VIP Program Specialist

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process . Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants .Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants .POSITION SPECIFICS The Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowship Mentoring is hiring a VIP Program Specialist for a new initiative:
Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP). The program s pecialist will provide management, administrative coordination, communication, assessment, and outreach to support the growth, quality, and sustainability of VIP at Penn State. As this is a newly created role, the incumbent will build the structures needed to establish, grow, and sustain these projects over time. VIP is a university-identified priority: multi-year, faculty-led, curricularly integrated projects that support student growth as they work in teams to contribute to project objectives across multiple semesters, frequently in collaboration with external stakeholders.

Responsibilities Include:

Identifies infrastructure needs and cultivates resources — data collection, software, collaborators — to support VIP project development across Penn State, while serving as point of contact for faculty leaders and student teams

Works with the Oversight Committee, Faculty Champion(s), and faculty leaders to define VIP elements, ensure VIP consortium compliance, and build faculty trainings and communities of practice

Conducts outreach to raise VIP awareness among students, faculty, departments, and other stakeholders, and builds structures that promote equitable access to VIP opportunities

Collaborates with faculty VIP leaders to create and manage the VIP website and related communication and access structures

Creates and manages data collection from VIP projects and faculty mentors to assess outcomes, tracking enrollment, completion, and satisfaction metrics

Represents Penn State at internal and external meetings, supports special projects, recommends process improvements, and may directly supervise part-time, student, or temporary employees

Preferred Qualifications:

Master's degree

Strong written and oral communication skills:
Ability to produce written materials for internal and external stakeholders, manage web content, and communicate program value to prospective faculty and students

Able to build structures and processes from scratch for a newly created program, manage multiple concurrent responsibilities (outreach, reporting, faculty relations), and keep initiatives moving

Comfortable cultivating and maintaining relationships across very different audiences: faculty leaders, students, university committees, external community/industry/government partners

Basic competency in designing data collection processes, tracking metrics (enrollment, completion, satisfaction), and using that data to inform program improvements MINIMUM EDUCATION, WORK EXPERIENCE & REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS Bachelor's Degree1+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience accepted

Required

Certifications:

None BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance…