University Housing Staff - Assistant Director, Apartments

Position Description

Purpose

The Assistant Director, Apartments at the University of Tennessee is a full time position coordinating the residence life component and housing operations of three individual apartment residence halls and one off campus graduate and family housing village. The area will house over 2,000 residents and almost 800 off campus apartment units. One of the main responsibilities is providing overall leadership and supervision of a staff, which includes direct supervision of three full-time Hall Directors, one full-time Resident Manager and shared supervision with one Principle Secretary and indirect supervision of 40 Resident Assistants, seven Graduate Assistants and five Senior Secretary's. The position works directly with the planning and coordinating of all residence life functions, to include, staff selection, training, evaluation and recognition, works collaboratively with other campus departments in providing programs and services to students living on campus and serves as a member of the university housing central staff team. In addition, the Hall Directors and Resident Manager works closely with the building maintenance mechanic, housekeeping supervisor and post office staff to ensure that all resident issues and needs are dealt with and followed up on in a timely manner.

Responsibilities Include

A. Student and Staff Interactions

• Maintains a high level of student and staff contact and availability.
• Provides active leadership to the apartment's residence life staff.
• Promotes student involvement in activities and decision making within University Housing.
• Functions as a resource for accurate information concerning university life.
• Provides counseling and referral for students with educational, personal, or other concerns.
• Attends community development activities in the apartments.

B. Staff and Student Education

• Assists in the planning, development and implementation of training at all levels.
• Works with the Associate Director to develop on-going staff training for professional and graduate staff.
• Oversee the development of an apartments based programming model to provide educational, social, and service-oriented programming and activities for residents within the apartment communities.
• Consults with advisors of hall government associations on program and project planning.

C. Staff Supervision

• Directly supervises and evaluates three Hall Directors and one Resident Manager. Coordinates the evaluation of apartments staff at all levels.
• Follows up with the finance office to insure that all apartment student staff is on payroll and paperwork is completed in a timely manner.
• Trains supervisors of staff in techniques and methods for instituting on-going constructive evaluations of supervisees.

D. University Housing Administration and Management

• Develops and evaluates policies and procedures for apartment style housing.
• Initiates regular inspections with Housing Services to insure safe and well-maintained facilities.
• Directs the administrative plan for the residential areas relative to opening/closing, holiday periods, summer school, special groups and special events that impact University Housing.
• In-depth knowledge of the housekeeping and maintenance needs of the area.
• Insures that benchmarking satisfaction surveys are distributed and the results utilized in planning for each academic year.
• Recommends facility improvements and participates in developing short and long term goals for maintaining and improving the physical facilities.
• Monitors the budgets of the three apartment residence halls and recommends appropriate adjustments.
• Investigates and responds to concerns and complaints of students, parents, university staff members and others in such manner as to provide accurate information and foster good public relations.
• Oversees the consistent enforcement of all university rules and regulations in the apartments and meets with students to discuss infractions.
• Hear appeals from students in the apartments requesting to be released from their housing contracts or damage charges.
• Works closely with representatives of the special interest housing programs within the area.
• During the summer, assists in the coordination of special projects, summer committee structure and student orientation.
• Represents the department at regional and national housing conferences.
• Advises and/or serves on various departmental committees.

E. Staff Recruitment and Selection

• Serves on the Professional Staff Selection Committee which recommends appointments to the Executive Director of University Housing.
• Coordination with other residence life team members for the development and implementation of recruitment plan and selection process for staff at all levels.

F. Coordination with units within University Housing

• Assignments---Counsels residents, parents, prospective students on issues related to the room change/hall change policies. Verifies that room/hall changes are being completed in a timely manner.
• Housing Operations---Maintain lines of communication between Residence Life Staff and Housekeeping/Facilities Staff. Conducts period building walks with the building maintenance staff and housekeeping staff to monitor problem areas. Recommend capital improvements and refurbishment.

G. Coordination with units outside University Housing

• Student Judicial Affairs---Works closely with the Hall Directors to monitor students referred to the Student Judicial Affairs
• Student Counseling Center---Counsel students on a variety of personal and emotional concerns. Train staff to recognize, report, refer or handle when appropriate residents with emotional difficulties insuring that interventions occurs in a timely manner. Review and respond to reports concerning residents with emotional and psychological concerns, making referrals as needed.
• UT Police Department---Assist UTPD or other emergency services as needed. Initiate meetings with UTPD and other emergency services as needed.
• Dean of Students Office---Work closely with the Dean of Students office in all areas concerning student contact, discipline, crisis management, etc. Follow up as needed with students and the Dean of Students office in handling individual student concerns.

Qualifications:

Applicants must have a master's degree in student development or other related field and 3-5 years of professional student affairs work experience. Experience in staff supervision, housing leadership, facilities management and the ability to work within a collaborative environment and with diverse populations. Effective interpersonal, oral and written communication skills. Skills in community development, organizing and planning. Ability to analyze, interpret, and apply policy and procedural guidelines and solve problems. Demonstrated involvement within the housing profession (i.e., presentations, committee involvement, institute/workshop attendance, etc.) is highly desired. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The University of Tennessee is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA/ADEA institution in the provision of its education and employment programs and services. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, or covered veteran status.

UH: 03/08