About the Department:

The Division of University Life's Student Success Coaching unit is a hub for student engagement for all new freshman and transfer students and provides access to coaching for all undergraduate students at Mason. Student success coaching increases the retention rate and academic success of incoming students by helping students set and achieve academic, career, and personal goals and connecting students to campus and community resources. The Student Success Coaching unit provides incoming students access to ongoing mentoring and coaching from professional and student staff that maintain university-wide and college-specific knowledge to ensure the success of Mason's incoming student populations.

About the Position:

Reporting to the Assistant Director, the Senior Success Coach provides holistic support for their assigned caseload of incoming students in their first year and available for the duration of students' time at Mason as needed by using the university's chosen methodology in the nine focus areas of development (academics and major fit, school community, managing commitments, effectiveness, commitment to graduation, career exploration, finances, civic engagement, and well-being). Senior Success Coaches provide an element of support for student career goals beyond the academic component. The Senior Success Coach provides success strategies for students, manages outreach and support efforts, and intervenes on student concerns to increase retention. The Senior Success Coach provides mentorship and training to Success Coaches I and II and serves as a subject matter expert in coaching and student success. Senior Success Coaches contribute to Mason's strategic goals of preparing career-ready graduates, while increasing graduation and increasing retention rates.

Responsibilities:

Coaching

• Supports daily operations and student support, reporting, and troubleshooting with stakeholders to ensure holistic coaching is provided by using the university's chosen methodology in the nine focus areas of development (academics and major fit, school community, managing commitments, effectiveness, commitment to graduation, career exploration, finances, civic engagement, and well-being);
• Assists with students' career exploration and major fit processes to achieve academic and career goals, as well as identifies barriers to success and help students implement strategies to overcome them;
• Maintains university-wide and college-specific knowledge of relevant policies, procedures and resources for first year students; and
• Handles complex issues brought from Success Coach I and II. 

Student Impact and Outreach

• Monitors student progress and performance, analyzes problem areas, determines solutions and conducts intervention activities and processes for students;
• Meets with and provides success strategies to students; manages outreach and support efforts to students with a variety of academic and personal development skills necessary to achieve student success;
• Assists and supports all retention related efforts within the school/college to support success and retention efforts, while implementing interventions to improve student retention;
• Collaborates with academic advisors and other university stakeholders to support student success. Required to participate in university, divisional, and unit-based events and required to be on-campus when necessary;
• Events include but are not limited to New Student Orientation, Preamble, UL All-Staff Meetings, I-Team meetings, SSC programs, and other stakeholder-related programs;
• Provides appropriate, accurate, and timely referrals for students; and
• Follows-up with at-risk/interventions for students identified in the Patriot Success Survey, and other relevant student surveys. 

Supervision and Mentoring

• Supervision and leadership of 1-2 Graduate Success Coaches who serve as a constant and immediate source of support for students, highly visible, extremely accessible, well known, and available at Mason and online;
• Assigned 1-2 new Success Coaches and will be their mentor from onboarding to certification;
• Mentors and assists Success Coaches struggling to complete certification. Organizes shadowing opportunities for their assigned coaches;
• Provides mentorship and training to Success Coach I and II; and
• Oversees shadowing efforts for incoming Success Coaches. 

Training and Technology

• Required to participate in university wide foundational coaching training and ongoing professional development;
• Required to utilize the chosen university platform for tracking and reporting student interactions and making referrals;
• Provides shadowing and support for Success Coach I;
• Successfully participates in and completes the post-certification quality assurance program with an average of “meeting expectations” or above; and
• Required to be actively participating in professional organizations. 

Other related duties as assigned by Assistant Director

• Attends regular meetings with key stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of the program;
• Serves on committees and other projects as assigned by the Assistant Director; and
• Takes on additional administrative responsibilities or project management.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in related field or equivalent combination of education and experience; 
• Professional experience typically obtained in 2 years in one or more of the following areas: academic advising, success coaching, orientation, disability services, veteran's services, career services, student involvement, and student rights and responsibilities;
• Experience serving and supporting diverse student populations;
• Experience with using educational database management systems and customer relationship management systems (CRM);
• Demonstrated working Knowledge of student transitional issues;
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer service;
• Exceptional interpersonal, oral and written communication skills;
• Skill in situational conflict resolution;
• Ability to communicate with a variety of constituents and departmental stakeholders;
• Ability to work to meet deadlines, work accurately and quickly with attention to detail and be able to manage multiple complex;
• programs and projects simultaneously;
• Ability to work with a culturally and ethnically diverse population of students, faculty, and staff;
• Ability to work evening and weekend hours, particularly in the summer and manage multiple complex programs and projects simultaneously;
• Ability to work with a culturally and ethnically diverse population of students, faculty, and staff;
• Ability to work evening and weekend hours, particularly in the summer; and
• Success coaching certification.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in related field; and
• Prior experience in academic advising or working with student coaching programs
  Demonstrated experience in student leadership, communication, program development, and administrative skills.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Senior Success Coach at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent and Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: January 15, 2025

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  January 22, 2025

Open Until Filled:  Yes