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Director of Residential Life

Employer
Binghamton University Residential Life
Location
New York, United States
Salary
Salary Commensurate with experience
Date posted
Jul 1, 2021

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Director of Residential Life

About Binghamton University:

Binghamton University is a world-class institution that unites more than 130 broadly interdisciplinary educational programs with some of the most vibrant research in the nation. Our unique character - shaped by outstanding academics, facilities and community life - promotes extraordinary student success.

Binghamton merges rigorous academics, distinguished faculty and state-of-the-art facilities to engage and challenge its 18,000 students. The high-achieving Binghamton student body also represents a great diversity of life experiences, from first-generation college-goers to international students. Beyond their talent, these classmates share a desire to shape the future through technology, insight, intellectual exploration and community service.

Budget Title: Director of Residential Life (SL-5)

Salary: Commensurate with experience

Binghamton University's Residential Life program serves the needs of approximately 7,400 students through a system of five residential colleges and two apartment-style communities. 

We provide a "small school" residential experience within a premier public university. Binghamton's collegiate residential system is patterned after a visionary plan developed in England, often called the "Oxford Model," adopted in the 1960's. It is an organizational model that combines academic opportunities for learning within a community living environment.

Our dedicated staff and faculty engage with students to build strong communities that empower personal development and academic success.   Our residents share experiences, history and traditions while developing lasting friendships, strong bonds and a community culture that sustain them through graduation and beyond.  Binghamton alumni more often cite their residential community as their primary affiliation with the university than their school, college or major. 

Distinctive characteristics of residential life at Binghamton include all, but are not limited to, the following:

Faculty Engagement:  Providing students with a living, learning environment is an integral part of the academic mission of Binghamton University.  Operating within the Oxford collegiate model, the Residential Life staff includes Collegiate Professors (CPs) who actively recruit other faculty and staff Fellows to become involved in the day-to-day lives of students.  Each community has its own CP who helps to create a distinct community identity through their individual programs and initiatives. 

Student Engagement:  Binghamton's residential communities have a strong culture of student shared governance.  Each community has its own governing council and each building its own representatives to the council.  These collegiate councils engage with the residential life staff and CP to support all manner of community programming and to participate in community level decision-making.

Traditions:  There are long-standing traditions distinct to each community that connect alumni and current students through their residential experience. 

Partnerships:  Binghamton's residential life program draws upon meaningful and ongoing partnerships with academic and programmatic areas to an extraordinary extent.  In addition to the CPs and Fellows, Residential Life relies upon partnerships with our graduate program in social work, the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development and the Division of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DDEI).  All of these programs embed graduate students and/or staff within residential life to provide specialized services to residential students. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The Director reports to the Assistant Vice President for Residential Experiences and is responsible for the overall supervision and management of 23 residence halls and two apartment complexes, staffed by approximately 275 professional, civil service and paraprofessional employees with direct supervision of full-time Associate Directors and support staff.

Key responsibilities include:

  • Provide leadership and strategic visioning for the department consistent with the University's vision, mission and values. 
  • Supervise staff at multiple layers, manage ambiguity and uncertainty, demonstrate negotiating skills and ability to work with a variety of constituents while creating a workplace of belonging.
  • Hold regular meetings with different layers of the organization and multiple constituents across divisional/departmental lines in an effort to strengthen the department through collaboration on initiatives.
  • Develop and/or expand initiatives that encourage student participation, community development and ethical responsibility. Actively project the values of diversity and inclusion and work proactively and successfully with a diverse population of students and staff.
  • Assure the room assignment process for both new and returning students achieves the goals for the enrollment and development of students.
  • Develop, propose and actively manage an annual budget.  Assist in the planning, development and implementation of a self-sufficient budget for University-wide housing operations.
  • Coordinate Residence Life involvement in all aspects of crisis management and the student conduct process. This includes nights/weekends and 24-hour on call-responsibilities.
  • Oversee marketing and communications efforts for the department, including supporting initiatives relating to the on-campus living experience, hiring processes, housing and other revenue opportunities.
  • Provide direction to the programmatic efforts of the department, including finding ways to embrace the potential of residential living and providing intentional residential experience. Create developmental opportunities that help students engage within their communities and develop life skills in an environment that supports student success and well-being.
  • Work to preserve and promote the living and learning experiences. This will require ongoing communication, partnership, and intentionality, working closely with the Collegiate Professors to support the learning communities and other initiatives.
  • Represent the department through collaboration on major University events such as Orientation, Family weekend, admissions activities, and other institutional initiatives.
  • Collaborate with the Human Resources Office to address and resolve concerns regarding employee performance, misconduct, or other personnel-related matters.

Leadership Opportunities

The Director will arrive when traditional professional staff and student staff roles are evolving in response to the recent additions of graduate student staff from other disciplines to offer specialized services (e.g., social work clinical students) and changing expectations of employees and students as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  There is a deep commitment to cross-department and cross-division collaboration at an institutional level.  The Director will play a critical role in effectively integrating the expanding university network of contributors to the residential experience and clearly defining the roles of the various levels of residential life staff. 

