Working Title: Office and Communications Coordinator - Furious Flower Poetry Center

State Role Title: Administrative and Office Specialist III

Position Type: Full-time Staff (Classified)

Position Status: Full-Time

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt: Eligible for Overtime

College/Division: College of Arts and Letters

Department: 100515 - Furious Flower Poetry Conference

Pay Rate: Pay Range

Specify Range or Amount: $37,000- $41,500

Is this a JMU only position? No

Is this a grant-funded position? No

Is this a Conflict of Interest designated position? No

Beginning Review Date: 03/24/2025

About JMU:

James Madison University is a publicly funded university with a beautiful campus and a supportive community that is committed to preparing students for the future. The university offers excellent comprehensive benefits which include paid vacation, sick, parental, and community service leave in addition to 19 paid holidays a year; affordable health insurance; retirement through the Virginia Retirement System. We also offer a work-life balance and integration program, Balanced Dukes, that is designed to support the overall wellbeing of our employees and a Tuition Waiver Program that allows employees to have tuition waived for undergraduate and graduate level courses taken at JMU.

Visit our Prospective Employee site to learn more about what makes JMU a great place to work: bit.ly/JMUEmployment

General Information:

The Furious Flower Poetry Center at JMU seeks qualified applicants for the position of Office and Communications Coordinator. This position provides office support by working with the Executive Director to ensure the fiscal, facilities, and selected personnel-related needs of the Center are met. This role also supports the Center’s program, events, and outreach initiatives through communication and logistical tasks. The individual in this role will also provide communications coordination by organizing and implementing the Center’s general public communications, marketing, website and social media management, and by coordinating and overseeing a schedule of needed photography, videography, and documentation services in support of events.

Duties and Responsibilities:

This role provides office coordination by:
• Supporting the Executive Director’s work with the Center’s multiple budgets, including gathering and compiling data, and ensuring compliance with all applicable state and university procurement and fiscal control policies and procedures.
• Monitoring and reconciling the monthly department budgets.
• Managing reconciliation of all assigned small purchase credit cards.
• Creating and executing payment vouchers.
• Coordinating facilities and equipment needs, including inventory and office supplies.
• Organizing transportation requests and processing travel paperwork in Chrome River, JMU's electronic travel management system.
• Coordinating schedules and timesheets for wage employees, graduate assistants, student assistants, and fellows.
• Participating as needed in the office reception schedule along with other Center staff and students.
• Supporting the Center with managing event logistics, including scheduling, copies, print orders, bookstore collaboration, and managing an appropriate schedule of photography and videography in support of events.

This role provides communication coordination by:
• Collaborating with colleagues to develop plans, processes, workflows, and policies related to the planning and implementation of communications and marketing.   
• Maintaining the Center’s website, oversees the Center’s social media presence, and produces the Center’s quarterly newsletter.
• Supervising student activities in support of communications, marketing, etc.
• Serving as a liaison to University Marketing and the Communications Council to ensure the Center’s marketing is aligned with JMU’s overall marketing strategy.
• Implementing the Center’s plan for event marketing and promotion, working with the press and other agencies and maintaining JMU’s policy and procedures for press releases.
• Managing mailing lists, including creative and informative mailers, updating addresses.
• Overseeing organization and maintenance the Center’s internal, digital repositories of audiovisual and text content of ongoing value.

As part of a learning, growing, and collaborative Center, this position may also be asked to support special projects and/or serve on project teams.

Qualifications:

Required Qualifications:
• Experience working with budgets, accounts or other financial documents
• Experience using office productivity software, including spreadsheets (e.g., Microsoft Office suite, particularly Excel)
• Experience/ability to learn website development and maintenance using web editing software, such as Cascade or similar platforms
• Experience with/ability to learn web interfaces for marketing and communication such as Mailchimp, Submittable, or comparable systems
• Demonstrated ability to learn new technologies and procedures
• Strong organizational and collaboration skills, including a demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple projects simultaneously
• Ability to work independently as well as on a team
• Excellent oral and written communications skills
• Demonstrated cultural competencies and ability to engage with the Center’s diverse constituents as per JMU’s strategic commitment to access, inclusivity and diversity

Additional Considerations:
• Familiarity with JMU platforms (e.g. PeopleSoft, Sharepoint, eVA) and policies
• Experience supervising student employees
• Knowledge of contemporary poetry and/or related scholarship

Conditions of Employment:  

Employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a criminal background check.

E-Verify Notice: After accepting employment, new hires are required to complete an I-9 form and present documentation of their identity and eligibility to work in the United States. James Madison University uses the E-Verify system to confirm identity and work authorization.

EEO Statement:

James Madison University is committed to creating and supporting a diverse and inclusive work and educational community that is free of all forms of discrimination. This institution does not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national origin, parental status, political affiliation, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation or veteran status.

We promote access, inclusion and diversity for all students, faculty, staff, constituents and programs, believing that these qualities are foundational components of an outstanding education in keeping with our mission. The university is interested in candidates whose experience and qualifications support an ongoing commitment to this core quality.

Anyone having questions concerning discrimination should contact the Office for Equal Opportunity: (540) 568-6991.

Reasonable Accommodation:

If you are an individual with a disability and need assistance searching or applying for jobs please contact us at (540) 568-3597 or jobs@jmu.edu. You may also visit the JMU Human Resource Office, located at 752 Ott Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22807 and we will be happy to assist you.