Des Plaines, Illinois, United States
Operations-focused higher education professional with over six years’ experience in secondary and post-secondary education. Skilled in areas of logistical support, individual and team coaching, and strategy implementation for departmental and university-wide initiatives. Consummate professional; utilize expert-level written and oral communication and active listening skills to establish and manage positive working relationships with faculty, colleagues, students, and clients/employers, and to lead by example in all roles.
• Leads implementation and change management for operational aspects of key strategic initiatives for the Office of the Provost and Associate Provost for Faculty, including the evolution of the faculty hiring planning process and the design and implementation of the Faculty Recruiting System (FRS). • Implements and oversees annual faculty hiring plan process and annual faculty salary planning process for the Office of the Provost, working with the Provost, Associate Provosts, Assistant Provosts, school deans, associate deans, and Office of Budget and Planning. • Assesses financial exposure across the University related to faculty recruitment and retention; advises senior leaders of progress against approved hiring plan budget and provide guidance on consideration of additional resource requests. • Identifies intersections between University policies, processes, and systems impacting faculty lifecycles and collaborates across units to coordinate solutions. • Oversees budgeting and financial administration for the Associate Provost for Faculty and related initiatives. • Convenes and nurtures community of faculty affairs staff from across Northwestern’s schools, creating space for sharing of best practices, honest dialogue regarding schools’ needs and roadblocks, and strengthening of the partnership between schools and Central Administration.
• Directs all activities relating to faculty records and life cycle processes (recruitment, hiring, promotion/tenure, leaves, retention, retirement) in the Office of the Provost and serves as lead representative for faculty data. • Implements and oversees annual faculty hiring plan process and annual faculty salary planning process for the Office of the Provost, working with the Provost, Associate Provosts, Assistant Provosts, school deans, associate deans, and Office of Budget and Planning. • Identifies needs in reporting procedures; develops and implements improvements to systems and processes.
• Enhance, develop, and manage the delivery of support services within the department to provide superior customer service. • Supervise team of 12 student advisors through direct and indirect observation to assist them in moving from reactive to proactive student coaches. Manage staff activity by providing support, direction, and staff coaching to strengthen skills and department efficiency. • Provide daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly customer service analysis and reporting, utilizing CampusVue and Microsoft Excel to improve overall department performance; teach advisors to approach students as people first. • Appropriately interpret university policies, procedures, requirements, and effectively communicate them to department staff to ensure compliance. • Operationalize department director’s vision for departmental strategy through careful followership; provide analysis and implementation of new ideas. • Engage advisors in proactive team-building exercises to improve advisor-to-advisor communication and help advisors move from being simply compliant to one another and toward true team commitment. • Maintain partnerships with departments outside of student services to ensure all issues and inquiries are handled in a timely fashion and to build consensus through mutual support, including academics, career services, and the university registrar.
• Strategically identified and developed initiatives to increase student and alumni usage of career services tools; regularly overachieved new employment goals in support of departmental vision. • Researched and solicited job opportunities for students both locally and out-of-state. Contacted employers directly to gather information regarding job requirements and hiring initiatives and used other research tools including LinkedIn, Indeed, and similar recruitment and social media outlets. • Oversee university’s Virtual Commons, including more than 10 clubs reaching over 20,000 students. Support faculty moderators with content creation, sharing of best practices, and issue resolution. Partner with Vice President of Student Affairs in hiring new moderators, including sourcing interest among adjunct faculty body, contract explanation, and training. Submit payment request for guest speakers within budget. • Serve as official representative of Virtual Commons to all internal and external parties. Craft, prepare, and distribute communication on department’s behalf. Manage Virtual Common’s website and social media communication. • Moderate Career Services Club; create weekly content designed to connect nearly 1000 club members with nationwide employers, discuss relevant job search topics and techniques, and network with fellow students. • Assist with first-line auditing functions ensuring compliance with all accreditation, state and federal regulations. • Assist Career Services management team in identifying areas for improvements involving career search processes and assistance and in coordinating the implementation of these initiatives. Assist with providing support for policy development, data review, and department assessment. • Lead monthly Breeze-based new student orientation presentation to welcome new students to the university and highlight departmental services; own, create, and update content for this presentation.
• Educate graduates and current students on job search techniques, job market trends, and professional etiquette to support job-search success. • Assess student values, skill sets, and experiences and coach the students on pulling these facets together into a cohesive personal brand. • Review and critique resumes and cover letters to enhance student marketability; create targeted and compelling documents that highlight relevant skills and present a branded image. • Conduct mock interviews and assist students in identifying key skills, experiences, and accomplishments while also enabling students to effectively market these skills in an interview setting. • Elevate students from reactive to proactive job-seekers by developing students’ networking proficiency and their ability to target employers, participate in informational interviews, and effectively use social media platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. • Reinforce a targeted and focused job search by researching and compiling job leads based on students’ skill sets and target industries. • Audit student files for accuracy to maintain compliance with all accreditation, state, and federal regulations. Key Accomplishments: • Designed and developed multiple department resources in order to support professional growth and improve student-service, including: -Microsoft Excel database of common general and industry-specific interview questions focused on business, criminal justice, information technology, healthcare, education, and fine arts programs. -Coaching resource focused on helping students and advisors develop powerful resume action-benefit statements in order to communicate to prospective employers the students’ value-added. • Generated ideas for innovative redesign of departmental website. • Developed, presented, and facilitated departmental seminars on personal branding and mock interviews. • Consistently overachieved all new employment benchmarks by 60 to 65% in support of university goals.
• Taught 4th through 8th grade concert band classes at seven parochial and private schools in the North Shore area of Chicagoland. • Led bi-weekly rehearsals on all instruments; prepared bands for quarterly in-school and evening performances containing over 125 students and attended by over 350 parents and community members. • Developed and implemented differentiated lessons plans which allowed students of all learning modalities to experience music through playing instruments, listening, analyzing, and composing.
• Fostered students’ understanding of music theory, history, and appreciation through six daily sections of keyboard-based General Music class. • Developed and implemented semester-long curriculum designed to heighten students’ abilities to listen critically to all genres of music, create and interact with music based on its historical and cultural significance, and improve their own performance skills at the piano. • Served as Pep Band Assistant Director; led weekly rehearsals in preparation for evening performances. • Served as Percussion Instructor/Coordinator for NorthWood High School. Supervised all percussion-based instruction for the NorthWood High School Red Regiment Marching Band. Led weekly rehearsals for both battery and front pit ensemble. Assisted band at weekly contests and oversaw all care, maintenance, and purchase of percussion instruments. Prepared concert percussion ensemble for contest and led weekly concert percussion sectionals.
• Assisted over 500 adult learners from across the country with the transition from the workplace to the classroom by advising students in areas of goal-setting, time management, general academics, computer skills, and problem resolution. • Focused primarily on students new to the university and undeclared undergraduates to support a positive first collegiate experience for this at-risk student population; responsible for new student orientation and support throughout students’ first five weeks within the university community. • Facilitated communication by serving as liaison between the student and other agencies, including the professor, academic deans, academic review board, financial aid department, and career services department. Key Accomplishments: • Developed and led a Breeze-based interdepartmental employee training seminar designed to heighten university awareness of the student advising department and to facilitate cross-departmental communication.