Position Purpose:

The Bates College Office of Residence Life is seeking an empathetic, engaging, and personable individual to join a team of professional and student staff working to support the campus community. Joining a team of dedicated professionals, this position will work to support students across campus in engaging fully with the opportunities of a residential liberal arts environment. This is a unique opportunity to join a motivated team in delivering support services and enhancing accountability to community standards for all students.

Serving as a member of the on-call Residence Life team, the Area Coordinator position offers the opportunity to build relationships and support students holistically. Supporting students in accountability practices, policy accountability, and connection to necessary support services, the Area Coordinator is deeply embedded in the campus community. Working closely with student residence life staff as supervisor of an area of campus, relationship building is an essential focus of this position. Fostering the development of student staff through engaged and affirming mentorship and supporting residents in responding to the developmental opportunities of the college environment are areas of focus, in addition to overseeing traditional programming and other residential community building initiatives.

Job Duties:

Core Responsibilities:

• Incorporates the tenets of equity, inclusion, access, and belonging in all areas of work.
• Oversees and is responsible for a cohort of assigned student residences. This includes responsibility for building condition and use, facilities concerns, student staff supervision and development, programming, and resident support.
• Works each week in the assigned residential area, including rounds to check building condition and use, engaging with residents, leading programming, attending programming, and meeting with student staff.
• Supervises, collaborates with, and mentors student staff in assigned student residences, with special attention to professional and personal development. Holds one-on-one meetings with student staff and leads student staff team meetings to provide guidance, support staff development, and ensure compliance with the Residential Community Building Model (RCBM).
• Responsible for office assignments and projects (see below), which may change each academic year based on Area Coordinator interests and office needs.
• Develops and implements programming opportunities in collaboration with colleagues to support community building and department initiatives.
• Engages appropriately with private and confidential information and exercises judgment and discretion as required by FERPA and institutional standards.
• Provides context and details about interactions with students to appropriate partners upon request, to assist with establishing and sustaining support for students of concern.
• Mediates student conflicts utilizing student development theory and conflict resolution training to empower students to learn skills for living in a community together through both responsive and proactive means.

On Call Student Support and Live-in Responsibilities:

• Maintains a high level of visibility within the residential community to build relationships with students by conducting rounds of their area and when on duty, attending programs, and utilizing other engagement opportunities.
• Serves as a first-tier responder in a two tiered on-call duty rotation for the residential system throughout the calendar year, including summer, academic year break periods, and holidays. This means being accessible by department issued cell phone 24 hours per day and remaining within the required radius of campus during periods of on-call responsibility.
• Identifies and intervenes in issues within the residential environment utilizing community health frameworks, an equity lens, and de-escalation techniques.
• Completes appropriate, accurate, and consistent documentation of policy violations and residential conflicts in accordance with departmental risk management practices.
• Coordinates incident and behavioral response in conjunction with campus partners, including those that are highly complex in nature; e.g., sexual misconduct, alcohol and drug related behavior, mental health concerns, bias incidents, health and safety concerns, and community conflict.
• Lives in a designated on-campus apartment.

Residence Life Office Assignments and Projects:

• Supports and/or spearheads yearly assignments in collaboration with others in the office as needed. 
  • Student Staff Hiring & Training: participates in the annual student staff selection process, including marketing, sourcing applications, scheduling and conducting interviews, participating in deliberations, and communicating with students and campus stakeholders.
  • Collaborates with other office staff in the development and implementation of a comprehensive and educational Residence Life student staff training grounded in Bates College, Residence Life, and Bates Leads values.
  • Residential Operations: Work in collaboration with the ResOps team to support or spearhead operations such as first-year housing assignments, the room change process, semester transitions, student storage, or other assignments as needed.
  • First-Year Experience (FYE): supports FYE operations, including creating marketing, posting important information to social media, responding to emails and phone calls  from incoming first-years and families, assisting with the First-Year Forms process, maintaining up-to-date information on the FYE website, and managing logistical and coordination needs related to Arrival Day.
  • Assessment: works with colleagues to identify measurable goals connected to mission, vision, and values of the office, Student Affairs, and Bates College.
  • Creates in person and online feedback opportunities on office initiatives. Synthesizes feedback into yearly reports, making recommendations for future adjustments and implementation.
  • Other potential assignments and projects, with oversight from the Associate Director of Residence Life: student conduct, social media and website management, committee involvement, auxiliary work with other departments such as Global Education, the Student Center for Belonging & Community, or Purposeful Work.

Additional Responsibilities:

• Supports residential operations through responding to housing-related outreach from students, parents and campus partners, assisting with the implementation of spring housing selection, participating in hall opening and closing processes, and other needs as assigned. 
• Serves as a member of the misconduct resolution team (SMRT) meeting with students to discuss and adjudicate low level community standards violations that occur in student residences.
  • Approaches conduct meetings through an educational lens, utilizing motivational interviewing techniques to provide students with the opportunity to consider behavioral change.
  • Adjudicates conduct hearings and assign sanctions based on a preponderance of evidence.
  • Maintains consistency in conduct hearings while working to support diverse students from a variety of different backgrounds and experiences.
  • Aligns conduct sanctions with the Code of Student Conduct and ensure consistency within charges and sanctioning.
  • Reviews reports from Campus Safety, Residence Life, and Campus Life or complaints from faculty, staff, and students to determine appropriate interventions and actions.
  • Resolve allegations of misconduct through the misconduct resolution meeting process.
• Supports various divisional operations, such as large campus events, first-year arrival day and orientation, Senior Week, and commencement.
• Responds to email, phone, and walk-in inquiries with a customer service approach, grounded in the values of Residence Life, Student Affairs, and Bates College.
• Serves as student facing Green Dot (GD) bystander intervention facilitator and assists in the continued training of the GD team 1-3 times per semester.

Minimum Qualifications:

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Master’s degree preferred 
• Valid driver's license

Experience

• 1-2 years of experience in residence life or higher education (including professional or undergraduate experience in residence life, student government, student activities, student or outdoor leadership positions, other campus offices, etc.)
• Demonstrated success in supporting students from underrepresented groups, including students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, first-generation-to-college students, LGBTQ+ identified individuals, and low-income students
• Experience working in collaborative and dynamic office environments with frequently shifting tasks and priorities
• Experience in supporting success of peer to peer educational models including implementation of assessment practices 
• Experience supporting young adults and their families in the transition to a residential college environment.
• Training and experience in facilitating mediation, conflict resolution, or other restorative justice processes.

Skills and Knowledge

• Commitment to equity and inclusion, and serving the needs of a culturally and educationally diverse community.
• Excellent judgment and awareness for interpersonal dynamics.
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to develop and maintain collegial relationships with clientele such as students, families, staff, faculty and co-workers.
• Excellent communication (written, verbal & listening) skills.
• Ability to effectively engage with diverse personalities and manage difficult situations. 
• Ability to work independently and handle multiple priorities with minimal supervision.
• Strong organizational, tracking, and assessment skills including proficiency in basic data management systems and basic computer software (e.g., Microsoft Word and Excel, Power Point, WordPress [website], Google docs, email and calendar) 
• Strong problem solving skills with the ability to adapt and explore multiple avenues to a solution
• Personal commitment to excellence and the mission of a top-tier small liberal arts college.

Benefits:  

Bates College offers competitive salaries, excellent benefits (health, dental, sick leave, 24 days of vacation, 2 personal days, 13 paid holidays, dependent care subsidy, free parking, access to library and athletic facilities & more), and a supportive, collegial environment in a drug and smoke-free workplace.