Position Detail - Area Coordinator, Student Involvement

Position Type: Staff Full-time

Hours per week: 37.5   

Weeks per year: 52

Work Schedule: 8:30-5:00, night and weekend work is required. This is a 12 month, live-in position, with on call responsibilities. 

Department Summary & Job Purpose:

The Area Coordinator is a 12-month position who reports to the Associate Director of Residential Life and Orientation. The Area Coordinator is responsible for the overall functioning of a student residential area of campus consisting of 5-7 residence halls, including direct supervision of Residential Fellows and Resident Advisors. Area Coordinators work with the Assistant Vice President of Student Engagement & Executive Director of Residential Life and Associate Director of Residential Life & Orientation to develop an environment where individual responsibility and respect for differences are fostered and valued. In addition, the Area Coordinators are responsible for planning and promoting programmatic initiatives that will support community development. The Area Coordinator for Student Involvement will also hold a collateral assignment working with the Office of Student Involvement and supporting orientation, programs, and leadership work.  Special preference will be given to those with experience working in living-learning communities. Serving in the on-call rotation requires a 15 minute response time. A partially furnished apartment with utilities included. This is an ideal position for a new professional. Bachelor’s Degree is required. This is an entry-level position with a limit of three years, with a possibility of extension for one additional year max. The salary is 44K.

Core Job Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Train, supervise, support, and evaluate 4-6 Residential Fellow and 20-30 Resident Advisors through one-on-ones, group meetings, and other office communications. 
• Advise and support Residential Fellow in the mentoring of the Resident Advisor staff in their respective area. 
• Participate in the Professional Staff on Call rotation and provide crisis intervention in emergency situations including contact with Public Safety & Service, Health and Counseling Services, and direction to paraprofessional staff.
• Be available in your office during your scheduled office hours. 
• Check and return voicemail, email, and other correspondences in a timely fashion. 
• Collaborate with and make referrals to other departments as appropriate (Public Safety & Service, Counseling Services, AccessAbility Services, Health Services, Student Involvement, etc.). 
• Enforce campus residential, social, community, and alcohol policies as mandated by Mount Holyoke College and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Serve as a judicial/conduct officer, handling College response to student violations of college policy. 
• Serve as the point person for Residential Life processes including Secondary Assignments for the Orientation program, Staff Selection, and department wide assessment. 
• Develop a curriculum that meets the academic and social needs of the students that live within 4 living-learning communities including First-Year Experience, Leadership within the First-Year Experience, Interfaith, and Language Communities 
• Oversee the living-learning community committee chairs 
• Design various initiatives for transfer students including National Transfer Student Week 
• Plan, develop and implement formal and informal educational and social programs for student staff, area- and campus-wide to promote visibility and community development.
• Manage requests from 110 student organizations for use of residence hall common space through the EMS event reservation system. 
• Assist the Associate Director of Residential Life with housing processes (i.e. room assignments, room changes, roommate mediation, and housing lottery). 
• Participate on various committees on campus and perform other duties as requested by the Associate Dean of Student & Director of Residential Life and the Vice President of Student Life/ Dean of Students. 
• Serve as a resource for students, parents, and other departments. 
• Manage the department social media platforms including Facebook and Instagram 
• Plan, develop and implement programming for annual events through the Office of Student Involvement, including Pangy Day- a spring festival 
• Collateral Assignment- Office of Student Involvement Responsibilities: Support of Orientation program including: Assist in the recruitment, selection, training, of the new student orientation team. Directly supervise the Orientation Fellow for Special Populations. Assist in the co-supervision of 20 orientation leaders. Assist with projects as they pertain to the role. Support for student involvement and leadership initiatives, including: Oversee the Leadership LLC and work directly with the community advisors as well as the student involvement consultants Directly supervise the Student Involvement Consultant for First-Year and Individual Leadership and work closely with the other student involvement consultants as well as programming that happens in the Student Involvement Studio Sit on campus-wide committees as it pertains to the role. Campus Groups Implementation Committee Secondary advisor to SGA Chair of Halls Attend the Office of Student Involvement staff meetings as needed. 

Qualifications: • Bachelor's degree required.
• Must have an understanding of values and expectations of a women's college that is a gender diverse, research liberal arts college.
• Demonstrate intercultural, diversity and inclusion competencies and a commitment to working with diverse populations.
• Working knowledge of principles, practices, and theories of student learning and development; understanding of the cultural, social, and educational needs of students in residential communities.
• Demonstrated ability to creatively and efficiently solve problems, using sound judgment, assuming ownership of a problem, and resolving challenges in a collaborative manner.
• Demonstrated organizational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in writing and orally.
• Demonstrated commitment to supporting the department's goal in creating and engaging in inclusive, compassionate, and authentic communities.

Preferred Qualifications: • Master's degree in higher education/student affairs or equivalent is preferred.
• Agility and familiarity with Google suite, Canva, database systems such as Residence, Starfish, Colleague, and computer literacy preferred.

License/Certifications: Valid Drivers License allows the employee to be certified to drive one of the vehicles in Mount Holyoke College's small fleet for departmental use. Not a requirement.

Compliance Requirements: 

Physical Demands: • Sedentary work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.
• Talking: Expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word. Those activities in which they must convey detailed or important spoken instructions to other workers accurately, loudly, or quickly.
• Sufficient clarity of speech required includes those which permit the employee to discern verbal instructions and communicate effectively in person and by telephone.
• Employee talks in front of large groups of people on a daily basis.
• Employee speaks with students and other faculty daily by telephone, e-mail, or in person on a daily basis.
• Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction.
• Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound.
• Repetitive motion: Substantial movements (motions) of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.
• The employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and extensive reading.

Working Conditions: The employee is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions unless on call in which activities may occur inside or outside.  

Background Checks:

Mount Holyoke College is committed to providing a safe and secure environment, supported by qualified employees that will allow all of its students, faculty, staff and those associated with them to successfully carry out the mission of the college. As a condition of employment, the College will conduct appropriate background checks for all new hires. Mount Holyoke has designated the Office of Human Resources as the office responsible for ensuring that background checks (CORI, SORI, Credit History, & Driver Credential) are completed and utilized in the hiring process and Five College Office of Compliance and Risk Management as the office responsible for facilitating background checks as articulated in this policy.

Special Instructions for Applicants: 

Apply online; application materials must include:

1. A cover letter summarizing interests and qualifications
2. A complete resume or curriculum vitae
3. Contact information for 3 professional references

Mount Holyoke College is a women’s college that is gender diverse. The College is committed to providing equal access and opportunity in employment and education to all employees and students. In compliance with state and federal law, Mount Holyoke College does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, genetic information, sex, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, ancestry, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected status under federal, state or local law. The College does not discriminate on the basis of gender in the recruitment and admission of students to its graduate program.

Mount Holyoke College is an Equal Opportunity Employer.