Assistant Director, Advising and Student Services - CALES Norton School of Human Ecology

The Assistant Director serves as a liaison between advising and academic leadership, using data to guide practice and ensuring alignment with college and institutional standards. Student caseload will consist of supporting all majors within HECL, mainly with complex cases and designated cohort of students' contingent on needs. The manager will report directly to the CALES Senior Director of Advising and Student Services.

Occasional evening or weekend hours may be required.

Outstanding U of A benefits include health, dental, and vision insurance plans; life insurance and disability programs; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; U of A/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; retirement plans; access to U of A recreation and cultural activities; and more!

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Academic
Advising Leadership Oversight:

• Lead and manage the unit's
  day-to-day advising operations, ensuring timely, student-centered, and
  policy aligned advising.
• Provide direct advising to
  students as needed, especially in escalated or complex cases. Will be familiar with all standard duties of CALES advisors.
• Act as primary resource for
  advisors regarding interpretation of academic policies and procedures.
• Oversee communication
  strategies, caseload management, and workflow consistency across the
  team.
• Coordinate unit-level
  student outreach and programming, in alignment with college advising
  goals.

Staff
Supervision and Development:

• Supervise a team of
  professional academic advisors, including performance management,
  onboarding, and ongoing development.
• Set team goals and provide
  regular coaching and feedback to ensure advisor growth and
  effectiveness.
• Promote a positive team
  culture rooted in support and shared responsibility for student success.
• Collaborate with other
  Assistant Directors to support consistent practices and shared learning
  across advising teams.

Academic
Support and Administration:

• Represent advising in
  department- and unit-level curriculum and planning conversations.
• Use institutional and
  advising data to assess student trends and inform advising practice.
• Support development and
  assessment of unit-specific advising goals and outcomes.
• Partner with faculty and
  leadership to identify and address systemic barriers to student
  progression.

Service
and Professional Development:

• Mentor junior and mid-level
  advisors on complex advising practices and university systems.
• Facilitate or contribute to
  advisor training within the unit and college-wide.
• Share effective strategies
  and promote professional learning within the team.
• Represent the advising
  function in college or university committees focused on student success.

Collaboration,
Representation, and Engagement:

• Serve as a liaison between
  the advising unit and college or university partners.
• Represent the unit on
  advising councils, curriculum committees, or student support
  initiatives.
• Coordinate with student
  support offices and instructional staff to streamline referrals and
  align student resources.
• Use systems like Trellis
  and UAccess Analytics to support strategic decision-making.

Academic
Advising Management - Norton School of HECL:

• Supervise team of Norton
  school academic advisors.
• Provides academic advising
  for all students in the Norton School as needed, which can include
  advising for Retailing and Consumer Sciences (RCSC), Personal and Family Financial Planning (PFFP), Human Development and Family Science (HDFS), and Fashion, Industry, Science and Technology (FITS) majors, minors and certificates.
• Provide ongoing support and
  availability for student services team members' questions, concerns, and
  escalated student issues.
• Lead weekly team meetings.
• Serves as main point of
  contact for student services/advising concerns that may come from
  students, parents, or community members.
• Hire and train new advising
  team members.
• Provide training and
  development opportunities for all advising team members.
• Shadow advisors and provide
  feedback about advising practices.
• Create vision for CALES and
  Norton School academic advising and ensure team members are working
  together toward common goals.
• Complete monthly, biweekly,
  or weekly individual meetings with student services staff members.
• Review career conversations
  with student services staff members.
• Review student petitions,
  review requests for unit increases, and release academic advising holds.
• Lead and coordinate Student
  Services Events & Initiatives such as student appreciation events,
  advising in the lobby, in-class advising presentations, etc.
• Lead and coordinate Student
  Services proactive outreach initiatives that focus on student retention
  (e.g., CALES Pulse outreach, mid-semester progress check-ins, academic
  eligibility outreach, etc.).
• Work collaboratively with
  Norton School Experiential Learning Coordinator to integrate internship
  exploration and career development steps into undergraduate advising
  experiences.
• Provide leadership and
  project management for CALES college level advising team and coordinates special project at college level (examples include academic
  advising assessment, analytics and first year academic advising).
• Serves as point of contact
  for Norton and CALES leadership regarding advising matters and student
  perspectives.
• Serves on school,
  college-wide, and university-wide leadership committees.
• Facilitate CALES Agvisors
  meetings (twice a month).
• Facilitate Advising Manager
  Meetings (twice a month).

Knowledge,
Skills, and Abilities (KSAs):

• In-depth understanding of
  academic advising theory, student development, and university systems.
• Strong team leadership and
  supervisory skills, including managing change and performance.
• Proficiency in analyzing
  student data and applying insights to improve advising outcomes.
• Ability to interpret and
  implement academic policy in collaboration with faculty and
  administrators.
• Effective written and
  verbal communication, with demonstrated success building partnerships
  across functions.

This job posting reflects the general nature and level of work expected of the selected candidate(s). It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. The institution reserves the right to amend or update this description as organizational priorities and institutional needs evolve.

• Bachelor's
  degree or equivalent advanced learning attained through professional level
  experience required.
• Minimum of 3 years of related work experience or
  equivalent combination of education and work experience
  required.

• Master's degree preferred.
• 8 years of relevant experience, or equivalent combination of education and work experience.
  
• Data assessment or data analytics experience.