Department
BSD GPA - Cluster Directors

Job Summary
This position leads a graduate training cluster - supervising administrators and overseeing recruitment, curriculum, events, budgets, fellowships, and student data - while holding Division-level responsibility for the coordination, compliance, and consistency of all BSD training grant programs as the central Dean of Students Office point of contact.

Responsibilities

• Works with faculty leadership to hire, train, and supervise the cluster's graduate education administrators, ensuring staffing coverage for training-related activity across all graduate students and faculty trainers.
• Directs cluster activities such as recruitment, registration, and special events, and ensures compliance with BSD and University policies.

• Oversees program administrators in handling day-to-day execution of cluster activities, including Registrar coordination for courses and time schedules, room reservations at BSLC, GCIS, and KCBD, TA listings, and recurring quarterly tasks such as seminar speaker payments, student registration, committee meetings, and Stellic.

• Manages all cluster budgets, monthly expenditure reporting, and the annual operating budget in consultation with faculty leadership; reviews and approves requisitions and purchasing, reviews and approves consolidated documentation and Oracle orders prepared by administrators; and manages fellowship support for all students in the cluster.

• Manages graduate student data tied to the cluster's training grants in collaboration with the Dean of Students Office (DoS), faculty and program chairs, and department staff; oversees cluster communications and program websites; and maintains comprehensive alumni tracking.

• Advises on and solves problems of varying complexity across academic and administrative policy, admissions, curriculum, and budget.

• Supports divisional and institutional efforts to recruit and support a diverse student body.

• Responsible for division-wide coordination and oversight of all BSD training grant programs, serving as the central DoS point of contact across programs.

• Ensures consistency, compliance, and communication among training grant administrators and RAO.

• Oversees program administrators across the Division on day-to-day execution of training grant programs, providing oversight, guidance, and divisional-level coordination.

• Directs trainee appointment and termination processes across all BSD training grant programs, including review of appointment letters and xTRAIN submissions, monitoring of nomination timelines such as predoctoral quarterly appointments, and ensuring timely communication to program, pre-award, and post-award offices so that upcoming charges are properly anticipated.

• Directs predoctoral admissions and fellowship application processes, including quality control, coordination with home and source programs, and shared nomination processes (GME, MCB, DBTG, and CVTG in June), in coordination with program administrators.

• Coordinates Division-wide program evaluation, including monitoring of trainee academic progress, course and program activity participation, and collection of trainee progress reports.

• Leads training grant tracking and reporting, including direction of the master spreadsheet templates maintained by program administrators.

• Provides programmatic stewardship and advisory review of trainee and program expense (TRE) submissions in consultation with DoS Finance.

• Coordinates with DoS Finance to establish new item types when required so that financial aid is charged correctly to the appropriate training grant accounts.

• Tracks NSF fellows across the Division annually to determine each fellow's funding-year status and on/off fellowship support for the coming year, and issues reminders regarding Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) requirements and deadlines.
• Solves complex problems in areas such as academic and administrative policy, student admissions, curriculum research and development, and budget development. Advises various campus-wide and program committees in various aspects of student life.
• Leads and recommends process improvements for programs that relate to critical student-life improvement, including emergency management, accommodations for students with disabilities, and/or the administration of health care services and programs for students.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 7+ years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's degree.

• Master's degree strongly preferred.

Experience:

• A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible supervisory and administrative experience strongly preferred.

• Experience in student affairs, academic support, or a related area strongly preferred.

Preferred Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to effectively manage a budget, track spending, and prepare financial reports.

• Ability to handle confidential information with utmost discretion and diplomacy.

• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to handle student concerns with empathy.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including formulating recommendations and developing presentations.

• Ability to collaborate successfully in a matrix academic environment.

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail, with the ability to prioritize and manage recurring deadlines, timelines, and reporting cycles across multiple programs simultaneously.

• Ability to analyze data and trends to monitor progress, program participation, and outcomes, and to translate findings into clear reporting for leadership and external sponsors.

• Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with faculty, students, department staff, and other stakeholders.

• Demonstrated leadership and supervisory skills, including delegating routine work appropriately to enable focus on higher-level, strategic priorities.

• Ability to identify process gaps or inconsistencies across programs and recommend and implement improvements preferred.

Working Conditions

• Office Environment.
• Weekend/Evening Hours: As needed.

Application Documents

• Resume (required)
• Cover Letter (preferred)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.

When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family
Student Affairs & Services

Role Impact
Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours
40

Drug Test Required
No

Health Screen Required
No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No

Pay Rate Type
Salary

FLSA Status
Exempt

Pay Range
$80,000.00 - $120,000.00
The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible
Yes
The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.