Assistant Director for Community Development

Job Summary

Rhode Island School of Design is seeking an Assistant Director for Community Development to join its Residence Life Office. RISD’s Residence Life provides a safe and supportive environment empowering students to create inclusive communities that foster their artistic and personal development. Its services offer opportunities for student engagement, leadership, health, cultural competence, and responsibility. RISD’s students are diverse, coming from a wide range of geographic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds, representing all forms of diversity. The College strives to cultivate a culturally competent campus environment that advances principles of social equity and inclusion, environmental and climate justice, and equal access to resources and opportunities.

This full-time, 12-month, live-in position provides leadership and direction for the selection, development, and training of professional Community Coordinators and the student staff of Resident Advisors (RAs) and Advocates for Inclusion in Residence (AIRs). The Assistant Director is responsible for ensuring proper implementation of the curricular approach through careful supervision of the Community Coordinators, selection of student staff in alignment with the needs of the curriculum, and training and development of student staff to enact the curricular experience. The Assistant Director role is a key partner in Student Affairs and will collaborate regularly with campus partners to align training and selection processes across the board.

Additionally, the Assistant Director role models and leads the departmental effort to create a holistic, thriving departmental culture among the Community Coordinators and student staff. A culture of collaboration, leadership, education, and social equity.

Essential Functions

• Supervision: Train and supervise entry-level professional Community Coordinators (CCs). Provide careful supervision and oversight for the implementation of the curricular experience through 1:1 and team meetings. Support the Associate Director in the recruitment and hiring of Community Coordinators.
• Co-Curricular Planning and Implementation: Provide direct oversight for the implementation of the co-curricular residential experience. Ensure appropriate planning and implementation through careful and intentional supervision of Community Coordinators. Lead effort for data collection of co-curricular efforts and ensure data is submitted and tracked. Ensure co-curricular goals are infused into all selection processes and trainings. Research, benchmark, plan, and propose changes and additions to the Associate Director to best meet the needs of the art and design residential population.
• Student Staff Selection: Lead departmental efforts to benchmark, plan, implement, and assess student staff selection processes, including academic year and summer student staff selection. Effectively market the RA and AIR student staff positions, their expectations, information sessions, and selection and training processes. Work closely with campus partners to bring processes in line with common application process. Plan and implement summer student staff selection process.
• Student Staff Training: Lead departmental efforts to benchmark, plan, implement, and assess student staff trainings throughout the year, including monthly in-services, winter training, new RAIR orientation, and fall training. Partner with campus partners to oversee common leadership training where appropriate. Ensure trainings are appropriately developed to be educational, sequential, and closely tied to learning outcomes and assessment. Develop learning outcomes for student staff trainings and infuse learning assessment into every step of the process. Collect and analyze data to inform future trainings. Under direction of the Associate Director, ensure co-curricular goals are met by trainings and that Community Coordinators are trained in teaching, facilitation, and lesson planning best practices.
• Advocates for Inclusion in Residence (AIRs): Provide training and leadership for the AIR roles. Meet monthly with AIRs as a team to provide support, additional development, and guide goals of the co-curricular experience. Provide mentorship to Community Coordinators in their direct supervision of the AIRs. Plan and implement AIR training during fall training.
• Staff Appreciation: Plan and implement student staff appreciation efforts including winter celebration, RAIR appreciation week, and end-of-year banquet.
• Administrative Tasks: Complete day-to-day administrative tasks associated with the management of professional staff including tracking budget expenses and identifying areas of need and/or opportunity; reconciling procurement card spending; completing and responding to email correspondence; processing paperwork. Assist with community opening and closing.
• On-Call Rotation: Provide, in rotation with other residence life staff, 24-hour, seven-day, Administrator-On-Call coverage for approximately 1400 residents and follow up with residents who experience crisis situations. Support residents’ academic success and personal growth through individual discussion and crisis intervention and make referrals as appropriate. Meet with student residents to resolve roommate issues. Serve as a liaison with Department of Public Safety. On call on weekends and some holidays should be expected.
• Conduct: Respond to and process alleged policy violations as reported by staff, students and Public Safety. Serve as a hearing officer and develop sanctions using a restorative and educative lens. Ensure residents’ compliance with policies outlined in the Residence Life and Student Handbook. Recommend other actions to Director or Associate Director of Residence Life as appropriate. Serve as a liaison with the Coordinator of Student Conduct.
• Divisional Support: Actively support and participate in the work of the Division of Student Affairs and its different departments to realize the goals of the Division including but not limited to committee membership and presence at divisionally sponsored events.

Knowledge/Skills/Experience

• Master’s degree in student personnel, higher education administration, counseling or related field and demonstrated success working with a diverse group of students required. 2+ years past experience in Residence Life or related position preferred. Experience with residential curriculum, learning outcome development, assessment, facilitation, and student staff training and selection strongly preferred.
• A positive attitude and the ability to create enthusiasm, demonstrate flexibility, and maintain composure in stressful situations required. Physical ability to respond to crises or emergency situations in all buildings necessary (many areas are not wheelchair accessible).
• F amiliarity with common office software and/or college information management systems such as Workday, housing management system such as StarRez, and conduct software Maxient preferred.
• Previous supervisory experience, an awareness of social justice principles, and an appreciation for art and design, developed through employment, education or personal interest is highly desirable.

Union

No

Work Schedule

35 hours/week; 12 months/year

Employment Status

Full-Time: Exempt

Grade

12/AD; with Room and Board

Documents Needed to Apply

Resume (required)

Cover Letter (required)

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please upload all required documents.

The successful candidate will be required to meet our pre-employment background screening requirements.

RISD recognizes diversity and inclusivity as fundamental to its learning community and integral to an art and design education. We welcome candidates whose experience has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. RISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.

For internal use only - Job Family:

Student Affairs