Capstone Program & Student Career Development Academic Coordinator

Position overview

Position title: Capstone Program & Student Career Development Academic Coordinator (I, FY)

Salary range: A reasonable estimate for this position is $30.77 per hour.

Percent time: 52.5% (21-hours per week)

Anticipated start: As soon as possible after the initial review of applications.

Position duration: Initial appointment will be for one year, with the possibility of reappointment. Should the hiring unit propose reappointment; a review to assess performance will be conducted. Reappointment is also contingent upon the availability of funding.

Open date: February 4, 2026

Next review date: Friday, Mar 6, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Thursday, Feb 4, 2027 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Program in the Department of Computational Media, Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz is accepting applications for the position Capstone Program & Student Career Development Academic Coordinator, which supports the evaluation, improvement, and documentation of its industry-sponsored Master's capstone program and related student career development efforts.

Under the supervision of Associate Professor Christina Chung, the academic coordinator will conduct research, analyze and map end-to-end capstone processes, identify operational and experiential friction points, and develop actionable recommendations, tools, and documentation that strengthen capstone quality, industry partnerships, and student career outcomes. The role works closely with faculty, staff, students, mentors, and industry sponsors to ensure the capstone experience effectively supports both academic goals and industry-ready career preparation.

Process Evaluation & Improvement

• Support the HCI M.S. team (Vice Chair, EDCO, Program Assistant) with curriculum, marketing, and management.
• Highlight capstone successes (e.g., sponsor testimonials, internships and job successes, highlight returned sponsors, showcase on HCI website and social media channels).
• Map the current end-to-end capstone lifecycle (Sponsor pipeline → Sponsor proposal → Team formation → Project Matching → Spring research → Fall design → Final deliverables).
• Identify friction points and propose designs or operational improvements, including those related to student career development (portfolio readiness, networking touchpoints, mentor engagement).
• Benchmark our processes against peer programs (HCI, CS, engineering, business) to assess capstone quality, student career outcomes, and approaches to cultivating sponsor support and donations.
• Recommend process improvements, tools, templates, and workflows to increase efficiency and better support student career development.

Research & Insight Generation

• Conduct qualitative research with students, industry sponsors, mentors, and faculty (interviews, surveys, focus groups, sentiment analysis).
• Analyze data to identify recurring pain points, operational bottlenecks, and career-preparation challenges impacting students.
• Build short, digestible insight summaries, personas, journey maps, and stakeholder maps of the current capstone and career-readiness experience.

Student Career Development Support

• Evaluate how well the capstone process supports students  portfolio and career needs (portfolio case studies, interview stories, networking touchpoints).
• Synthesize student feedback related to career preparation and help refine workshops, templates, and mentorship activities.
• Contribute to clear guidelines that help students translate their capstone work into compelling, industry-ready portfolio narratives.
• Support career-oriented activities such as mock interviews, mentor Q&As, or portfolio review sessions.
• Check in on capstone teams and their team dynamics and/or dynamics with sponsors.

Documentation & Deliverables

• Produce clear documentation of findings, recommendations, workflows, and career-related best practices.
• Re…