Associate Director, Admissions Operations
- Employer
- Columbia University, School of Professional Studies
- Location
- New York, United States
- Salary
- Salary Commensurate with experience
- Date posted
- Apr 19, 2021
View more
- Position Type
- Administrative, Student Affairs, Admissions, Enrollment, Retention & Registrar, Other Student Affairs
- Employment Level
- Administrative
- Employment Type
- Full Time
Position Summary
The Associate Director, Admissions Operations oversees the systems and tools for the Office of Admissions, and is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the application process by highlighting and researching potential applicant fraud, as well as for the supervision of admissions team members performing application document scanning, application data entry, and conducting work in SIS related to application record management. This position works closely with the Director of Admission to uphold and strengthen the integrity of the admissions process flow from application through enrollment for the School of Professional Studies growing set of offerings. These offerings currently include cross-disciplinary Master’s Degree Programs, Pre-Graduate and Graduate Certificate Programs, Structured and Unstructured Certifications of Professional Achievement, take-a-class options for bachelor’s degree holders and visiting students enrolled at other institutions, High School Programs, and the American Language Programs. This position is a key decision-maker for the Office of Admissions and will involve long-term strategic thinking and planning. The Associate Director, Admissions Operations also assists with application reading as needed during peak admissions periods.
Responsibilities
Operational responsibilities-
Lead in establishing and implementing operational
workflow improvements, and in the documentation of processes and
workflows for the Admissions Operations Team
Research current trends in application compliance and
fraud and stay up to date with fraud detection strategies and
industry best practices, ensuring the team completes all compliance
reviews with a high level of detail
Conduct director fraud and compliance reviews; assist
with fraud and compliance reviews during peak admissions cycle.
identifying the completeness of applications and with reading
applications in the peak admissions cycle
Oversee the communication with applicants about
document submission to fulfill application requirements, compliance
with application fee and deposit collection within the application
system and the Converge data collection tool, and provisionally
admitted applicant final document submission and validation
process
Identify and escalate instances where final documents
do not match the documents submitted for admission consideration,
and ultimately communicate with applicants if there is a need to
rescind the offer of admission
Reconcile student records after the start of the
academic term to ensure that only matriculating students have
active student records and that deferrals have been processed
correctly as appropriate
Identify methods to streamline data collection on the
application and develops strategies for data collection
improvement
Ensure data integrity across systems
-
Maintain awareness of system upgrades and
enhancements; act as designated Slate super user for Admissions;
active participant in the Slate community of users to identify best
practices, trends, and new opportunities for workflow and system
enhancements to streamline processes and increase effectiveness of
the tool
Ensure that new users and new programs are added to
the system as appropriate and provide baseline training to new
users and ongoing training to all users
Perform regular and ad hoc audits of the various
systems, workflows, and applications to ensure data integrity is
upheld and to make recommendations for improvements based on
current needs and best practices
Maintain relationships with application and
verification vendors, transcript and evaluation organizations, and
test score providers
In cooperation with members of the Admissions team,
other SPS departments and external partnerships, ensure the
integrity and accuracy of all data related to student admissions
and enrollment within all relevant application management
systems
Ensure that the online admissions application and
related forms in use are updated on a seasonal and ad hoc basis as
required or assigned for all programs
Assist with pre-launch application testing and QA
process for all application instances
Prepares the online application for each new
enrollment cycle and updates all relevant fields. Proactively test,
audit and troubleshoot the online application, decision review
module, payment gateway, and associated workflows to ensure
problems are identified proactively and resolved quickly
Manages Zendesk ticketing for requested changes to
applications and forms
Responsible for setting up new programs in the online
application, and partners with analytics team members to add new
programs to data feeds and reporting
Oversee the documentation and execution of relevant
workflows reflecting current processes supporting admissions and
operations
Assist Director with senior administration reporting,
determining timelines and procedures to ensure deliverables
-
Hire, train, manage, and provide recurrent training
for a team of Admissions Operations Assistants and officers
Assist with school wide events such as orientation
and graduation
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree and/or equivalent related experience required
- 4 years related experience
- A resume and cover letter with salary requirements must be submitted to be considered for the position
Preferred Qualifications
-
Experience in higher education, specifically in an
admissions role
Master’s degree
Experience handling a high volume of applications for
multiple, diverse academic programs
Experience reviewing transcripts from high school,
undergraduate and graduate programs
Familiarity with SPS program offerings
Other Requirements
-
Demonstrated experience using a relational database,
online application system and/or Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) tool, ideally in a higher education setting
Familiarity with or willingness to learn, SIS,
Salesforce TargetX, Slate, and other systems, applications and
software used by the University and the School
Proven track record of identifying and implementing
improvements to streamline and/or automate complex processes
Demonstrated project management experience.
Demonstrated experience providing high quality
administrative support for a CRM or online application for
admission.
Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written
communication skills
Exceptional attention to detail, strong organization
and time management skills, and the ability to perform routine and
non-routine work with changing priorities and aggressive
deadlines
Sound problem-solving and decision-making abilities,
both as an independent entity and as part of a team
Ability to handle confidential information in a
mature, professional manner
Demonstrated experience supervising and/or training
staff
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications
including Word and Excel
Experience working in a fast-paced environment
Some evening work required
Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran
Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.
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