Employment Opportunities at ACU

ACU is affiliated with the fellowship of the Church of Christ. All applicants must be professing Christians and willing to support the Christian mission and purpose of Abilene Christian University while employed by the university.

The key principle of this job is to support ACU’s Mission to educate students for Christian service and leadership throughout the world.

Student Success Advisors (SSAs) are responsible for the advisement, success, and eventual graduation of an assigned group of students. SSAs are focused on providing an exceptional student experience through ongoing student engagement and relationship building. SSAs also participate in university-wide retention and persistence efforts.

This is a hybrid role. The SSA in this position will work physically on the Abilene campus 2-3 days per week and remote/WFH 2-3 days per week. However, changes to this may occur based on student needs. Changes may be time-limited or include permanent reclassification of the position as being in office five days a week.

Basic Responsibilities:

● Student Advising
● Caseload Management
● Department Operations

Student Advising

• Assists in the support of new students through the onboarding process: conducting welcome calls/meetings, maintaining ongoing communication and outreach, assisting new students by responding promptly to all
  questions and concerns
• Communicate with Student Services Coordinator to address student needs
• Advise students regarding policies, procedures, registration, degree progression, and payment options
• Maintain ongoing communication with students, focusing most heavily on students identified as being at risk
• Collaborate with students and other departments and teams to remove barriers to student persistence and success
• Assist students in making informed decisions by providing ethical, timely, accurate, and comprehensive program information and student resources
• Use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to address and resolve student issues and ensure positive student experiences. Address potential and/or current student concerns and seek appropriate resolution to problems 
• Assist students by performing appropriate follow-up and coordination with team members. This includes working with employees in a team environment and providing accurate student information and assistance to
  other team members in and/or outside of their functional area
• Communicate effectively with potential and/or current students via telephone, email, video calls, and/or in person
• Ensure students are in compliance with university academic policies and procedures
• Provide supplemental support for engagement activities including MyACU groups, program-specific badge activities, Wildcat Connection sessions, and/or other on-campus activities and webinars as needed.
• Represent Student Success in on-campus activities such as commencement, homecoming, and others as assigned.
• Key Performance Indicators: Student survey scores, including Net Promoter Scores (NPS), registration efficiency

Caseload Management

• Attend scheduled cross-departmental meetings with Student Financial Services, Operations, Admissions, and Academics, as requested
• Monitor student participation and progress through the program to ensure that students are in alignment with University policies
• Review, document, and monitor student information (including academic performance and attendance) on an ongoing basis to resolve issues and facilitate student success; report any data integrity issues found
• Maintain accurate and up to date performance metrics for student caseload
• Key Performance Indicators: Retention rates, re-entry rates, withdrawal rates, and student success rates.

Department Operations

• Participate in regularly scheduled faculty meetings around the curriculum to build awareness of course offerings to help students make correct curriculum decisions.
• Report advising issues as they arise and schedule regular meetings with the Academic Dean to ensure continuity of care across programs.
• Communicate regularly with direct supervisor on feedback regarding any issues within the team relating to (but not confined to) workflows, work volumes, operational issues/matters, IT issues/matters, training
  requirements, enhancement requests, job performance, and key performance indicators etc.
• Attend team and Student Success department meetings
• Serve as primary liaison and point of contact between residential faculty and online stakeholders in Student Success
• Identify and report inconsistencies in documentation (i.e. handbook, catalog, programmatic curriculum sheets)
• Attend and participate in professional training and mentorship
• Key Performance Indicators: Completion of required and elected professional development and maintenance and upkeep of dashboards, reporting and spreadsheets

Skills

• Exceptional interpersonal skills demonstrated across a variety of platforms (virtual meetings, phone calls, emails)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong planning, organizational, and time management skills
• Utilizes critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Excellent command of professional presentation skills and be comfortable presenting to groups both large and small
• Prior experience serving graduate students in a higher education setting (advising, counseling, or similar ongoing support relationship.) is highly desirable.

Training

• High-level knowledge of the higher education and student development theory
• Computer literate and able to learn proprietary software applications including but not limited to:
  ▪ SalesForce
  ▪ Banner
  ▪ TalkDesk
  ▪ Microsoft Suite
  ▪ Zoom

ACU is affiliated with the fellowship of the Church of Christ. This position requires the employee to be a professing Christian and to be willing to support the Christian mission of ACU.

Professional
● Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s degree in an appropriate discipline (Higher Education, College Student Personnel, Academic Advising, Counseling, or similar) preferred.
● Ability to travel, must possess a valid driver's license
● Able to work flexible hours conducive to contacting students when available.
● Minimum of 2 years of Higher Education Experience. Higher education advising experience preferred.
● Prior experience or academic credentials in programs related to student population is preferred.

Personal
● Goal-oriented and driven to assist people with meeting their educational goals
● Self-motivated with the ability to successfully work independently or in a team environment
● Must be student-centered and have the ability to perform multiple tasks efficiently and effectively
● Motivating others by creating a climate in which people can succeed
● Collaborative with both on-campus and online constituents. Work to foster a team environment in both settings.
● Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external stakeholders
● Maintains professional appearance (i.e. neat and orderly attire) and work environment (I.e. clean and organized dedicated workspace/office with professional background).
● Ability to adapt in a fast-paced and dynamic environment
● Supports and upholds all student-facing university policies
● Demonstrates personal and professional integrity
● Displays public support and pride in university initiatives, and assists others in seeing the positive aspects of ACU
● Complies with all ACU employee policies and procedures

ACU does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, disability, genetic information, national or ethnic origin in employment opportunities, in keeping with applicable state and federal law.

ACU is committed to maintaining a safe and secure campus environment and protecting the university's financial and physical assets.  Therefore, Abilene Christian University conducts background checks on all candidates for employment in security sensitive positions.