Student Services Assistant

Student Services Assistant

The Department of History at the University of Michigan is one of the premier and largest History departments in the world. We are a diverse intellectual community dedicated to excellence through research and teaching; learn more about the department at

We seek a team member who:

• Embraces the mission and vision of LSA and the department of History and the principles of integrity & trust, accountability & sound judgment, collaboration & innovation and positive & engaged community.
• Has an innovative and flexible approach to work.
• Enjoys working with quickly evolving projects and is comfortable taking action in a growing and changing workplace.
• Has a high level of initiative, discretion, accountability and sound judgment regarding sensitive and confidential matters.

The Student Services Assistant provides independent, high-level administrative coordination and student services support for the Department of History. This position manages curriculum and teaching support for more than 70 tenure-track, joint, and visiting faculty, ensuring the accurate coordination of instructional activities and related academic processes. The Student Services Assistant handles sensitive and confidential information, which necessitates discretion, sound judgment, and strict confidentiality in all aspects of work. The individual in this role must be able to work independently in a rapidly changing environment while effectively managing significant competing priorities and responsibilities. This position reports to the Student Services Manager.

Responsibilities*

Curriculum Support (40%)

• Partner with the Associate Chair to coordinate, build, and maintain the complex multi-term schedule (Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer) to ensure strict compliance with College of LSA guidelines.
• Stay current on room scheduling, registration, and faculty teaching policies as required by the department and the Provost and Dean's Office.
• Manage and orchestrate term-by-term course scheduling in Wolverine Access.
• Manage the course description process each term by collecting and entering course descriptions into the Course Guide.
• Serve as the department's gatekeeper for LSA curriculum deadlines and work with the Associate Chair to determine departmental curriculum deadlines.
• Track requested curriculum adjustments during freeze periods and execute complex, post-freeze updates.
• Oversee the submission of Course List Updates (CLUs) to maintain degree audit accuracy, process subtitle requests, and manage LSAs Undergraduate/Curriculum Contact worksheets.
• Utilize Business Objects to run and analyze enrollment reports.
• Manage the Term III process and communicate with the CA to provide offer letters to faculty approved by LSA to teach.
• Manage the staggered enrollment process for gateway courses (e.g., HISTORY 202 and HISTORY 195) to balance sections.
• Manage enrollment and waitlists, identifying low-enrollment courses and making data-driven recommendations to the Associate Chair (AC) and Associate Director of Graduate Studies (ADGS).
• Partner with the Student Services Assistant to advertise low-enrolled courses.
• Process independent study requests using specialized "INDI" numbers requested from the Registrars Office.
• Process overrides for undergraduate courses.

Instructional Support (35%)

• Oversee and collect faculty teaching preferences each academic year.
• Manage changes to faculty teaching and leave schedules throughout the year.
• Responsible for verifying that tenure-track and joint faculty comply with their annual teaching obligation and are meeting departmental scheduling requirements.
• Partner with the Executive Assistant in tracking changes to faculty academic year plans.
• Partner with the Office Manager to convert the course schedule to a Google Awesome Table for the website.
• Strategically analyze faculty course schedules to preemptively resolve time and topic conflicts, communicating with relevant faculty that may need to adjust their course schedule.
• Responsible for providing faculty teaching histories for promotional cases.
• Be the department liaison in collaborating with other units and departments to manage the meet-together process.
• Field grade inquiries from students and assist both students and faculty with the process of changing incomplete grades to letter grades.
• Primary contact to the Office of the Registrar for classroom scheduling requests.
• Attend monthly LSA LUGS meetings.
• Email faculty with term-start reminders each academic period

Undergraduate Program Support (20%)

• Serve as the primary point of contact to analyze and resolve intricate and complex registration issues, late override requests, and section swaps during the drop/add period.
• Partner with the DUS to manage the (HISTORY 195) application process; manage logistics around notifying students and tracking all applications and decisions.
• Provide guidance and advice to faculty in successfully preparing and completing departmental CARFs.
• Audit and compile departmental Course Approval Request Forms (CARFs) for the Undergraduate Committee (UC) to review. Direct external departments on cross-listing workflows to eliminate administrative redundancies.
• Collaborate with the DUS and ADUS for PARF changes.
• Review and update curriculum webpages.

Departmental Administration Support (5%)

• Represent the Department of History in attendance of meetings in LSA and UM
• Responsible for providing exceptional service to faculty, students, staff, parents, and other community members walking in, emailing, or calling the office during business hours.
• Responsible for responding to inquiries to the main departmental email inbox.
• Provide secondary event support for a variety of department events.

Required Qualifications*

The successful candidate will have 2 or more years of experience working in a higher education environment, preferably coordinating student services, curriculum, or academic records. This position requires an extremely high level of organizational skills and a high degree of confidentiality. Outstanding interpersonal, professional conduct, and communication skills are required.

Excellent communication skills are required. The successful candidate will have demonstrated ability to maintain a professional manner under stress, to set priorities while working on multiple projects, to maintain accuracy through repeated interruptions; the ability to produce accurate work with strong attention to detail; and the ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing to a diverse group, including prospective and current students, faculty, and staff. The candidate must be a self-starter; have excellent organizational skills; be able to set priorities and handle multiple assignments and deadlines; learn quickly; show initiative; have the desire to identify opportunities for changes to processes, procedures, and duties; and be willing to assume additional responsibilities. Strong computer skills are necessary, including proficiency with student information systems (e.g., Wolverine Access, M-Pathways), relational databases, or complex reporting tools (e.g., Business Objects, Qualtrics).

Desired Qualifications*

A Bachelors degree is preferred. Experience with any of the university's student services modules within MPathways, collaborative file sharing, and Google products is also preferred. Experience working in a History Department or a relevant other field is also desired.