CEL Specialist

Job Title

Professional Service Specialist 3 (PSS3)

AFT

Full-time, 10 month, 35 hours per week

Internal: $57,072.15 – $91,302.36
External: $57,072.15 – $65,629.71

Founded in 1855, TCNJ offers a highly personalized and collaborative liberal arts education with over 7,400 undergraduates and 700 graduate students. The college is consistently ranked among the top comprehensive colleges in the nation, offering small classes, a 13:1 student‑faculty ratio, and an immersive living‑learning experience. With a 4‑year graduation rate ranked #1 in New Jersey and #9 among U.S. public institutions, TCNJ is a model for public higher education.

TCNJ's Center for Community Engagement (CCE) is the primary administrative home to the College's community engagement activities that integrate educational experiences with community service, student development, and civic participation. The Center is the home to two institutes:
Community Engaged Learning (CEL) Institute and the Bonner Institute. Grounded in TCNJ's mission to empower its diverse students, staff, and faculty to sustain and enhance their communities, as well as TCNJ's commitment to the public purpose of higher education, the CCE develops lifelong learners who are prepared to lead lives of critically informed community engagement. The CEL Institute oversees and coordinates community‑engaged learning activities.

CEL is an educational experience in which students engage in an organized community‑based activity or project that addresses community‑identified needs. CEL experiences are intentionally designed to advance the communities and community members with which they engage, while developing knowledge of and experience with civic responsibility, diverse communities, social issues, and social systems and structures. CEL at TCNJ takes three primary forms: a first‑year community‑engaged learning experience;
Introductory and Advanced CEL courses; and internships, and community engaged learning research and special projects.

The CEL Specialist supports the Community Engaged Learning Institute by managing the CEL Courses program with support from the CEL Director and assisting with First‑Year CEL programming in coordination with the CEL Manager. This 10‑month position is primarily responsible for collaborating with faculty, staff, campus partners, and community partners to design, implement, and assess meaningful community‑engaged learning opportunities, including CEL courses, internships, scholarships, and related community‑based learning experiences.

This role requires independent program coordination, strong faculty and partner collaboration, knowledge of CEL course design and best practices, and the ability to assess a complex program involving multiple stakeholders.

• CEL Course Program Management and Support
  • Manage the CEL Courses program with support from the CEL Director.
  • Collaborate with faculty and staff to create, implement, and assess meaningful community‑engaged learning opportunities, including CEL classes, internships, scholarships, and related experiences.
  • Support faculty in CEL course design by connecting faculty to appropriate community partners, ensuring reciprocal relationships, updating syllabi to include appropriate graded assignments and reflection activities, and sharing best practices for project design and implementation.
  • Support implementation through logistics, local travel coordination, access to CEL funding, and additional student workshops.
  • Support assessment through class‑specific surveys, class visits to lead reflection discussions, and CEL rubric training to assess related assignments.
  • Evaluate CEL program goals, processes, and operations, and implement alternative procedures to meet program objectives as necessary.
  • Direct the maintenance of essential records and files, including the CEL class application process, PAWS designations, database and website upkeep, and CEL reporting.
  • Prepare detailed correspondence communicating expectations, requirements, processes, and timelines for CEL programming.
• Policy and Compliance
  –Collaborate with General…