with execution, and provides operational backup as needed. The Assistant Director also independently analyzes operational needs, recommends process improvements, and coordinates implementation of approved changes. The incumbent interprets established University and GSAS policies, exercises professional judgment, and acts independently within assigned areas, consulting the Senior Associate Dean on sensitive, precedent-setting, or policy-related matters.

Responsibilities

• Portfolio Integration and Support to the Senior Associate Dean (25%)

• Maintain a consolidated calendar and status report for registration, Orientation, fellowships, academic exchanges, Executive Committee business, dissertation processing, degree conferral, and student-life initiatives; brief the Senior Associate Dean on deadlines, risks, and resource needs.

• Manage assigned cross-unit projects by developing work plans, establishing milestones, tracking progress, and coordinating follow-up with the staff responsible for each function.

• Coordinate Academic and Student Affairs staff meetings; prepare agendas and decision materials, record action items, and follow up on outstanding assignments.

• Review workflows across Academic Records, Student Life and Well-Being, Academic Programs, and the Dissertation Office in collaboration with the Senior Associate Dean; clarify responsibilities and document workflow revisions when gaps or duplication are identified.

• Coordinate budget reports, purchases, reimbursements, contracts, event expenses, facilities requests, and equipment needs with the GSAS Business Office and relevant University offices.

• Review and prioritize requests, resolve routine operational matters independently, and serve as a designated operational liaison on matters assigned by the Senior Associate Dean, escalating only rare, irregular, or policy-setting matters.

• Academic Records and Student Progress Operations (20%)

• Coordinate with Academic Records staff on CRM record creation, registration, enrollment status, transfer credit, leaves and returns, degree-progress review, and degree conferral.

• Develop project plans, status reports, and escalation protocols for high-volume or time-sensitive records work; monitor coordination among Admissions, academic departments, Financial Aid, the University Registrar, and other partners and help resolve operational barriers.

• Reconcile CRM and student-information-system reports; identify registration discrepancies, incomplete records, overdue actions, and students requiring review by Academic Records staff.

• Support New Student Orientation, pre-arrival tutorials, admitted-student communications, and updates to the new-student web portal; coordinate related handoffs among Admissions, Student Affairs, Communications, and University partners.

• Document and improve records-related workflows and service standards, support implementation of approved policy or system changes, and assist with special programs and processes such as the GSAS Matching Travel Fund or the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium program when portfolio needs require.

• Student Life and Well-Being Operations (20%)

• Partner with Student Life and Well-Being staff to aggregate and track leaves and returns, disability accommodations, housing requests, family-support processes, student conduct, student organizations, and required compliance programming.

• Maintain project plans, aggregate status reports, and cross-office action tracking that give the Senior Associate Dean visibility into trends, workload, emerging risks, and matters requiring leadership attention while protecting confidential student information.

• Coordinate outstanding actions with Disability Services, Columbia Residential, University Life, Counseling and Psychological Services, Sexual Violence Response, Public Safety, ISSO, and academic departments.

• Coordinate registration, communications, space, accessibility, vendors, materials, and assessment for student well-being programs, student-leader training, Orientation, and other large-scale events.

• Help document and improve service, referral, incident-tracking, and compliance workflows; provide administrative or project backup when needed.

• Academic Programs Operations (15%)

• Prepare and organize Executive Committee materials and communications in consultation with the Senior Associate Dean; track responses to communications and follow up as needed.

• Partner with the Senior Assistant Dean of Academic Programs to prepare materials and communications for fellowship operations; track project progress, identify unresolved issues, and coordinate follow-up with external partners.

• Analyze Academic Programs data and prepare reports identifying deadlines, discrepancies, and matters requiring review by the Senior Assistant Dean of Academic Programs.

• Assess feedback and operational data, identify opportunities to improve applicant, student, faculty, and departmental experience, and coordinate implementation and documentation of approved changes in collaboration with the Senior Assistant Dean.

• Dissertations Office Operations (15%)

• Track deadlines and workload related to prospectus defenses, M.Phil. conferral, dissertation committee approvals, defense applications and results, degree certification, and electronic deposit.

• Coordinate unresolved dissertation-processing issues with academic departments, the University Registrar, Columbia Libraries’ Academic Commons, ProQuest, Communications, and participating professional schools.

• Analyze dissertation and degree-completion data and prepare reports identifying workflow issues, approaching deadlines, and records requiring review by the Dissertations Office.

• Validate doctoral degree-conferral and Convocation eligibility data; coordinate corrections with the Dissertation Office, the Registrar, academic departments, and Communications.

• Other Duties as Assigned (5%)

• Perform related duties and responsibilities as assigned or requested, including supporting school- and University-wide initiatives, events, and periods of elevated operational need.

• Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent required.

• Three to five years of related work experience required.

• Demonstrated experience working cross-functionally in student affairs operations or a comparably complex higher education service environment.

• Experience coordinating work across multiple student or academic affairs functions, such as academic records, degree progress, student support, fellowships, academic programs, governance, events, or project delivery.

• Demonstrated ability to analyze and improve processes, develop clear procedures and documentation, and manage multiple projects with different timelines and deliverables.

• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, including experience reconciling data, developing reports or dashboards, and translating findings into practical recommendations.

• Ability to interpret and apply established policies, exercise independent judgment, resolve routine issues without close supervision, and recognize rare or irregular matters that require escalation.

• Excellent written, oral, interpersonal, and organizational skills, with the ability to build productive working relationships with senior leaders, staff, faculty, students, vendors, and University partners.

• Demonstrated discretion and ability to manage sensitive and confidential information accurately and appropriately.

• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel