Position Summary: 

Reporting to the Director for Residential Learning, the Coordinator of Residential Initiatives is responsible and accountable for the day-to-day case management, student support, and residential initiatives. The Coordinator plays a critical role in fostering a safe and supportive residential environment, working in partnership with other offices to provide follow-up for escalated concerns related to the mental health and well-being of residential students. During the summer, this position additionally leads all aspects of summer housing operations, including supervision of staff, and support for departmental projects and planning.

This is a live-in position that requires the successful candidate to reside in an assigned university apartment. The Coordinator is required to participate in a 24/7 on-call rotation with other professional staff, and to serve as a support for the in-hall staff and assist with emergencies that occur after normal business hours. This position is considered an essential employee during certain emergencies as designated by management.

Functional areas of responsibility:

• Work collaboratively with offices within Student Life and beyond to address and support students’ needs.

• Serve as the primary case manager for low to mid-level residential student concerns, including roommate conflicts, behavioral issues, and wellness checks/referrals.

• Assist with conflict mediation and crisis intervention.

• Supervise, train, and oversee summer housing staff, building and occupancy operations, and summer programming.

• Assist with the coordination and implementation of living-learning communities, leadership programs, residential curriculum, staffing training, recruitment, and special initiatives.

• Coordination of assigned move-in and welcome-week activities.

• Participate in university-wide committees focused on wellness, equity, and the student experience.

• Develop and implement educational outreach and programming related to student well-being, community standards, and conflict resolution.

• Maintain student cases and track trends in student behavior for assessment purposes

• Support, supplement, or fulfill the responsibilities of any Area Coordinator role on an as-needed basis 

Essential duties and responsibilities:

• Use relevant student development theory, research, and experience to develop and institutionalize residential learning initiatives that support student needs and meet University's strategic goals and Student Life priorities.

• Collaborate with University partners to develop and implement community initiatives designed to enhance the residential experience beyond the classroom.

• Collaborate across the department, division, and the University to coordinate residential initiatives serving special populations to promote retention, graduation, and academic success.

• Assist in the opening and closing of all campus residences at the beginning and end of each academic semester, as well as during summer session.

• Provide support and intervention as needed to assist in-hall staff in mediating, managing, and resolving crisis incidents and conflicts within the residential community.  Provide referral assistance as needed.  Review incident reports and follow up appropriately on a daily and case-by-case basis.

• In collaboration with other department staff, organize all staff training and in-service sessions throughout the year including the summer staff training. Oversee the creation of staff manuals, protocols and other documents for in-hall staff training needs.

• Assist with advising residential leadership organizations.

• Work collaboratively with other campus offices to plan activities and serve on assigned committees.

• Serve as a hearing officer within the campus discipline system.

• Ensure compliance with the Clery Act, FERPA, and other relevant standards.

• Serve in an on-call rotation with other staff to be available on-call 24 hours a day for in-hall staff and facilities concerns.

• This position is considered an essential employee during certain emergencies.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications:

• Education:

  • A bachelor's degree (preferred: Master’s Degree in Student Affairs, Student Personnel, Higher Education Administration or a closely related field is required).

• Experience:

  • One (1) year of professional experience (preferably in housing and residence life/residential education or a closely related is required (experience at the graduate staff level is acceptable). Experience, implementing educational initiatives and overseeing living-learning communities in a college/university context as well as operations experience strongly preferred.

 Abilities, attitudes, knowledge and skills:

• Energy, creativity, positivity, organizational skills, tolerance for ambiguity, sense of humor, desire to challenge status quo, ability to work odd hours, and as a member of a team.

• Knowledge of residence life operations.

• Demonstrated leadership ability, organization, and planning skills.

• Strong ability to maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.

• Ability to work in a stressful and changing environment and with great attention to detail.

• A commitment to university programs, policies and operations intended to maximize student residential experience, personal growth, education and development.

• Strong administrative as well as organization and planning skills.

• Ability to work as a team member in a crisis situation while maintaining strict confidentiality of sensitive information.

• Evidence of a commitment to diversity, sensitivity to the needs of a diverse student population, and promoting a campus climate that encourages inclusion.

• A sincere and deep commitment to holding student welfare as the highest priority.

• Ability to foster professional and collaborative relationships across organizational lines to achieve division goals.

• Effective leadership skills and an ability to facilitate team teams and groups.

• Knowledge of all Federal, State, and municipal laws likely to have an effect upon University students.

• Ability to work in an environment that will have moments of stress yet personal satisfaction and requiring attention to detail with a focus on caring.

• Ability to handle multiple assignments and balance competing priorities and develop efficient work plans.

• Availability to work varied and flexible hours including nights and weekends as needed.

Core Competencies: Strong analytical, and organization skills; excellent interpersonal, cultural/intercultural, and community relations skills; excellent oral and written communication skills; excellent presentation, teaching, training and student education skills; strong conflict resolution skills; excellent program development skills; technical and computer skills.

Work Environment:  The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, requirements, and skills. Employees are required to perform tasks assigned by supervisors and management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change

Salary & Benefits:

• In compliance with The State of New Jersey's Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is AFT: Range 18 (Step 1: $55,142 to Step 4: $63,410), with placement within the range determined by candidate's qualifications, professional experience, internal equity, and other factors.
• For internal applicants, salary is determined per the Pay Adjustment formula (NJAC 4A:3-4.9 & 4.10)