Purchasing & Operations Specialist

Position Overview

The Department of Educational Psychology in the College of Education and Human Development is hiring a Purchasing/ Operations Specialist. This position serves as the first point of contact for purchasing needs and is responsible for providing purchasing and finance support to the department through coordinating PCard purchases, UMarket orders, contracts for professional services, check requests, invoice payments, and external sales invoicing.

Additionally, this role provides facilities support and office assistance to the Department Administrator, Chair, faculty, and staff. This position actively supports and advances the University’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Skills & Competencies of a Successful Candidate

• Ability to establish and meet deadlines.
• Service-oriented with excellent customer service skills.
• Attention to detail and ability to ensure compliance with complex policies and procedures.
• Independently review financial policies and perform duties accurately and with minimal guidance.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize, multitask, and execute in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong verbal and written communications, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to maintain a high level of integrity and strong sense of confidentiality.

This position may be hybrid with required in-person work based on the Minneapolis campus. Per UMN policy, work may be done remotely when appropriate and approved by your manager.

Purchasing / Finance (60%)

• Conduct purchases of goods and services for non-sponsored and sponsored accounts according to University policies and procedures.
• Solve purchasing issues and answer questions related to complex financial policies and procedures.
• Assist employees and students to arrange and reimburse travel for programs within the Educational Psychology department.
• Support set up of new suppliers and changes to existing supplier records.
• Prepare documents relevant to purchasing professional services including, but not limited to the Professional Services Information Sheet and Statement of Work.
• Prepare and request supplier payments via purchase orders, invoices, check requests, and wire transfers.
• Provide supplier troubleshooting to ensure on-time and accurate payments.
• Serve as an Emburse Navigator, answering employee questions related to expense reimbursement, and train new employees and students on purchasing and reimbursement processes.
• Prepare and submit Invoice Request Forms for external billing.
• Maintain tracking system to ensure timely completion of all purchasing-related activities.
• Manage cash/check deposits.
• Manage all inquiries through the department purchasing email account.

Department Administrative Support (20%)

• Greet visitors, students, and faculty and assist in resolving inquiries related to department operations, facilities, personnel, or purchasing.
• Maintain oversight of the departmental email account, working with student employees to respond in a timely manner to inquiries.
• Manage departmental equipment checkout and room reservations.
• Hire, train and supervise front desk student workers.
• Maintain copier address books and pull printing reports.
• Order office supplies for department.
• Provide support for Student Rating of Teaching (SRT) process and textbook/desk copy/course packet orders.
• Assist with event execution, including student orientations and commencement-related activities.
• Other duties as assigned.

Facilities (20%)

• Serve as Department Facilities Representative (DFR) back-up to Facilities Management (FM), the College of Education and Human Development, and the University regarding facilities issues.
• Report and track department maintenance requests to FM.
• Serve as Department Access Coordinator, processing requests for after-hours access to building and updating access as needed.
• Assign and track facility keys; collect them after personnel no longer require access.
• Coordinate internal and external moves of faculty/staff or their furnishings.
• Update Space Management (TRIRIGA).
• Maintain departmental files within the building and properly dispose of data according to student data and grant reporting requirements.
• Assist in short-…