Assistant Director of Graduate Experiential Programs

The Office of the Dean of the Graduate School is seeking an Assistant Director of Graduate Experiential Programs for GradFUTURES®, a campus-wide professional development initiative designed to empower graduate students with professional skills and competencies and help them explore their unique interests and diverse professional pathways via transformative programs and experiences. The position reports directly to the Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Student Professional Development and is part of an entrepreneurial and highly collaborative team that embraces innovation and seeks to make professional development an intrinsic part of every graduate student’s experience at Princeton.

With the goal of scaling access to experiential opportunities for all graduate students, the assistant director will plan, administer, and assess six bespoke experiential fellowship programs funded and/or managed by the GradFUTURES team. These programs include: the University Administrative Fellowships, the Community College Teaching Fellowships, the GradFUTURES Social Impact Fellowships, the Pre-Matriculation Internships, Higher Education Leadership Fellowships, and the Micro-Internships in Industry programs. This professional will work in close collaboration with the Assistant Deans to enhance awareness of programs across campus, steadily increase unique graduate student participation, and manage the implementation of a new technology platform to support a major expansion of all experiential programs. The assistant director will develop and implement processes and workflows, applying project management skills and leveraging technology to curate and promote opportunities, manage applications and candidate referrals, assess learning outcomes and satisfaction, and boost the visibility of these programs via storytelling. They will oversee the onboarding of partners, conduct routine check-ins, manage information sessions, create community-building events with hosts/mentors and cohorts of fellows, ensure timely payment of fellowship stipends, and support capstone assignments and presentations.

Applying evidence-based approaches and engaged and integrative learning practices, they will continuously assess and refine all experiential programs led by the Graduate School to ensure that graduate students are developing the eight core competencies of the GradFUTURES model and that each experience is transformative. They will conduct benchmarking with peer institutions to build awareness of best practices for experiential programs within graduate education. In collaboration with the assistant deans, they will also curate best practices and explore potential participation in professional development grants and/or national programs sponsored by government agencies such as the NEH and NSF, and higher education associations such as the AAU, CGS and the AAC&U. For academic departments with required graduate internships, the assistant director will provide support for internship development as requested.

The Office of the Dean of the Graduate School offers an inclusive and supportive work environment. Engaged and dedicated staff members within the office collaborate to improve the educational experience of all graduate students at Princeton. The work itself is extraordinarily rewarding: it is multi-faceted, always evolving, and meaningful. This is a full-time position with an anticipated start date of fall 2024. Apply by August 20 for fullest consideration.

Program Administration

• Advise graduate students regarding the various stages of the application, selection, and onboarding process for experiential programs.
• Conduct routine check-ins with graduate student fellows and interns to provide support and ensure program effectiveness.
• Develop an experiential program curriculum using the Canvas LMS that includes a series of professional development and community-building sessions for each cohort of fellows and interns.
• Deliver presentations about experiential programs to campus partners and academic departments.
• Implement and maintain the GradFUTURES Experiential Program platform powered by Symplicity to ensure a highly personalized and streamlined user experience for all graduate students and experiential program partners.
• Oversee all program workflows utilizing project management skills and tools to manage multiple application processes and required approvals from faculty advisers.
• Secure and update fellowship/internship agreements with host organizations. This may involve working closely with the hiring managers at each organization, as well as human resources and recruitment professionals.
• Onboard and orient new partner organizations/institutions to the employment policies of the Graduate School and ensure equitable recruitment, application, and selection processes.
• Follow up with internship and fellowship hosts/mentors to gather feedback on a regular basis for continuous improvement.
• Develop comprehensive reports for each experiential program, tracking key performance indicators, unique participation, learning outcomes assessment, and relevant trends.
• Collaborate with the GradFUTURES coordinator to ensure timely stipend payments for funded experiential programs.

Outreach, Collaboration, and Communications

• Implement a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote the experiential programs to graduate students and program partners including print, web, video and collateral media, as well as social media. This will include (but is not limited to) newsletters, annual report, brochures, proposals, surveys, website and email messaging and content, marketing flyers, posters, event signage, and professional development briefings for each academic department.
• Plan an annual Internship Fellowship Fair for graduate students.
• Collaborate closely with the assistant deans to conduct meetings with all 45 graduate programs to expand the availability and access of experiential programs for graduate students.
• Work with the assistant deans to conduct outreach to prospective experiential partner organizations in the academic, nonprofit, public, and private sectors.
• Apply data-informed storytelling methods to share qualitative and quantitative data that showcases the individual stories of graduate students and the impact of GradFUTURES experiential programs.

• Master's degree required
• At least five years of directly related work experience and proven track record of developing and managing bespoke experiential programs within a higher education setting (with an understanding of graduate education generally, and of highly selective Ph.D. programs in particular).
• Demonstrated knowledge of graduate student funding and employment policies, federal employment laws, national standards for equitable recruiting and hiring practices, talent acquisition practices and policies within the nonprofit, government, and private sector, and national best practices for graduate student internship and fellowship programs.
• Experience in managing technology platforms to support experiential programs (knowledge of Symplicity platform preferred).
• Ability to collaborate with a wide range of stakeholders including faculty, alumni, hiring managers, HR professionals, and campus partners.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficiency with talent acquisition systems and CRM systems, and willingness and ability to quickly learn new technology.
• Experience maintaining websites, preferably using Drupal CMS.
• Collaborative, professional and friendly manner.
• Ability with advance notice to staff evening and weekend events.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS