Job Information
Montana State University Assistant to the Dean in Bozeman, Montana
Position Details
Position Information
Announcement Number STAFF - VA - 25316
For questions regarding this position, please contact:
William G. Thomas III
Dean
william.thomas22@montana.edu
Classification Title Admin Assoc Mgr
Working Title Assistant to the Dean
Brief Position Overview
The College of Letters and Science is searching for a highly motivated and experienced individual to manage and implement essential initiatives and programs in the College of Letters and Science, while providing high level executive administrative support for the Dean. This person manages the Dean’s Office, oversees administrative operations and staff for the College, and is the College’s liaison with MSU Human Resources.
Position Number 4M1051
Department Dean of Letters & Science
Division College of Letters & Science
Appointment Type Classified
Contract Term Fiscal Year
Semester
If other, specify From date
If other, specify End date
FLSA Exempt
Union Affiliation FOCUS-MFPE
FTE 1.0
Benefits Eligible Eligible
Salary $68,500 annually, commensurate with experience, education, and qualifications
Contract Type Classified Salary
If other, please specify
Recruitment Type Open
Position Details
General Statement
The College of Letters and Science ( CLS ), the largest center for learning, teaching and research at Montana State University, offers students an excellent liberal arts and sciences education in nearly 50 majors, 25 minors and over 25 graduate degrees within the four areas of the humanities, social sciences, natural and physical sciences, and mathematics. and social sciences.
Building on the great strength of our traditional disciplines, the college provides exciting opportunities for faculty and students at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary inquiry. CLS is dedicated to supporting student success, discovering and disseminating new knowledge, and providing an atmosphere in which discovery and learning are integrated and valued. CLS is at the confluence of intellectual tradition, discovery, and innovation.
The Assistant to the Dean oversees the administrative operations of the college, is the office manager for the Dean’s Office, oversees and coordinates the college retention, tenure and promotion process, provides programmatic oversight of the dean’s college and university-wide initiatives, and is the College’s liaison with university human resources. This position is responsible for implementing essential initiatives and programs in the College of Letters and Science, serving as the primary administrative contact for twelve departments, four academic programs and thirteen affiliated centers and research programs, developing procedures and policies to achieve the college’s goals, and training and mentoring personnel across the college while providing high level executive administrative support for the Dean.
Duties and Responsibilities
Provides high level, executive administrative support for the Dean, including managing confidential matters within the Dean’s Office, ensuring that reports and college data are accurate and timely, and assists in composing college documents and correspondence. Manages the Dean’s schedule, makes travel arrangements for the Dean, plans and schedules the Dean’s meetings. Ensures data, materials, agendas, and minutes for meetings and/or presentations are prepared in an accurate, timely and professional manner. Organizes and prioritizes critical issues and required information for the Dean to facilitate efficient decision making, minimizing conflicts and potential risks. Proactively monitors in a positive manner the identification of issues that could impact the successful execution of the Dean’s commitments.
Develops and implements aspects of the Dean’s programs and projects in accordance with college goals and mission, including, making programmatic recommendations regarding the logistics, agenda items and content of programs and meetings; contacting speakers and arranging travel; communicating with program participants; finding venues for meetings and workshops; and planning and producing meeting materials. Oversees and executes a number of events for the Dean’s Office including seminar series’, annual meetings and guest speakers.
Serves as a subject matter expert on CLS administrative operations, handling inquiries and developing action plans to address them, and assisting with the preparation and dissemination of communications.
Manages the Dean’s Office and supervises Dean’s Office staff, including recruiting, hiring, training, scheduling, managing work assignments and evaluating Dean’s Office staff as directed by the Dean.
Ensures that the Assistant and/or Associate Deans have adequate staff support to plan and execute college initiatives.
Serves as College liaison with University Human Resources ( UHR ) and works closely with HR Business Partner and CLS Budget and Fiscal Manager to coordinate staffing and compensation within the College. Approves recruitments, classifications, new hire salaries, and salary adjustments on behalf of the Dean. Manages staff recruitment in the College including working with departments and HRBP to develop position descriptions, serve on search committees, and provide search support as needed.
