Administrative Specialist - Food Science & Technology

Position Summary

The Department of Food Science and Technology is a multi‑disciplinary department supporting research, teaching, and Extension programs on the Athens and Griffin campuses. This position serves as the assistant to the Department Head (DH) and is responsible for supporting day‑to‑day administration of the department. This role is critical to provide consistent support to the Head of the Department as well as to other faculty, staff, and students.

This position will:

• Handle all the departmental correspondence to upper administration, food industry, and alumni.
• Manage the main office, handle course loading and process overrides, curriculum/CAPA, course evaluations, and personnel record keeping.
• Provide support for faculty correspondence, event scheduling, and communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide administrative assistance with faculty appointments, graduate faculty appointments and re‑appointments, promotion/tenure, 3rd year reviews, post‑tenure reviews, and scheduling of faculty interviews.

High school diploma or equivalent and 2 years of related experience

Not specified.

Human Resources and Departmental Operations (40%)

• Submits position requests, posting requests, and hiring proposals for Staff, Graduate Research Assistants, Postdocs, and Temporary positions for the department, including related Critical Hire and Request to Fill/Hire forms as needed.
• Assists Faculty, Staff, Graduate Research Assistants, Postdocs, and Temporary positions with Onboarding.
• Serves as Postdoctoral Research Liaison. Initiates communication with departmental faculty, staff, and students at the two campuses – Athens and Griffin, as well as the affiliated University Centers.
• Coordinates with the FST Business Manager to ensure accurate summer pay and MFT compensations for Academic Year faculty.
• Assigns departmental keys, oversees mailbox assignments, receives mail and packages, prepares work orders through Facilities Management for offices, labs, and classrooms, and provides copying services as needed.
• Ensures required documentation is complete, accurate, and compliant prior to submission through UGAJobs and related HR systems.
• Identifies and resolves routine discrepancies in HR or operational transactions using established procedures; escalates non‑routine issues to appropriate offices.

Assists with the Department's Faculty Affairs (30%)

• Coordinates logistics of new hires and retirements (e.g., processes actions in UGAJobs; tracks faculty votes; ensures offices and facilities are cleaned out), including regular, emeritus, adjunct, courtesy, and visiting faculty.
• Processes graduate faculty appointments/reappointments, provides administrative support to search and screen committees, and assists new faculty with organizational onboarding.
• Tracks committee assignments.
• Tracks mentoring committees.
• Supports the Promotion and Tenure (P&T) and Post‑tenure Review Processes (tracks timing, uploads, and ensures accuracy of dossiers, maintains documentation, etc.).
• Leads Visa/H‑IB and Permanent Residency processes, including preparing and compiling required materials, and tracking submission deadlines.
• Responsible for scheduling and event planning for faculty meetings (on each campus, statewide, and online).
• Schedules annual faculty and staff reviews by HOD and organizes documentation.
• Assists Department Head with HATCH project assignments and reporting.
• Supports and ensures timely annual faculty contract processes, including letters of renewal/non‑renewal and electronic contract development.

Prepares and Distributes Correspondence (20%)

• Acts as a departmental liaison to the college and university as needed.
• Takes and distributes meeting notes.
• Facilitates response to FST Department Email for Department Head as needed. Responds to non‑electronic mail as necessary.
• Disseminates accurate and timely information to faculty, staff, and students regarding the department, College, and University‑wide issues.
• Disseminates accurate and timely information regarding departmental, college, and university policies and deadlines based on established communications.
• Mainta…