Clerk IV (Office Manager)

Title: Clerk IV (Office Manager)

Executive Area: Academic Affairs

College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences

Department: CNS Student Success

Work Location: Amherst

Schedule: Full Time

Work Arrangement: Hybrid

Job Summary

Under the direction of the Director of Upper-level Advising, this position supports the mission of the CNS Upper-level Advising Centers. Coordinates all advising activity for the Upper-level Advising Centers, including managing the advising calendars via Navigate, and coordinating and tracking all advising activity. Responsible for maintaining and assessing the day-to-day operations of the CNS Upper-level Advising Centers to maximize their functionality. Serves as the primary reception for the CNS Upper-level Advising Centers, providing guidance to students or directing them to the appropriate resources such as CNS advisors or Deans. Responsible for maintaining a clean & professional reception area and providing excellent customer service to all visitors. Other unit support includes scheduling student advising appointments and meetings, reserving rooms, managing student lists for various advising functions, ordering supplies, and supervising Peer Advisors or other student staff as needed. Provide administrative support to the CNS Upper-level Advising Team, Assistant Deans, and Associate Deans.

Essential Functions

Acts as first contact for undergraduate students, faculty, and parents seeking information and/or academic advising. Must effectively triage all incoming student traffic. Makes rapid decisions to either personally address the question or issue, refer to another person or office, or arrange an appointment.

Answers questions about compliance with university academic policies and procedures such as late adds or withdrawals, registration procedures, etc.

Represents CNS to the public, responds to inquiries from parents and prospective students, referring to deans and advisors as appropriate, arranges visits and tours with CNS departments.

Edits, maintains, and updates the CNS Upper-level Advising web site.

Provides clerical support for the CNS Upper-level Advising team and CNS undergraduate student success programs.

Tracks advising caseloads, assigns advisors in SPIRE, and handles advising hold removal as needed.

Maintains appointment calendars of team advisors. Ensures that students meeting with advisors are assigned to an appropriate advisor and that advisors have access to all materials required for advising.

Serves as liaison to Office of Student Success for the maintenance of the Navigate platform. Ensures that the platform is operating daily.

Uses 25Live platform to schedule rooms for non-course uses such as seminars, workshops, programs, meetings, and admissions functions etc.

Hires, trains, and supervises CNS Upper-level Advising student support staff. Assign staff tasks and schedules.

Supports the organization of special CNS advising events, such as the Majors Fair, group advising sessions, Come Home To Your College, CNS Senior Recognition Ceremony, etc.

Supports the searches and interview panels for hiring new advising staff including preparation of hiring documents, tracking of search materials, reporting of search outcomes, and communications with job candidates.

Prepares SPIRE and Navigate queries. Uses these queries to create lists of service indicator/holds (e.g., probations, suspensions, and dismissals) to submit to the Registrar to process. Requests student databases from the Registrar's office and the Office of Institutional Research to compile statistics and extract specific academic information as needed. Oversees and manages reporting of this information.

Contributes to the college-level graduation clearance process.

Answers the CNS Student Success and CNS Upper-level Advising email accounts, triaging as needed.

Provides administrative support around petitions and forms.

Trains in Marketing Cloud to provide emails to select CNS student populations.

Supports, as needed, the function of the CNS Student Success Center.

Performs other duties as required.

Other Functions

Work collaboratively and effectively to promote teamwork, equality and inclusiveness.


Work in partnership with colleagues within the CNS community and across the campus to support the Dean's strategic priorities.

Perform other duties as assigned in support of the mission and goals of the College of Natural Sciences.

Minimum Qualifications

High school diploma and two (2) years of administrative experience or related higher education experience OR an Associate's Degree or higher.

Strong typing/word processing skills, including a knowledge of proper grammatical rules, spelling, punctuation, good attention to detail, and careful proofing.

Comfort with software programs such as Word and Excel.


Comfort with cloud content management and file sharing services such as Teams, Outlook, and Google Apps.

Preferred Qualifications

Knowledge of university policies and practice.

Advanced abilities using Microsoft Office or other software platforms.

Ability to organize and set priorities.


Demonstrated ability to work with minimal supervision and follow through on assignments.

Demonstrated ability to attend to details and manage large, complex spreadsheets.

Additional Details

At UMass Amherst and in CNS, we strive to be a community where every individual feels a sense of belonging, where every individual is included, and where every individual is valued. These values and goals are reflected in the College of Natural Sciences' Inclusive Excellence framework and in the UMass Amherst's For the Common Good: 2024-2034 Strategic Plan.

Working Conditions

Work is performed in a standard office or indoor university environment and involves minimal physical exertion.

Work Schedule and Work Arrangement

Monday-Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm.

This position has the opportunity for a hybrid work schedule, which is defined by the University as an arrangement where an employee's work is regularly performed at a location other than the campus workspace for a portion of the week. As this position falls within the University Staff Association, it is subject to the terms and conditions of the University Staff Association collective bargaining agreement.

Salary Information

Pay Grade: USA/MTA Grade 13

Click here to view theClassified Step Scale

Special Instructions for Applicants

Along with the application, please submit a resume. References will be checked at the finalist stage. Please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references.

This position will remain open for the time period required by any applicable collective bargaining agreement and will continue until a suitable candidate pool is identified. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early.