Serves as the College liaison with University Communications, ensuring that communications and events are completed in a timely manner. Reviews and edits college communications on behalf of the Dean prior to them being disseminated to the public.
Builds and develops relationships with all staff in CLS for increased efficiency and effective responsiveness to existing operations, and helps to define new operational and administrative strategies.
Manages the college retention, tenure and promotion ( RTP ) process, for thirteen departments (usually 25 – 30 cases annually) including: developing and implementing RTP procedures for the College (e.g. College guidelines within the University guidelines); providing procedural assistance to departments, departmental review committees, and faculty to minimize departmental process errors; communicating changes in University and College RTP processes to departments and providing training to department staff on said changes; monitoring departmental compliance with RTP procedures and improving departmental compliance through negotiation and persuasion. The position is responsible for quality control of the RTP process, e.g. assessing the effectiveness of the process and writing procedural guidelines to improve and streamline the process.
Serves as the college representative for the Offices of the President and Vice Presidents, providing detailed reports and quality data to these offices when requested.
Communicates and trains departmental staff, department heads, and faculty on university and college policies, procedures, RTP , and any new administrative policy or procedure implemented by the Dean.
Serves as primary administrative support for the CLS Advisory Committee.
Required Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills
Bachelor’s degree and experience providing high-level administrative support to an executive/executive team or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience.
Successful experience in operations/office management for a large organization.
Demonstrated competence in bringing complex projects and initiatives to a successful completion.
Demonstrated experience providing support for an executive team, following up to committed deliverables by the executive team and communicating complex information effectively to various constituents (student, staff, faculty, executives).
Demonstrated experience organizing and managing events, and/or prioritizing multiple work assignments, meeting deadlines, and exercising adaptability to changing priorities.
Supervisory experience.
Demonstrated experience using personal computers and various software such as word processing, spreadsheets, email, and Microsoft Office software.
Preferred Qualifications – Experience, Education, Knowledge & Skills
Master’s degree.
Successful experience as a member of an executive management team in higher education.
The Successful Candidate Will
Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with various constituencies, including students, administrators, co-workers, faculty.
Have excellent communication, interpersonal, and customer service skills.
Possess strong organizational and time management skills.
Possess skills to effectively deal with sensitive or difficult situations.
Uphold a strict level of confidentiality.
Have strong attention to detail, and will be successful in prioritizing competing demands and meeting deadlines.
Have an aptitude for independent problem solving, decision-making, personnel management.
Have good judgement and self-motivation.
Maintain a high degree of accuracy in one’s work.
Possess the ability to successfully manage multiple projects and deadlines simultaneously.
Demonstrate the ability to maintain a calm, pleasant, positive, and professional demeanor in difficult situations.
Will represent CLS and MSU to others in a professional and courteous manner.
Position Special Requirements/Additional Information
This position requires occasional work on nights and weekends for events and seminars.
This job description should not be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities or requirements, but a general description of the job. Nothing contained herein restricts Montana State University’s rights to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.
Physical Demands
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily with or without reasonable accommodations. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
This position has supervisory duties? Yes
Posting Detail Information
Number of Vacancies 1
Desired Start Date Upon completion of a successful search.
Position End Date (if temporary)
Open Date
Close Date
Applications will be:
Screening of applications will begin on April 1, 2025; however, applications will continue to be accepted until an adequate applicant pool has been established.
Special Instructions
EEO Statement
Montana State University is an equal opportunity employer. MSU does not discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, political ideas, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, national origin, physical or mental disability, or any other protected class status in violation of any applicable law.
In compliance with the Montana Veteran’s Employment Preference Act, MSU provides preference in employment to veterans, disabled veterans, and certain eligible relatives of veterans. To claim veteran’s preference, please complete the veteran’s preference information located in the Demographics section of your profile.