Associate Director for College Success, Academic Affairs

Overview

Reporting to the Director of College Success, Academic Affairs, the Associate Director will create, implement, and maintain programs and initiatives in the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity that advance the Center’s mission of supporting first-generation, lower-income (FLi) students as they enter Princeton and throughout their time there.

The Associate Director administers the academic elements of College Success initiatives in the Emma Bloomberg Center, working with the Director on all facets of summer and academic year programs. This includes the Freshman Scholars Institute (FSI), an academically rigorous, multi-disciplinary seven-week program for entering Princeton students, and the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP), a four-year mentorship program for FLi Princeton students. In addition, the Associate Director has primary oversight over the academic components of FSI Online, which provides students with a course credit and prepares them to engage academic resources that will be vital to their success in Princeton’s liberal arts curriculum. For all of these programs, this work includes, but is not limited to, recruitment, enrollment, placement, advising and mentoring of students, internal record-keeping and external communications, and strategic planning and assessment. To achieve this, the Associate Director will collaborate and liaise with stakeholders from across the University; provide high-touch mentorship and supplemental advising for program participants and other FLi students at Princeton; develop and deliver programming, events, and workshops; and help train, and supervise faculty and student employees.

Responsibilities

Summer Programs

In collaboration with the Director, the Associate Director recruits, onboards, and manages faculty and student staff for FSI and FSI Online. This involves coordinating hiring systems with both the Dean of the Faculty’s office and the Graduate School; updating, posting, and promoting job advertisements; shepherding summer course development with faculty from a range of different divisions and fields; interviewing faculty and student staff candidates for FSI and FSI Online; file reading and recruitment for FSI and FSI Online students; and developing and maintaining general programming. The Associate Director will have a particular focus on managing faculty and student staff in FSI Online, serving as the primary manager of over 25 faculty members and the first point of contact for academic issues in the FSI Online program. They will also contribute to the programming calendar for the FSI Online program, working with colleagues across the University to deliver a robust co-curricular program and partnering with EBCAO academic staff to ensure that the program aligns with the academic curriculum. The AD may be asked to teach in either the FSI or FSI Online programs, depending on faculty need. The AD provides mentorship and guidance to the first-generation and lower-income program participants, ensuring that students are connected to the appropriate resources and triaging emergent situations through institutional protocol as needed.

Academic Year Programs

The Associate Director works with the Director in setting a vision for academic and professional development curricula for SIFP during the academic year (fall and spring semesters). They support the Director in the conceptualization of the academic elements of the program, and take lead on delivering that vision by collaborating with faculty, staff, alumni, and other campus and community partners. This includes project planning and execution; as well as formatting and implementing curricula. The AD helps create and maintain the program calendar through workshop development and partner collaborations across the University.

Specifically, the Associate Director assists the Director in managing the Center’s SIFPlus programs: SIFPupils and SIFProfessionals in Fall, Career Fellows in Wintersession, and the Academic Fellows cohort in Spring. The Associate Director also works with the Director to hire, train, and supervise student staff who assist in the development and facilitation of these programs.

The AD provides mentorship and guidance to the first-generation and lower-income program participants, ensuring that students are connected to the appropriate resources and triaging emergent situations through institutional protocol as needed to promote safety and wellbeing.

Management and Training

With the Associate Director, Academic Affairs, the AD co-supervises one full time staff member, the Alumni Program Coordinator.

The Associate Director hires and supervises the course fellows in the FSI program, including over 25 full-time student summer staff. They also supervise 2-3 casual hourly full time summer staff who support logistics and operations for academic programming. The AD has managerial oversight over this student staff, running trainings and weekly management meetings, overseeing payroll and credit cards, and serving as the first point of contact for student employees. They develop professional development curricula and mentorship for these student staff, ensuring ongoing growth and reflection.

In addition, they have direct managerial oversight during the summer of the ~25 faculty members who teach in the FSI Online program, including recruitment, interviews, training, and weekly supervisory meetings.

Outreach and Collaboration

In conjunction with the Director, the Associate Director liaises with campus partners including the residential colleges, the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, the Council on Science and Technology, and the Writing Program, among others. They also work with the Director to maintain existing collaborations with departments and help build bridges with other departments to develop new opportunities for student support and access. This work includes developing and implementing evaluation mechanisms to measure the success of EBCAO's College Success initiatives, including pre and post surveys, focus groups, and data review.

Data and Assessment

With the leadership of the FSI and SIFP programs and the AD for Student Engagement, the Associate Director develops and maintains technological systems for tracking student participation and engagement and ensure student participation. The AD works with the Director to develop evaluation mechanisms to measure the success of EBCAO's College Success initiatives, including pre and post surveys, focus groups, and data review. The AD creates assessment materials and presentations on the outcomes of programs.

Support and Center Staffing

Like all staff of the EBCAO, a primary duty of the AD is to support, mentor, and offer supplemental advising of students across Center programs. As a core staff member the Associate Director participates broadly in the development and execution of all “To, Through, and Beyond” programs and initiatives during the academic year and the summer. They also serve as an expert and consultant on the experience of first-gen, lower-income students at selective institutions for the Center, larger University staff, and national landscape. In addition, they support the ongoing refinement, growth, and scale of current college success programs to meet increasing demand and work with the Director of Academic Affairs to innovate new initiatives to support the Center’s mission. At the discretion of the Director, they will also take on other duties as assigned toward this goal.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Ph.D. or equivalent required by June 2025.
• Demonstrated commitment to the value of educational, access, diversity and inclusion interpreted broadly, in higher education.
• Experience working with FSI’s and SIFP’s target populations, including but not limited to first-generation, low-income students, military-affiliated students, community college students, and adult learners.
• Experience advising students.
• Teaching experience at an institution of higher education.
• Demonstrated awareness of and experience navigating a complex institutional structure, especially when engaging faculty and campus partners.
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for training and working with teaching faculty and staff at all levels, from graduate students to tenured faculty.
• Logistical and administrative experience.
• Ability to take the initiative, work autonomously, and employ sound judgement, while also demonstrating the desire and ability to thrive within the diverse expertise and overlapping portfolios of the Emma Bloomberg Center’s team.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, and ability to convey the Center’s mission to diverse constituencies.
• 3 + years of relevant work experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in a field taught at Princeton, particularly a STEM field.
• Experience teaching in a selective liberal arts institution.
• Familiarity with program assessment.
• History of guiding at least one significant administrative project or initiative preferred.

Applications will receive priority consideration if received by May 2.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

Standard Weekly Hours

Eligible for Overtime

Benefits Eligible

Probationary Period

Essential Services Personnel (see policy for detail)

Physical Capacity Exam Required

Valid Driver’s License Required

Experience Level