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Engineering Student Services Advisor (4546U) - Engineering Student Services

About Berkeley

At the University of California, Berkeley, we are committed to creating a community that fosters equity of experience and opportunity, and ensures that students, faculty, and staff of all backgrounds feel safe, welcome and included. Our culture of openness, freedom and belonging make it a special place for students, faculty and staff.

The University of California, Berkeley, is one of the world's leading institutions of higher education, distinguished by its combination of internationally recognized academic and research excellence; the transformative opportunity it provides to a large and diverse student body; its public mission and commitment to equity and social justice; and its roots in the California experience, animated by such values as innovation, questioning the status quo, and respect for the environment and nature. Since its founding in 1868, Berkeley has fueled a perpetual renaissance, generating unparalleled intellectual, economic and social value in California, the United States and the world.

We are looking for equity-minded applicants who represent the full diversity of California and who demonstrate a sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic backgrounds present in our community. When you join the team at Berkeley, you can expect to be part of an inclusive, innovative and equity-focused community that approaches higher education as a matter of social justice that requires broad collaboration among faculty, staff, students and community partners. In deciding whether to apply for a position at Berkeley, you are strongly encouraged to consider whether your values align with our Guiding Values and Principles, our Principles of Community, and our Strategic Plan.

At UC Berkeley, we believe that learning is a fundamental part of working, and our goal is for everyone on the Berkeley campus to feel supported and equipped to realize their full potential. We actively support this by providing all of our staff employees with at least 80 hours (10 days) of paid time per year to engage in professional development activities. To find out more about how you can grow your career at UC Berkeley, visit grow.berkeley.edu.

Departmental Overview

The College of Engineering at UC Berkeley is recognized for its educational and research excellence, consistently ranking among the top three Engineering colleges in the United States. With more than 220 regular faculty members, 1,600 graduate students, and 4,200 undergraduate students located in seven academic departments, Engineering is the second largest college on the Berkeley campus.

The College offers 11 single undergraduate majors and six joint majors as well as two joint majors in conjunction with the College of Chemistry and seven simultaneous degree programs with the Haas School of Business. Engineering Student Services provides advising and counseling to currently enrolled undergraduates, prospective students, parents, faculty, and other administrative units; ensures consistent application of college and university policies; and participates in outreach activities. Decisions made by Engineering Student Services (ESS) impact all academic units within the College of Engineering, as well as set a precedent for other colleges on the campus. Specific services provided include outreach, orientation advising, scheduled individual advising sessions, drop-in advising, group advising, web-based advising, and workshops.

This position is responsible for assisting the Deans by proposing modifications to college procedures and/or policies. The ESS Advisor represents the unit on advisory committees relevant to the functions of Engineering Student Services. Applies a thorough understanding and ability to interpret university and college policies, regulations, requirements, maintaining uniform and consistent application of college policy and regulations; and participates in various outreach activities, supervises students, and manages programs related to the work of the office.

Application Review Date

The First Review Date for this job is: April 2, 2024 - Open Until Filled

Responsibilities

Academic Advising:

