Executive Aide

Executive Aide

Job Type: Full-time

Job Description

Working with a high degree of independence, the executive aide for the School of Medicine Dean’s Office will manage the daily operations of the office to ensure that the office functions in a smooth, effective, and efficient manner, enabling the dean and chief of staff to devote their attention to providing leadership for the school.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for efficient running of the office. Maintain calendars for the dean and chief of staff and coordinate all travel arrangements. Serve as the information focal point with regard to the dean’s and chief of staff’s schedule. Monitor the dean’s and chief of staff’s mail and take appropriate action as needed. Maintain confidentiality for any and all conversations or messages that come into or are discussed in the Dean’s Office Suite.
• Serve as a link between the dean and chief of staff and the academic and administrative units of the school. Set standards for providing excellent service to the departments and central offices. Process complex, highly confidential, strategic and time-sensitive information. Triage problems and issues and gather information for the dean and chief of staff to further evaluate. Investigate and resolve matters of significance on behalf of the dean and chief of staff. Compare and evaluate possible courses of conduct and recommend best course of action. Understand the nature and relative importance of contacts that the dean and chief of staff may have including alumni, civic leaders, foundations, other academic institutions, accrediting agencies, state and federal government and corporate leaders.
• Provide executive assistance to relieve dean of administrative type functions. Accept, screen, and redirect all incoming telephone calls for the dean and chief of staff; or place out-going calls on behalf of the Dean’s Office. Serve as a link between the Dean’s Office and the School of Medicine faculty. This requires a knowledge and understanding of the academic functions and the school’s bylaws. Also requires sensitive awareness of the issues under consideration, an attention to detail, and an ability to anticipate needs, errors and omissions before they occur.
• Participate in short- and long-term strategic planning and program implementation with the Dean and chief of staff. Make recommendations to management on policies and procedures and actively seek out and suggest improvements to operations, including new procedures, documentation and training. Rely on experience, independent judgment and decision making to plan and accomplish goals. Is empowered with a high degree of creativity and latitude. Assist with special projects.
• Serve as a link between the Dean’s Office and School of Medicine students. This requires knowledge of university policies and procedures regarding medical and graduate students as well as tact, courtesy, responsiveness, and diplomacy.
• Assist peer Executive Assistant with candidate visits and events. Serve as the department HR liaison and travel coordinator; maintain a strong understanding of university policies and procedures. Ensure that all forms are completed correctly and in a timely manner.
• Provide institutional research in support of planning and decision making, including gathering data from other institutions and affiliation partners as necessary and preparing summaries and /or reports. Prepare and/or contribute to the preparation of original reports, briefings, presentations, letters, memoranda and proposals. Utilize MS Office software to prepare correspondence, internal memoranda, reports, charts and graphs, as requested. Compose administrative correspondence as well as assisting the dean and chief of staff with the large volume of correspondence required of the positions.
• Assist in financial planning and budget development linked to the strategic plan. Prepare monthly informational reports including proposal and award activity, expense activity in order to supplement the forecast process and others as necessary. Serve as backup to executive assistant in reconciling expense statements and purchase card transactions and maintain office expense data and related files.

Qualifications

• Experience: 10 or more years progressively more responsible administrative experience; experience at a university or non-profit executive office preferred.
• Education: Associate’s degree required; Bachelor’s degree preferred.

Required Skills

• Strong administrative skills and working knowledge of current office technologies.
• Strong organization, multitasking, and prioritization skills. Attention to detail, accuracy, time management, and follow-through.
• Professional and effective oral and written communication skills, proofreading, and good interpersonal skills with the ability to work and communicate with various individuals within and external to the university.
• Ability to work effectively independently and collaboratively within a team, highly motivated, responsible, dependable, and a self-starter.
• Tact, maturity, discretion, and sensitivity, maintaining the confidential nature of the handled data.
• Excellent customer service skills, effective problem-solving, sound judgment, decision-making, and innovation.
• Flexibility, ability to work under pressure, willingness to learn new techniques, procedures, processes, and computer programs as needed.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft programs including PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheets, and Word processing.
• Demonstrated accounting and budgeting skills.

Working Conditions

Pressures associated with short lead times, conflicting priorities, and the complex nature of the office functions. Prolonged use of the computer and telephone. Must be flexible with schedule, some early mornings, evenings and weekends are required. This position does not participate in the hybrid work schedule.