Assistant Director, Student Programming

Department:
Center for Innovative Thinking - Communications and Operations

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The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) has a mission to inspire students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to seek innovative ways to solve real-world problems. Tsai CITY enables students to develop the skills, mindsets, and networks needed to pursue innovative solutions through co-curricular programming, mentorship, funding, and community-building.

Reporting to the Director of Innovation Initiatives, the Assistant Director of Student Programming (Innovation Initiatives) plays a key role in designing and delivering student experiences that help Yale students develop their capacity for innovative thinking, entrepreneurship, and problem-solving. This position works closely with the Tsai CITY team to execute a portfolio of innovation initiatives and programs, with a particular focus on creating meaningful, accessible, and engaging learning experiences for students across Yale.

The Assistant Director will serve as a student-facing program leader and trusted resource for students exploring ideas, developing projects, or seeking to build their innovation skills. The role combines program management, student coaching, community building, learning design, assessment, and relationship management. The ideal candidate is energized by working directly with students, translating innovative thinking concepts into engaging experiences, and using student feedback and data to continually improve programs.

• Coordinate and execute a portfolio of student-facing innovation programs, workshops, events, and learning experiences from planning through evaluation.
• Translate Tsai CITY’s innovative thinking learning model and frameworks into accessible, engaging programming for students and university partners.
• Develop and facilitate opportunities for students to build peer relationships, exchange ideas, and become active members of the Tsai CITY community.
• Gather and respond to student feedback to ensure programming reflects the evolving needs and interests of Yale’s student community.
• Develop and implement processes for collecting student feedback, participation data, and other measures of program effectiveness.
• Represent Tsai CITY at relevant campus and external events and contribute to the visibility and growth of its student innovation community.
• Coach and advise students exploring innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative problem-solving, helping them develop and advance ideas, build innovative thinking skills, and connect with relevant resources and opportunities.

1. Ability to work with a wide variety of constituents including students, faculty, alumni, and external partners and collaborators. Ability to identify and pursue meaningful collaborative relationships for program development and network building.

2. Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively, taking a proactive, creative, flexible approach to program development and problem solving.

Experience working on a diverse and creative team juggling multiple priorities.

3. Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to represent the center publicly to a variety of stakeholders.

4. Demonstrated ability to lead and execute on multiple projects simultaneously.

5. Familiarity with project management and CRM webtools (e.g., Airtable, Circle,…