• Manage a caseload of 500 students using a holistic advising approach. Establish individualized, collaborative relationships with students to learn their skill levels, aptitudes, interests, and strengths. Assist students with identifying academic and career goals and establishing realistic plans to meet them. Continuously track and intervene as appropriate.
• Engage students in assuming an active role in their academic planning and developing meaningful educational plans that correlate with their values, abilities, and life goals. Foster student success through intentional advising.
• Using expertise in advising, meet with students who are struggling academically and identify the students' challenges. Determine the proper referrals for these students whose academics may be adversely affected by issues such as mental health, financial aid, personal and/or family problems, disabilities, and/or study habits. Contact the appropriate offices and make the proper student referrals and work with those colleagues.
• Establish relationships and serve as the point person between ESS and other departments including Admissions, Registrar, Cal Student Central, Central Evaluation Unit, University Health Services, Disabled Students' Program, Career Center, Centers for Educational Equity and Excellence, International Office, Financial Aid, Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Life Advising, other campus advisors, etc. Initiate contact and make decisions in areas appropriate to ESS. Actively collaborate regarding delivery of their services and programs to engineering students and/or develop and implement joint programs or workshops between their offices and ESS. Keep other ESS staff informed of updates regarding these departments, their programs, services, and policies so accurate and timely information may be forwarded by ESS staff to students.
• Consult with other student service units regarding students who are experiencing academic, financial, and personal difficulties; participate on campus-wide committees; and participate in joint campus-wide ventures such as orientations and advising programs.
• Make decisions on behalf of the Dean regarding student petitions and other issues related to academic status, subject to dismissal, and/or academic dismissal.
• Advise new, continuing, and readmitted students, applicants, prospective applicants, parents, faculty and staff, or other educational institutions on academic programs and college and university requirements. Provide timely, accurate information, making referrals to appropriate campus offices as necessary, and helping students to define realistic academic goals and understand how to achieve these goals within their major or majors. Provide academic and personal counseling to students regarding academic progress, choice of major, completion of breadth requirements, program planning to meet career and personal goals, and subject to dismissal status 50% Essential and dismissal via individual, phone, or online (i.e. Zoom or Google Hangouts) appointments, group workshops, and/or email.
• Remain current with trends in higher education and the advising profession locally and nationally as they apply to today's college students.
• On an ongoing basis develop and implement innovative and cutting edge advising programs, workshops and services which effectively meet the needs of a changing student body including but not limited to specific cohorts of students (i.e. students historically underrepresented in the field of engineering, those on subject to dismissal status, new students). Develop recommendations for the improvement of existing programs and/or policies as well as initiate new programs and/or services to meet changing student needs. Work with staff and faculty in a variety of departments to develop recommendations to address trends with engineering students (i.e. majority of students performing poorly in a specific class).
• Track and monitor student retention including identifying issues hampering student success. Track individual students including but not limited to those on subject to dismissal status, document contact with students, connect students with college and university resources, collaborate with college and department advisors regarding students in academic difficulty and address issues/problems impacting them. Identify needs of new cohorts of students (i.e. new transfer students, new freshmen, students historically underrepresented in the field of engineering) to help ensure their success and recommend programs/services to address their needs. Identify students at risk of academic difficulty and meet with them to assess their needs. Determine barriers, distractions, and complications affecting a students' academic success, help students recognize these issues, advise students accordingly, and make appropriate referrals for additional therapeutic counseling and/or assistance from other units. Promote student retention and progress by encouraging students to identify and pursue appropriate educational and professional goals.
• Use thorough knowledge of university and college regulations and policies and interpret for students, applicants, and prospective applicants. Explain registration and enrollment procedures to students and advise them throughout their undergraduate program.
• Ensure active student engagement in the engineering community by proactively promoting and marketing co-curricular and out-of-the-classroom growth and development opportunities for students as they relate to the College's mission of producing well-rounded grad7uates who have both strong technical and non-technical skills (i.e. study abroad, internships, undergraduate research, student organization involvement, leadership and professional development programs, career center workshops, scholarships, and graduate school preparation, etc.) Represent ESS at programs and workshops to further develop community and relationships with engineering students while serving as a positive role model for them.
• Initiate/update degree checks and verify degree completion for B.S. candidates. Confirm students have met requirements for degree completion including incidents where there are no clear precedents or articulations, such as interdisciplinary programs or when transfer work is involved. Review students' records and certify completion of degree requirements and honors designations for all 17 College of Engineering majors, considering substitution of major requirements and use of transfer evaluation credit.
• Facilitate advising workshops with assigned departments of expertise. Establish productive relationships with department staff and faculty which allow for collaboration and problem solving.
• Maintain up-to-date student records. Review and update Academic Progress Reports. Document student appointments by recording notes highlighting the discussion.
• Monitor and enforce students' academic progress making recommendations for modifying and or waiving college requirements by forwarding student cases to the Director of Advising or the Dean's Committee as appropriate. Ensure that students adhere to an appropriate engineering program by advising students on course progress and alternate course selection. Provide students with information about completion of major programs. Help students develop academic plans that optimize time to graduation.
• Assist in the development and editing (i.e. writing new text, proofreading) of ESS and college electronic and printed materials (videos, the College of Engineering Guide, the Berkeley Academic Guide, webinars, ESS and college web pages, etc.) Stay abreast of emerging technologies and identify ways to enhance programs and services by utilizing them. Provide input on all undergraduate related College of Engineering informational flyers, web pages, and marketing materials. Assist in the writing of correspondence to all new students. Help develop various forms and petitions, such as the Evaluation of Credit form, the Late Add/Drop Form and the Standard College of Engineering Petition. Help develop on-line information pages on college policy and procedures.
• Develop innovative academic advising workshops and handouts for new College of Engineering students for Golden Bear Orientation. Conduct workshops which effectively transmit necessary information for new students including but not limited to university, college and department (major) requirements, policies, procedures, and suggestions on how to effectively make the transition from high school or community college to Berkeley Engineering.

Program Management: Serve as the project manager/coordinator for one or more ESS advising or academic programs. Examples of ESS undergraduate advising projects/academic programs include:

• Change of College
• Golden Bear Orientation
• Golden Bear Advising
• EAP (outbound students) and EAP Reciprocity (inbound students)
• Peer Advisor Program
• Data Management
• Transfer Admission
• Articulation/Assist.org
• Faculty Training
• BOA (Berkeley Online Advising platform) enhancements
• Engineering Science (undergraduate)

General Program Management Responsibilities:

• Identify needs of current students including cohorts of students historically underrepresented in the field of engineering. Remain abreast of student trends on the Berkeley campus and nationwide, developing recommendations to improve existing programs.
• Establish learning outcomes for individual programs and develop tools (i.e., workshop evaluations) to measure these outcomes/objectives.
• Develop a vision for the project including how to grow and improve it and establish intended outcomes. Actively collaborate with and solicit input from engineering community members. Identify innovative and cutting edge approaches.
• Benchmark with other colleges on the Berkeley campus as well as across the UC system and with competitor campuses nationwide to identify best practices, trends, etc. to improve the management of assigned project.
• Establish and/or recommend policies that support college and university missions and procedures. Ensure polices are followed and clearly communicated to students.
• Keep detailed statistics about the project on a consistent basis. Utilize data to develop an annual report.
• Develop regular operating procedures and updates for assigned project. Provide training.

