Director of Advising and Academic Support

Position Summary

The director of advising and academic support (DAAS) is responsible for designing, overseeing, and implementing a comprehensive program of advising and academic support to promote student success. Responsibilities encompass the following areas.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

A. Developmental advising oversight: In collaboration with academic and student affairs colleagues, the DAAS builds and implements strategies for developmental advising, onboarding, and academic support of all Garrett students.

• Serve as lead coordinator of the seminary’s academic advising program.
• Collaborate with academic and student affairs colleagues and faculty advisors to ensure continuity and effectiveness of the student advising experience from enrollment clearance to graduation with a primary focus on first year master’s students, non-degree students, and cross-registration.
• Co-facilitate faculty advisor assignments with registrar and academic dean.
• Provide consultation support associated with academic course schedule planning/rotations.
• Partner with academic affairs colleagues to facilitate standard student-facing initiatives such as graduation checks, academic standing, student petition review, commencement etc.

B. Serve as academic advisor: The DAAS serves as the academic advisor to all first-year master’s-level students (as well as second- or third-year students when faculty members are on sabbatical).

• Develop and implement advising touchpoints at important milestones from enrollment clearance through the beginning of year two (typically up to week three) to support degree planning, course selection, academic preparation, registration, and progress toward degree completion for first year master’s students.
• Conduct and/or support onboarding and advising of non-degree and cross registration students.
• Coordinate group advising and program-overview sessions throughout student life cycle, including new student onboarding and fall/spring advising.
• Facilitate second-year student handoff to assigned faculty advisors.
• Maintain appropriate academic advising notes and student records.
• Connect students across all degree programs to appropriate resources in support of academic personal and vocational success (i.e., academic, financial aid, social, spiritual, physical, vocational, professional resources and services).
• Guide students in switching or adding degrees, requesting transfer credits, petitioning for exception to seminary policies, declaring a concentration, taking ACTS courses, arranging independent studies, withdrawing from a course, taking an extension, etc.
• Maintain all student-facing curricular materials such as myGETS academic advising module, advising syllabus, communication plans, curriculum guides and degree paths.
• Provide back-up support for first-year DMin advisor and/or faculty advisors assigned to year two and three students, as needed

C. Coordinate academic support: The DAAS devises and implements strategies for academic support and writing services of students based on learning needs, cohort, student experience, and/or academic program.

• Create and oversee comprehensive academic support program, including but not limited to student onboarding, writing services, and academic coaching.
• Support and monitor conditionally admitted students, students participating in academic recovery, and students of care and concern through success planning and access to relevant support resources.
• Maintain appropriate student records, including the progress of all approved student success plans.
• Facilitate onboarding, training, professional development and engagement for academic support student workers (including peer mentors and PhD student support fellow).
• Facilitate the process for students seeking academic accommodations: serve as the initial point of contact for students; guide them through the process; manage communication about academic accommodations with professors, and oversee tracking, reporting, and record-keeping.
• Assist students who need academic accommodations by tracking approved accommodations with the access coordinator; refer students who need short-term accommodations for medical emergencies; help to ensure the seminary is in compliance with ADA guidelines by maintaining appropriate relationships with the access coordinator.
• Ensure students are connected to relevant resources (inside and outside of the seminary) such as English-as-a-Second-Language training, intensive reading or writing assistance, ADHD coaching, supplementary editing or formatting assistance, etc
• Develop and manage initiatives to support online students, such as the social-media page for student engagement (“Garrett Connect”).
• Consult with faculty members as needed to help students identified as needing learning support (writing assistance, help understanding plagiarism, etc.).

D. Coordinate writing services: The DAAS coordinates Garrett writing services in partnership with academic affairs colleagues and PhD student support fellow.

• Co-create and maintain writing services static resources and support materials, including but not limited to guides and documents (PhD Dissertation Guidelines, DMin Final Project Guidelines, Guidelines and Template for MTS Thesis, Getting Started with Library Research, etc.)
• Facilitate onboarding, training, professional development and engagement for student workers (proofreader and PhD student support fellow)
• Coordinate final citation and formatting check on all PhD dissertations and DMin final project reports before ProQuest posting.
• Support the coordination of DMin writing workshops (and other workshops as requested) in collaboration with degree director, faculty advisors, PhD student support fellow and the library.
• Manage student plagiarism tutorial, including updating Canvas, enrolling each new cohort, tracking student completion, and submitting grades to registration services.

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in higher education, counseling, student affairs, education, theology, or a related field
• Five years of professional experience in academic advising, student success, retention or a related higher education setting, including experience working directly with students, faculty and staff
• Demonstrated experience developing and implementing academic advising practices that support student persistence, degree progress, and successful completion.
• Strong communication, relationship-building, and collaboration skills, with demonstrated ability to work effectively with students, faculty, and staff across a small, highly collaborative institution.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, projects, and student support initiatives with consistency, accuracy, attention to detail, and a focus on documentation.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience providing leadership or supervision within an academic advising program, including establishing advising practices, training advisors, assessing effectiveness, and/or developing advising resources.
• Experience leading or coordinating academic support services, particularly writing support, tutoring, learning support, or other programs designed to strengthen student academic success.
• Experience working collaboratively across advising, academic support, registration, faculty, and other student-facing areas to create coordinated and student-centered support systems.
• Experience in a seminary, theological education, graduate education, or similarly mission-driven higher education environment, with an understanding of the needs of diverse adult and graduate learners.
• Experience using data, assessment, and student success indicators to identify needs and improve advising and academic support programs, policies, and practices.

Physical demands and work environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands: While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be able to move around the library; stand; walk; sit; kneel; stoop; safely climb a ladder to retrieve/re-shelve materials; use hands to finger, handle or feel objects; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; and lift / carry / move up to 25 lbs. or greater with assistance. The individual will regularly be required to communicate professionally in person, over the phone, and through email; and to sit, type, and stare at a computer monitor for prolonged periods.
• Work Environment: Employee occasionally may be exposed to weather conditions prevalent at the time but work is primarily performed indoors. The noise level in the work environment is usually minimal.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary does not discriminate, or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship, veteran status, genetic information, or any other classification prohibited by law in admissions, recruitment, financial aid, employment, housing, services, or in its educational programs or activities.