The Division of Student Affairs has undertaken some foundational work with faculty in the Student Affairs Administration program to re-examine the residential curriculum (i.e. what we hope the residential experience will contribute to student development).  We anticipate that the next few years will involve some re-positioning of that curriculum.  The Director will manage the process of staff and student engagement to promote a shared understanding and support of goals and methods.

Binghamton University has a long-standing reputation for and commitment to academic excellence and rigor.  In keeping with that identity, residential learning communities ("LCs") have been part of the residential experience for many years.  Interest in and success of the LCs is inconsistent.  The Director will be expected to engage directly with academic leaders and the CPs to develop a sustainable vision and program scope for the LCs.

Residential community traditions are a vibrant source of alumni connection to the University.  Various changes in student living preferences and other external influences have affected student engagement in traditions.  The Director will have the opportunity to work with University Advancement and  Alumni Relations to develop and expand possible funding streams to support residential community traditions and the related responsibility of translating the traditions to the interests and preferences of current students to keep them vibrant.

The Binghamton campus is underutilized during summer months.  The Director will have the opportunity to demonstrate entrepreneurial skill in developing internal and external partnerships that create summer season revenue for residential life and the university.

This has been designated as an essential position based on the duties of the job and the functions performed. Positions that are designated as such are required to report to work/remain at work in such times as classes are cancelled, and when the campus is managing limited operations in an emergency.

 


Requirements:

  • Master's degree in student personnel administration, business administration, higher education administration, counseling or related field.
  • Eight (8) years of full-time, progressive experience in college housing with demonstrative leadership at mid to senior levels.
  • Demonstrated level of comfort with a high visibility position and the energy, patience and interest to actively engage resident students and entry-level staff through formal and informal channels.
  • Demonstrated and proven commitment to fostering an equitable, diverse and inclusive living and working environment.
  • Demonstrated student centeredness such as history of working with student leadership, creating student-centered policies and responding to student needs.

Preferred: 

  • Demonstrated ability to lead a department through change and build a culture that emphasizes communication, growth, and collaboration.
  • The perspective and maturity to effectively communicate institutional priorities to staff and to translate those priorities into residential life programs and services.
  • Demonstrated capacity to be adaptable and decisive in fast-paced and high-pressure environment.
  • Strong organizational skills.
  • Ability to work independently, but also a natural inclination for accomplishing projects and initiatives through collaboration and partnerships within the department and across departmental and organizational lines.
  • Familiarity and experience with managing housing projections and operational aspects of housing such as capital planning.
  • Experience with programming/curricular approach and showcasing the value of residential living.
  • Public speaking experience and excellent written and oral communication skills.
  • Ability to articulate marketing and communications strategies that effectively position the value of the on-campus living experience to a diverse audience.

 


Additional Information:

Offers of employment may be contingent upon successful completion of a pre-employment background check and verification of degree(s) and credentials.

Binghamton University is a tobacco-free campus.

Pursuant to Executive Order 161, no State entity, as defined by the Executive Order, is permitted to ask, or mandate, in any form, that an applicant for employment provide his or her current compensation, or any prior compensation history, until such time as the applicant is extended a conditional offer of employment with compensation.  If such information has been requested from you before such time, please contact the Governor's Office of Employee Relations at (518) 474-6988 or via email at info@goer.ny.gov

Payroll information can be found on our website http://www.binghamton.edu/human-resources/payroll/

Cover letters may be addressed "To the Search Committee."

Postings active on the website, accept applications until closure.

For information on the Dual Career Program, please visit:
https://www.binghamton.edu/human-resources/dual-career-program/

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer
The State University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.  It is the policy of Binghamton University to provide for and promote equal opportunity employment, compensation, and other terms and conditions of employment without discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, religion, disability, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran or military service member status, marital status, domestic violence victim status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, or arrest and/or criminal conviction record unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or other exception.

As required by Title IX and its implementing regulations Binghamton University does not discriminate on the basis of sex in the educational programs and activities which it operates.  This requirement extends to employment and admission.  Inquiries about sex discrimination may be directed to the University Title IX Coordinator or directly to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).  Contact information for the Title IX Coordinator and OCR, as well as the University's complete Non-Discrimination Notice may be found here

 


Application Instructions:

Deadline for Internal Applicants: 07/15/2021

Deadline for External Applicants:  Open until filled

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the vacancy is filled. 

Persons interested in this position should apply online.

Please submit:

  1. CV/Resume,
  2. Cover letter, and
  3. Contact information for three professional references

You may add additional files/documents after uploading your resume. After you fill out your contact information, you will be directed to the upload page. Please login to check/edit your profile or to upload additional documents: http://binghamton.interviewexchange.com/login.jsp.

 

 

 

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