The Assistant Director of Operations and Student Support provides leadership and coordination for programs, services, and activities that support the success, engagement, and wellbeing of all. The Assistant Director of Operations and Student Support provides operational leadership, administrative coordination, and student-centered support across the Division of Student Affairs. The individual is a member of the Division of Student Affairs staff reporting to the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs.
Essential Functions:
The Assistant Director of Operations and Student Support provides operational leadership, administrative coordination, and student-centered support across the Division of Student Affairs. This position oversees university-related travel for students and staff, coordinates divisional operations, facilitates communication regarding facilities and maintenance needs, and serves as a central resource for student needs and emerging concerns. The Assistant Director serves as a key connector among students, Student Affairs departments, university administrative offices, and campus partners. The position is responsible for identifying operational needs, coordinating timely solutions, supporting division-wide initiatives, and ensuring that student concerns and operational issues are appropriately communicated, tracked, and resolved.
The Assistant Director of Student Affairs Operations serves as a central operational and student-support resource for the Division of Student Affairs. The position connects people, processes, and resources to ensure that student needs and operational priorities are addressed efficiently and effectively. Through oversight of travel, facilities communication, special projects, and student concerns, the Assistant Director helps create a coordinated Student Affairs environment in which students and staff can more easily access the support, resources, and services they need.
The position is expected to be proactive in identifying issues, responsive to emerging student and departmental needs, and capable of moving complex initiatives from identification through implementation and resolution. This position requires a highly organized, collaborative, service-oriented professional who can manage multiple priorities, respond to emerging needs, coordinate complex projects, and work effectively across departments. The Assistant Director is expected to exercise sound judgment, maintain confidentiality, build strong relationships, and represent the Division of Student Affairs with professionalism and care.
Essential Responsibilities:
Divisional Travel Operations
- Coordinate and oversee university-related travel processes for students and staff within the Division of Student Affairs.
- Serve as a primary resource for travel procedures, requirements, documentation, and university travel policies.
- Coordinate transportation, lodging, registrations, itineraries, and related logistics for student and staff travel.
- Ensure required travel documentation, approvals, waivers, rosters, emergency contacts, and other compliance materials are completed and maintained.
- Work with university travel, purchasing, accounts payable, risk management, and other appropriate offices to resolve travel-related issues.
- Monitor travel expenditures and assist departments with budget tracking, reconciliation, and expense reporting.
- Develop and maintain standardized travel procedures, forms, checklists, and resources for Student Affairs departments.
- Support students and staff before and during travel by coordinating logistics and addressing unexpected operational issues.
- Maintain accurate records of university-sponsored travel and ensure appropriate documentation is retained.
Facilities & Maintenance Coordination
- Serve as the primary Student Affairs liaison for facilities, maintenance, custodial, space, and operational service requests.
- Coordinate communication between Student Affairs departments and Facilities, Operations, Health & Safety, Information Technology, and other university service units as appropriate.
- Monitor maintenance and facilities requests to ensure timely follow-up, communication, and resolution.
- Establish effective processes for submitting, tracking, prioritizing, and communicating facilities-related needs.
- Maintain an operational tracking system for work orders, recurring maintenance issues, projects, and outstanding concerns.
- Communicate facility closures, repairs, disruptions, safety concerns, and project timelines to affected students, staff, and departmental leadership.
- Assist with planning and coordinating divisional events and other operational projects.
- Identify recurring facilities issues and make recommendations to Student Affairs leadership regarding improvements and resource needs.
Student Affairs Projects
- Serve as a central project coordinator for special initiatives and strategic projects identified by Student Affairs leadership.
- Manage the daily individual and group tours for prospective students supporting Admissions and Recruitment activities.
- Lead or support cross-departmental projects that require coordination among multiple Student Affairs units or university offices.
- Develop project plans, timelines, communication strategies, deliverables, and tracking mechanisms for assigned initiatives.
- Coordinate meetings, gather information, monitor progress, and communicate project updates to appropriate stakeholders.
- Identify barriers, operational challenges, resource needs and work collaboratively to develop solutions.
- Support the implementation of new programs, services, policies, systems, and initiatives within the Division.
- Provide short-term operational support to departments experiencing emerging needs, staffing gaps, programmatic challenges, or time-sensitive projects.
- Serve as a flexible operational resource who can step into emerging priorities and help move division initiatives forward.
- Evaluate completed projects and recommend process improvements or opportunities for continued development.
Student Needs, Concerns & Support
- Serve as a central point of contact within Student Affairs for students who have operational questions, concerns, or needs that cross departmental areas.
- Listen to and assess student concerns and determine the appropriate Student Affairs office, campus resource, or university partner to address each matter.
- Coordinate referrals and communication among departments to help students navigate university resources and services.
- Follow up on student concerns to ensure appropriate communication, connection to resources, and resolution.
- Identify recurring student concerns or service barriers and communicate trends and recommendations to Student Affairs leadership.
- Collaborate with Student Affairs departments to address emerging student needs and develop responsive solutions.
- Support students who may be navigating complex university processes by helping them identify appropriate resources and points of contact.
- Maintain appropriate documentation and confidentiality regarding student concerns and interactions.
- Escalate matters involving significant risk, safety, conduct, legal, or other specialized concerns to the appropriate university office or leadership.
- Advocate for a student-centered approach to operational decision-making and service delivery.
- Help identify opportunities to improve the student experience based on student feedback, concerns, and emerging needs.
Division Operations & Administrative Support
- Provide operational support to the Division as assigned.
- Develop and implement administrative processes that improve efficiency, accountability, and customer service across the Division.
- Create and maintain standard operating procedures, workflow documentation, tracking tools, and operational calendars.
- Coordinate cross-departmental initiatives and administrative processes.
- Prepare reports, summaries, dashboards, and other information for leadership review and decision-making.
- Monitor deadlines and follow up with departments to ensure timely completion of operational requirements.
- Assist with purchasing, budget tracking, contracts, invoices, and other administrative processes as assigned.
- Maintain confidentiality when handling student, employee, financial, travel, and other sensitive information.
- Provide training, guidance, and operational support to Student Affairs staff as needed.
- Perform other duties and special projects as assigned.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Ability to handle information of sensitive and confidential nature in the utmost professional manner.
- Demonstrate a high level of professionalism, initiative, resourcefulness, and personal accountability.
- Commitment to cultural humility and inclusive excellence
- Strong organizational and project management skills
- Ability to balance compliance requirements with student-centered care
- Excellent written, verbal, and intercultural communication
- Maintain the privacy and confidentiality of information, protect the assets of the institution, act ethically and with integrity, and adhere to FMU's Code of Conduct and policies and procedures.
- Effective analytical and decision-making skills. Excellent communication (oral and written), organizational, and time management skills. Effective interpersonal skills and ability to work with diverse constituents.
- Attention to detail and adaptability to a changing environment is extremely important as well as dependability.
- Manage, prioritize, and accomplish multiple tasks/projects simultaneously in a deadline-driven environment.
- Moderate physical activity. Requires handling objects of average weight up to fifty (50) pounds or standing and/or walking for more than four (4) hours per day.
- Ability to pivot during changing times such as Covid and other unexpected changes.
Minimum Requirements:
- Bachelors Degree
- Minimum of 3-5 years of experience working with students in higher education.
- Strong intercultural communication and relationship-building skills.
- Experience advising student groups
- Demonstrated ability to implement and advise of processes and regulations.
Pre-Employment Requirements:
- Criminal background check.
Florida Memorial University is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA), those functions of the job that are identified as essential are required to be performed with or without reasonable accommodations. Requests to facilitate the performance of essential functions will be given careful consideration