The Division of Student Affairs is comprised of student-centered units and services that are dedicated to advancing the quality, cohesiveness, and cultural relevancy of the student experience at MCC and beyond. The Office of Student Retention and Completion is a part of the Student Affairs Division at MCC and drives the successful improvement of student retention and graduation rates and serves as a centralized space for students to access common student services to strengthen their ability to navigate Mesa Community College and achieve their academic and career aspirations. The goal of the Retention and Completion area is to enhance the student experience by providing support with educational planning, resource awareness, and success strategies. The unit leads, coordinates, and implements targeted interventions guided by evidence-based practices and institutional data and analytics to support student success and the institution's retention and persistence goals through the provision of academic supports and early intervention strategies that promote student success. The office provides a myriad of workshops, activities, and programming that promote a successful college transition, student development and self-efficacy, academic and personal success, engagement, timely graduation, and lifelong learning from the first year to graduation. In addition, the Office of Student Retention and Completion leads and supports large- and small-scale assessment projects, while developing and monitoring early alert systems and protocols. The unit is comprised of critical functional areas that include: Academic Advising, First-Year Success, TRiO, American Indian Institute, International Education, and Mesa College Promise.
PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The Student Services Specialist position provides programmatic support to academic advising and first-year success services with the responsibility of planning and daily implementation of advising and first-year success customer service functions and execution of various operational functions, events and activities. Responsible for routine and special projects. This position is primarily responsible in coordinating front line services support to students who participate in New Student initiatives and academic advising to support persistence, retention and completion.
DESCRIPTION OF WORK
This position primary objective is to provide support to students participating in Academic Advising and First-Year Success Services. Under the direction of the Director, Academic Advising and First Year Programs, the specialist will coordinate office services such as responding to student inquiries, explaining advising and retention services and processes, supporting student website and tools navigation, assist in appointment scheduling and event registration and tracking, processing student applications and forms, and provide general academic advising to support course selection, registration and completion. This position will provide quality customer services and support office processes and procedures.
Additionally, this position will be the primary front office coordinator including duties such as updating records, data entry, creating reports and staff tools, creating and maintaining staff schedules, completing intake processing, coordinating event registrations and student communications, updating materials and website, reserving room location for student events, and coordinating event logistics in collaboration with college stakeholders.
The individual in this role must provide exceptional customer service, students, faculty, staff, and guests of Mesa Community College.
Essential Functions
35% Student Support Services:
Provide level 1 academic advising supporting course overrides, advise on prerequisites, testing and placement processes, and basic academic policies.
Manage Academic Advising Center phone operations and provide student support through phone, in person, and virtual chat by answering inquiries, providing referrals and managing student visits.
Handle questions and track student data and volume.
Assist students with preparing for advising appointments/meetings.
Maintain the knowledge of college and department processes and policies.
Respond to emails sent to department email address in a timely manner and answer general advising questions and/or route emails appropriately.
Assist with developing departmental specific knowledge and training materials to support student operations.
30% Program Coordination
Assist with the planning and execution of special events and other high-stakes student programming. This includes but not limited to, monitoring data and event participation, creating or completing room reservations, and managing communications with faculty and staff.
Assist with the implementation of communications and marketing strategies to advertise student retention and completion workshops/events and tasks in collaboration with other departments such as marketing, faculty, and other student affairs departments.
Assist with developing departmental specific knowledge and training materials to support student operations.
30% Administrative Support:
Determine the correct advisor for a student based on their program of study and educational goals, assign students to the correct advisor, and manage updates to advisor assignments in college software systems.
Coordinate office day-to-day operations and front desk operations of the office of Academic Advising and First-Year Success, collaborating on work with part-time or student worker staff.
Lead front desk check-in case management process and triage that leads to seamless high-level student services.
Correspondence: Create, distribute, and manage emails, physical mail, website updates, flyers, and additional communication material.
Perform clerical support functions such as: assisting with development and maintenance of reports and documents; presentations; coordinate office equipment requests, managing contact lists; and data entry.
Organizing digital and physical filing systems ensuring files are up to date and accessible.
Document advising services using the appropriate college software platform.
5 % Compliance:
Be familiar with the college catalog regarding credit and transfer policies and the acceptance of courses from other agencies as equivalents to MCCCD/MCC courses.
Support responses to subpoenas according to policy in a timely manner and follow all legal guidelines associated with FERPA and other state and federal laws.
Maintain confidentiality. Maintain accurate records as required by accreditation agencies, school policies, and administrative regulations to ensure compliance with regulations, with a commitment to discretion and confidentiality, as appropriate.
Collaborate with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to provide statistical and narrative reports to aid in developing academic policy, and responding to federal, state, and related internal and external student enrollment requests.
Review student records per academic policy and recommend actions.
Work closely and collaboratively with other administrators, departments, and faculty governing bodies and committees to educate, provide advice, interpret, and ensure compliance with existing MCCCD/MCC academic policies and procedures.
Other duties as assigned