Senior Director, Student Union & Event Services; Internal

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Director of the Student Union and Event Services provides executive leadership and strategic direction for a comprehensive, 220,000+ square foot, multi-tenant student union facility located in the core of the Storrs campus. The Student Union serves as a central hub for student engagement, co-curricular learning, expressive activity, campus events, and community interaction, supporting a complex environment that includes meeting and event spaces, student organization offices, cultural and affinity spaces, dining and retail operations, audiovisual and technology services, student media spaces, and institutionally significant public gathering areas.

The Senior Director ensures the Student Union and associated event and campus space operations provide a safe, welcoming, inclusive, and highly functional environment that supports student success, belonging, institutional priorities, and campus life. The role provides leadership for a high-volume operation supporting more than 28,000 annual reservations and significant daily building utilization while balancing operational effectiveness, institutional risk management, policy implementation, expressive activity, and customer service across a diverse university environment.

It requires the successful candidate to develop collaborative relationships across institutional stakeholders and organizational levels.

The Senior Director provides leadership for the integrated functional areas of Event Services, Facility Operations and Building Services, Business and Retail Services, Audiovisual and Technology Services, and campus space management operations. The position also provides institutional leadership related to campus events, outdoor space use, expressive activity, and operational coordination for high-impact and complex events in partnership with university stakeholders.

The Division of Student Life and Enrollment is committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming campus community. The ideal candidate demonstrates the ability to lead within complex organizational environments while supporting equity, belonging, student engagement, and culturally responsive practices across all aspects of departmental operations, supervision, planning, and service delivery.

• Provide executive leadership and strategic direction for Student Union and Event Services, including Facility Operations and Building Services, Event Services, Business and Retail Services, Audiovisual and Technology Services, and associated campus space management operations.
• Oversee the day-to-day operations of a high-volume, multi-tenant student union facility and associated event and campus spaces, ensuring safe, accessible, welcoming, and effective environments that support student engagement, co-curricular learning, and institutional operations.
• Direct and steward an operating budget of $4 million annually, supporting facility operations, staffing, building maintenance, technology, and operational services, ensuring alignment between fiscal planning, operational priorities, long-term sustainability, and institutional goals.
• Provide leadership and supervision for full-time staff, unionized employees, graduate assistants, and student employees within a layered organizational structure operating in a collective bargaining environment.
• Lead organizational development, staffing structure planning, and operational alignment efforts that support departmental effectiveness, continuity of operations, student support, and evolving institutional needs.
• Establish, implement, and evaluate policies, procedures, operational standards, and service frameworks governing facility use, event operations, outdoor space use, vendor activity, expressive activity, and campus engagement.
• Provide institutional leadership related to campus space use, expressive activity, demonstrations, high-profile events, and complex event activity through coordinated planning and collaboration with university leadership, Public Safety, Emergency Management, Environmental Health and Safety, General Counsel, and other campus stakeholders.
• Serve as the primary liaison to Student Union tenants and campus partners, including but not limited to Student Activities, Cultural Centers, Dining Services, Registered Student Organizations, University Safety, the  Office, retail partners, academic departments, and administrative units.
• Partner with institutional stakeholders, including the Registrar’s Office, Conference Services, University Safety, Environmental Health and Safety, Emergency Management, Facilities Operations, Procurement, General Counsel, regional campuses, UConn Health, and other university units to support coordinated campus operations and institutional event activity.
• Provide leadership for enterprise event and space management systems utilized across the department and broader university environment, supporting operational coordination, scheduling, reporting, workflow development, training, and…