Health Promotion Specialist

Health Promotion Specialist
Middlebury College


Posting Number: S01632

Position Summary:
The Office of Health and Wellness Education is responsible for providing appropriate, evidence-based prevention and health promotion programming on topics including substance abuse, stress management, nutrition, healthy relationships and sexual health, sleep, mental health, violence prevention (including bystander intervention training), and violence advocacy for Middlebury students. Reporting to the Director, the Health Promotion Specialist is responsible for developing, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive continuum of evidence-based initiatives and strategies to support students' health and wellness. Topics of focus include but are not limited to: sleep and rest, nutrition, movement, stress management, cold and flu/COVID-19 illness prevention. Additionally, all health educators Health and Wellness Education will engage in relationship building, data disaggregation, and direct programming to address connections between culture, identiti(es), and social justice as determinants of health for groups of students who have been historically underrepresented or marginalized including but not limited to students of color, first generation students, and queer students.

The Health Promotion Specialist is a twelve-month, full-time position. Supervision is provided by the Director of Health and Wellness Education. Health and Wellness Education provides services, support, and consultation as an anchor office for all of Middlebury's year-round, world-wide programs.

Essential Functions:
Offer is contingent upon successful completion of a criminal background check.

Recommend, implement, and assess environmental management strategies to improve health and wellness of students in areas of: sleep and rest, nutrition, movement, stress management, cold and flu/COVID-19 illness prevention, and other topics as assigned and/or required

Plan, develop, and implement programming, education/trainings, and outreach efforts around health and wellness topics of community relevance including, but not limited to, sleep and rest, nutrition, movement, stress management, cold and flu and COVID-19 illness prevention
Coordinate and administer virtual and in-person educational programs for students including one on one health coaching, group classes, and asynchronous content for students in all Middlebury programs

Develop educational programming, presentations, and materials for residential halls, student leaders, and classrooms
Enhance the capacity of the faculty and staff stakeholders in the community as partners in student engagement to develop strategies to improve general and focused health outcomes for students.
Support and coordinate health promotion efforts (e.g. awareness events, well-being days, stressbusters programming) between health educators in the office of Health & Wellness Education

General Responsibilities:
Advise student organizations as appropriate and as requested
Hire, train, and supervise student workers in the Office of Health and Wellness Education

Assist with the established peer rape crisis worker program as an administrator in the on-call rotation

Demonstrate and maintain professional boundaries in working with students and colleagues
Collaborate with the Director to develop an end of the year report on accomplishments and recommendations for the program and campus/community program stakeholder
Represent the Office of Health and Wellness Education on committees and task forces as appointed/assigned

Integrate best practices and incorporate a research-based approach to educational programmingMaintain and develop skills via participation in continuing education opportunities and membership in the American College Health Association (ACHA), New England Health Educators’ Network (NEHEN), and attendance at the ACHA New England College Health Association (NECHA) affiliate annual meetings

Develop and maintain professional relationships with counterparts at peer institutions including engagement in peer review processes
Other duties as assigned

Some evening and weekend hours are required


Qualifications
Education:
Master’s degree required in public health, health promotion, community health, social work, education, higher education administration or counseling, psychology, or related field with preference for Certified Prevention Specialist (CPS) and/or Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) designation.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Candidates should possess strong leadership, organizational, and presentation skills; strong intervention skills one-on-one, in small groups, and large groups; strong technology skills (presentation software, word processing, social media); an ability to meet deadlines; handle multiple, complex, and abstract tasks; capacity for detail-oriented work; an ability to work independently as well as part of a team; an understanding of health promotion and behavior change theories; advanced training and skills in screening and prevention program delivery; demonstrated ability to identify and makes referrals to the network of campus and community services for students; training in motivational interviewing; ability to create social norms and marketing campaigns from community-level data; understanding of an oppression-based model of health promotion (and associated multicultural approaches to prevention); commitment to addressing intersections of multiple identities and their related health outcomes; proven record of successful work with college students, faculty, staff and community members from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds including socio-economic, racial/ethnic, international, first generation college students, and LGBTQ populations; and commitment to public health and social justice change models.

Experience:
At least two years of professional experience in college health, health promotion, prevention, or counseling; social work; student affairs administration; community health/mental health; leadership development and/or training and technical experience in aforementioned areas desired. Experience working in higher education/student affairs preferred. Unpaid or volunteer experience in these fields may be applied to the two year professional expectation but may not replace the professional experience entirely; candidates who wish to apply volunteer experience should demonstrate how their experience is equivalent to professional experience.
Ideal candidates would also bring experience in community needs assessments, program planning, logic model development, community-based evaluation methodologies (such as Empowerment Evaluation), and assessment; building, maintaining, and facilitating small group experiences and community-wide campaigns or programs; developing, facilitating, and coordinating professional development opportunities for adult learners; experience working in mental health promotion/prevention with college-age students; developing and editing educational and communication tools (web, print, social media); peer education facilitation, training, and assessment; and mental health or educational advocacy and/or counseling.

Physical Demands:
Regularly operates a computer and other office productivity machinery. Must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time. Will need to regularly move about inside the office and will require regular cross-campus travel to access resources and personnel in other buildings. Will require periods of standing (or other postures) to deliver educational programming and/or facilitate groups. May require limited and infrequent in-state and out-of-state trips for trainings, professional meetings, and professional development.

Offers of employment are contingent on completion of a background check. Information on our background check policy can be found here: http://go.middlebury.edu/backgroundchecks

To apply, visit https://middlebury.peopleadmin.com/postings/24235

Middlebury is an equal-opportunity employer where diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values. To this end, Middlebury recruits talented and diverse faculty, staff, and students from across the United States and around the world. Middlebury encourages applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, and members of other protected classes and historically underrepresented communities. Middlebury also invites applications from individuals who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

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