Economics Program Assistant Intermediate

Economics Program Assistant

The Department of Economics at the University of Michigan is one of the premier economics departments in the world and the Economics Program Assistant serves as our public face. The Program Assistant is responsible for providing a broad range of assistance to our faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, staff, and visitors. An enthusiastic, welcoming, inclusive, and cheerful personality is critical. We are a diverse intellectual community dedicated to excellence through research and teaching.

Departmental Office Support 35% effort

• Greets and assists faculty, students, and all guests to the Department of Economics main office
• Manage day-to-day operations while providing a welcoming, helpful first point of contact
• Orders, stocks and maintains inventory of office and kitchen supplies in North Quad and the Church Street Building
• Distributes mail and packages for the department in North Quad
• Maintains and coordinates service contracts and repairs for departmental office equipment
• Assists faculty and GSIs with copying course materials
• Ensures departmental common spaces and seminar rooms are clean and orderly
• Schedule departmental meeting spaces and visitor offices
• Coordinate set-up and tear down for departmental events

Curriculum Support 45% effort

• Partner with the Associate Chair, Student Services Manager and the Undergraduate Program Manager in developing each semesters time schedule
• Accurately prepare the time schedule each semester
• Work closely with the Undergraduate Program Manager and the Student Services Manager to manage section capacities, issue course overrides and make recommendations regarding course capacity options
• Update course statistics
• Collect syllabi from faculty and update the course guide each term
• Assist with evening exam coordination with the Registrar's Office

Student and Academic Support 10% effort

• Manage the departments proctor pool program
• Provide website updates to the tutoring program and student updates the departmental website
• Monitor and answer emails in collaboration with the Undergraduate Coordinator and the Undergraduate Program Manager
• Answer phone inquiries about registration, wait list policies, and other departmental concerns

Facilities Support 15% effort

• Serve as the primary departmental contact for all facilities issues at our Church Street and North Quad locations
• Report and track all facilities issues with our LSA Facilities Manager
• Regularly walk through departmental spaces to ensure they are well-maintained
• Report maintenance or space related issues promptly
• Work closely with the Chief Administrator on the space survey data
• Coordinate key and access requests for all departmental spaces
• Assist the Chief Administrator on furniture requests
• Coordinate Zoom phone service

Required Qualifications*

Associates degree or equivalent combination of education and experience. Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills are vital; a successful candidate will thrive in providing efficient, empathetic, equitable, and inclusive services to (and working effectively with) a diverse group of students, faculty and staff. There may be times when the person in this role must interact with alumni, donors, parents or other stakeholders, so being able to react appropriately to and effectively diffuse stressful interpersonal situations is important, as is discretion when handling sensitive information.

The Economics Department depends on our staff to work successfully in a team environment, as well as work independently, so the successful candidate will be a self-starter and show initiative; have excellent organizational, critical thinking, and problem solving skills; be able to set priorities and handle multiple assignments and deadlines; learn quickly and stay calm in the face of concurrent tasks;

and display excellent judgment while operating in a flexible and highly professional manner. The desire to identify opportunities for efficiency in existing processes and procedures, as well as present ideas for ways to increase or make our services better; and a willingness to assume additional responsibilities, will be appreciated. We require a high level of proficiency with information technology applications including spreadsheets, word processing, email (preferably G-Mail), and other G-Suite programs.

A high degree of attention to detail and accuracy is critical in order to be successful in this position. The expected work schedule for this position is 8:00-4:30, Monday-Friday with a half-hour lunch, and the majority of the positions work is expected to be conducted on-site, though occasionally this role will require flexing hours or working overtime in order to assist with evening events.

The person in this position will need to be able to move and transport materials (e.g. cases of paper and boxes of other supplies up to 50lbs both with a cart or carrying short distances) and to set-up/tear down and carry folding chairs/tables.

Desired Qualifications*

Bachelor's degree is…