CREECA
Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia

Job Opportunity: Assistant Director, CREECA

Job Opportunity: Assistant Director–Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia
Official Title: Associate Admin Program Specialist (R07FN)

Application deadline: July 24, 2019

Degree and area of specialization: Bachelor’s degree in international area studies, Russian, East European, and Central Asian area studies, or a related field required. MA preferred.

Minimum number of years and type of relevant work experience:

  • Excellent organizational and project management skills.
  • Demonstrated success planning and managing large events.
  • Ability to manage confidential and sensitive information and excellent professional judgement.
  • Superior professional English writing skills.
  • Computer proficiency, experience working with databases and spreadsheets and relevant software such as Excel, Adobe Creative Suite, and Google Drive; experience with WordPress strongly preferred.
  • Demonstrated capacity to work collaboratively with diverse groups of people such as faculty, students, staff, international visitors, and the public.
  • Minimum one-year prior experience working in an administrative capacity; experience in higher education administration preferred.
  • Overseas life experience, research, or study abroad experience in Russia, Eastern and Central Europe, and/or Central Eurasia highly desirable.
  • Skills in a Slavic or Central Eurasian language highly desirable.

Principal duties:

Working under the general supervision of the CREECA Associate Director, and with team members in CREECA and the Institute for International and Regional Studies (IRIS), the Assistant Director will manage several administrative activities for CREECA, including:

Coordination of Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute (CESSI) 40%
Working under the direction the CREECA Associate Director and with the Director of the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes (WISLI), coordinate all aspects of the annual eight-week Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute (CESSI), including:

  • Advertise the program, recruit students and instructors.
  • Coordinate annual admissions and funding competition for prospective CESSI students.
  • Coordinate the pre-session pedagogy and orientation week for instructors.
  • Coordinate CESSI academic, cultural, and lecture programs.
  • Maintain regular correspondence with the member programs of the CESSI consortium.
  • Serve as the main point of contact for the CESSI Title VIII Fellowship with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Analytic Outreach.
  • Gather data for and prepare quarterly and annual final reports on CESSI for Title VIII and consortium partners.
  • Work with the IRIS financial staff to ensure that all payments related to CESSI are processed in a timely fashion and in compliance with UW-Madison financial policies and procedures.

Outreach 25%

  • Plan and implement CREECA public outreach activities for constituents in K-16 education, alumni, community groups, business, government, and the media.
  • When required, work with the IRIS Assistant Director for Outreach on IRIS-wide outreach activities.
  • Manage the CREECA outreach lending library, including acquisitions, cataloging, and circulation, deaccession of outdated materials, and conversion of some library materials (videos, slides) to a digital format.
  • Oversee center communications; manage CREECA website, podcast, and social media, supervising student employees on regular updates.

Recruitment, advising, and alumni engagement 20%

  • Develop and implement strategies for recruitment efforts for academic programs administered by CREECA, including the undergraduate and graduate certificates in REECAS, the MA in REECAS, and the PhD minor in REECAS.
  • Represent the academic goals of CREECA at conferences and resource fairs.
  • Actively recruit students for the undergraduate Certificate in REECAS and coordinate with the IRIS Assistant Director for Students and Curriculum on curricular and student issues related to the undergraduate certificate.
  • Serve as main point of contact for FLAS applicants and fellows; coordinate annual FLAS competition; complete FLAS reports as required.
  • Develop and sustain partnerships with other campus units to further CREECA’s academic goals.
  • Develop strategies to maintain a robust network of alumni and programs that foster student-alumni engagement, such as professional development seminars and networking opportunities.

Office administration, data gathering, and records management 15%

  • Gather data (e.g. on enrollments, publications, outreach activities, alumni activities) as required for CREECA’s university and extramural surveys and reports such as regular reports for the Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) programs and the Title VIII program; assist the associate director as needed with grants funded from STARTALK, NSLI-Y, and Carnegie Corporation of New York.
  • Assist with hiring, training, and supervising student employees.
  • Train and supervise graduate and undergraduate students on special projects as needed.

Additional Information:
The employment title will be Associate Administrative Specialist. The position will be a 12-month Annual-basis fixed-term renewable appointment at 100% time. Continuation of the position is expressly dependent on job performance and continued external funding. This position requires domestic travel 3-5 times per year, and occasional night and weekend work for special events.

The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is a leading center on teaching, research, and public outreach for the Eurasian region. It is one of the member programs of the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) in the International Division of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CREECA receives support from the US Department of Education as a National Resource Center, is the home of the Wisconsin Russia Project, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, administers the Pushkin Summer Institute domestic and overseas programs, administers the Central Eurasian Studies Summer Institute (CESSI), and sponsors undergraduate and graduate programs in Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies.

Salary: Minimum $47,000 annual, depending on qualifications. To apply for this position, please see the official Position Vacancy Listing (PVL) here.

Read the full article at: https://jobs.hr.wisc.edu/en-us/job/501928/assistant-director-for-operations-creeca