Director of Housing and Residential Life

JOB SUMMARY:

Under the direction of the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Life the Director of Housing & Residential Life in Oakland implements a vibrant residential experience focused on safety and security, meaningful connections and a sense of belonging, high student satisfaction, inclusive communities, assessment of learning experiences, and innovation. The Director is responsible for the vision, planning, and management of a residential life program for a residential population residing in traditional halls, co-op, special interest housing, learning communities, and graduate student housing.

The Director develops and implements policies and procedures, very often in conjunction with campus partners such as Facilities, Business Services, Public Safety, and Conduct. The Director promotes the strategic plan and mission of Northeastern University by building a sense of community, promoting a vibrant and inclusive campus, and creating co-curricular opportunities that facilitates students learning about wellness, social justice and leadership through community engagement and self-reflection.

The Director provides strong leadership to the department staff and cultivates meaningful relationships with campus partners. The Director represents the department, the division, and the university to internal and external audiences, and must maintain an active, visible, and accessible presence on campus.

Key responsibilities of the position include the execution and/or oversight of the following:

Leadership and Supervision

• Lead the staff and programming for residential population of Oakland students and partnership programs residing in traditional halls, co-ops, special interest housing, learning communities, and graduate student housing.
• Hire, train, and supervise diverse student staff and housing and residential life professional staff.
• Collaborate with University and Oakland campus colleagues including but not limited to Dining, Facilities, Public Safety, and faculty.
• Respond to crises, critical incidents or serious conduct issues within the residential communities, and/or support staff in their incident management.
• Support and refer at-risk students for additional intervention by appropriate personnel and develop proactive policies and initiatives.
• Represent Residential Life in a variety of forums on- and off-campus; attend, conduct or participate in a variety of meetings as assigned.
• Serve in the on-call duty supervision rotation as the primary for Housing Residential Life and in a supplemental role for the campus wide process.
• Participate in department and division meetings for project planning, policy development and direction setting.
• Establish and promote exceptional and productive working relationships in a diverse and multicultural environment while promoting the college and divisional social justice mission.
• Serve on campus and division committees as required.
• Represent the division at meetings and other activities as requested by the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Life.

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Community Engagement and Learning

• Support the academic mission of the University with a particular focus on community engagement.
• Under the direction of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, supervise residential life staff regarding residential conduct.
• Provide oversight to Living and Learning Communities (LLC) and work with university partners to enhance the LLC experience for students.
• Works to enhance and support community development in all residential spaces.
• Oversees goal setting, reporting and assessment of student learning outcomes.

Administration

• Plan, analyze, and manage departmental budget.
• Promote and sustain the ability of staff members to effectively deliver quality customer service within the context of all aspects of job performance.
• Promote safe work practices within each area of responsibility, enforce safety rules and assure employee compliance with all safety rules and guidelines.
• Take appropriate steps to be compliant with the state and federal laws and campus policies including management of the student case management and conduct database system; Maxient.
• Design and develop marketing and communication materials (print, audio, and web), to increase awareness of services.
• Maintain safe work conditions and comply with established safety policies, practices, procedures, and requirements.
• Establish and maintain an effective customer service orientation. This includes maintaining and protecting confidentiality of information.
• Regularly assess programming and educational initiatives and write reports.
• Provide event support for Oakland campus-wide programs, as needed.

Qualifications:

• Student development theory in building stronger residential communities composed of traditional and on-traditional adult listeners.
• Social justice, equity and inclusion principles in higher education.
• Crisis response and student conduct procedures, compliance and systems.
• Budgeting
• Principles and practices of administration, supervision and training.
• Diverse academic, socioeconomic, gender, cultural, ability and ethnic backgrounds of college students.
• Advanced computer skills involving databases, spreadsheets, word processing, web based interactive communication, social media and/or other applications utilizing software applicable to the function.
• Appropriate methods and strategies to promote and sustain the ability of staff members to effectively deliver quality customer service within the context of all aspects of job performance.
• Compliance for federal and state law and policies.
• Safety policies, practices, procedures and requirements of the department, College and University.
• Knowledge/training in sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking prevention and Title IX.

Skills/Abilities:

• Effective oral and written communication skills
• Ability to listen and lead within an activist campus community.
• Strong budgetary skills.
• Interpersonal skills.
• Public speaking capabilities.
• Ability to listen and lead within an activist campus community.
• Ability to take appropriate steps to promote and sustain effective working relationships within a diverse multicultural environment.
• Ability to understand the needs of a diverse population, including students of color, LGBTQ, and lifelong learners.
• Ability to engage and work in collaboration.
• Operate a computer and other office equipment as necessary.
• Supervise and evaluate the performance of assigned staff.

Education and Training:

• Master’s degree in higher education, counseling, student development or related field.
• 5-7 years of progressive experience managing resident life functions.

Physical, Mental, and Environmental Demands:

• Work involves weekend and evening availability. At time, the incumbent will be sitting for long hours and using computers.
• Work often requires flexibility in terms of time, and physical demands.
• Work occasionally requires physical exertion suck as lifting heavy objects over 50 pounds.
• The incumbent will be located in a busy office area. Interruptions and meeting with a variety of people will be required on a regular basis.
• There are a number of deadlines and multiple requirements associated with this position, which may cause significant stress.

The expected hiring range for this position is $95,130 - $108,213 based on the position’s scope and responsibilities.

Position Type

Student Services

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.

Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information.

Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

To learn more about Northeastern University’s commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.