Policy, Courses and Curricula Consultation

• Analyze the consequences of departmental/school/college academic policies and recommend new or changed policies.
• Make recommendations on exceptions to policy and determine how such decisions will affect multiple departments.
• Serve on the College's Dean's Committee. Use independent decision-making authority to evaluate student petitions and make exceptions to college policy.
• Develop and maintain a thorough knowledge of the major requirements and courses offered for all major programs in the College of Engineering. Act as a resource for all decisions concerning major requirements, exceptions and practices relevant to the major programs.
• Advise students on academic policies that govern their major in context of college-level constraints, and assist them in developing petitions to request exceptions to curriculum policy.
• Advise chairs/deans in the assigned department(s) on the formulation of department policy by determining areas needing clarification and identifying solutions.
• Make recommendations when necessary on academic and college policy. Advise on the impact of the recommendations on other departments and campus offices (Registrar, Admissions, University Health Services, Disabled Students' Program, etc.)
• Track certain student enrollment activities such as summer session attendance, when certain courses are taken, trends in grades, etc. to be used in the development of new academic policy or procedures.
• Assist in the creation, analysis and implementation of college policies such as deadlines and procedures for change of major, readmission, petitions for requirement substitutions, late adds and drops, etc. and make recommendations to the Chair of the Undergraduate Study Committee and to the Dean's Committee.
• Coordinate, review and advise department/college/school chair/dean and faculty on transferability and applicability of non-UC Berkeley courses and/or courses on campus within or outside of the department that may affect ongoing requirements.
• Work with students, faculty and departments on evaluating non-articulated courses primarily from four year colleges and universities.
• Advise Deans of the effect of the UCB curriculum on these four year school transfers.
• Make recommendations to the College's Admissions Committee and Undergraduate Study Committee on the admission process for junior transfers based on transferability and applicability of these courses (e.g., determining completion rate of courses for admissions).
• Advise community college junior transfers on use of articulated courses and how to determine which major and college requirements remain.

Recruitment and Admissions: Advise department/school/college on outreach strategies and help identify targeted institutions to meet organization's goals. Coordinate, review and advise chair/dean and faculty on transferability and applicability of non-UC Berkeley courses. Utilize in-depth knowledge of organization's admission criteria to help rank applicants for admission.

• Evaluate course equivalencies and rate of completion of undergraduate program of junior level transfers.
• Review junior transfer applications and make recommendations for admission for all majors of the College of Engineering to the department's Faculty Admission Chair.
• Possess extensive knowledge of other post-secondary institutions, including community colleges and four-year schools.
• Advise counselors from other colleges (other UCB colleges and professional schools, other UC campuses, community colleges) on course articulation and standards for completing academic preparation for College of Engineering application.
• Determine transferability of technical coursework with departments in order to allow subject credit.
• Assist the College in attracting qualified candidates by disseminating information about the College through oral presentations at school visits and by telephone and online.
• Provide prospective students, parents and school administrators with pertinent information regarding the College of Engineering policies and programs including interpreting college policy and procedures, explaining articulation agreements, discussing academic programs and related career choices.
• Staff recruitment events to positively represent the College and to effectively communicate information about the College including but not limited to Cal Day, freshman admit yield receptions and events, transfer admit yield receptions and events, etc.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related area and / or equivalent experience / training.
• Advanced knowledge of advising and counseling techniques and philosophies including student development theory.
• Thorough knowledge of college/school policies, procedures, and requirements.
• Thorough knowledge of department/college/school precedents and application of policy.
• Thorough knowledge of university academic policies, procedures, and requirements.
• Skills in judgment and decision-making, problem solving, project management.
• Abilities in problem identification, reasoning.
• Ability to develop original ideas to solve problems.
• Ability to multi-task with demanding timeframes and an exceptional attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal skills that facilitate communication across a broad range of constituents.
• Strong presentation skills.
• Experience providing counseling or advising to undergraduate students in STEM majors.
• Knowledge and experience in working with historically underrepresented student groups including ethnic minority communities, first generation college students, re-entry students, student parents, rural students, LGBTQI, and students with disabilities.
• Skills in project management, event planning and assessment including establishing and measuring program and/or learning outcomes.
• Experience with undergraduate admissions.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Student Affairs, Student Personnel Administration, Higher Education Administration, Counseling and Guidance, Social Work/Welfare, or similar advanced degree.

Salary & Benefits

For information on the comprehensive benefits package offered by the University, please visit the University of California's Compensation & Benefits website.

Under California law, the University of California, Berkeley is required to provide a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role and should not offer a salary outside of the range posted in this job announcement. This range takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, analysis of internal equity, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be offered a salary at or near the top of the range for a position. Salary offers are determined based on final candidate qualifications and experience.

The budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $85,000 to $97,400 annually. This is a 100% FTE, career position eligible for full benefits.

Conviction History Background

This is a designated position requiring fingerprinting and a background check due to the nature of the job responsibilities. Berkeley does hire people with conviction histories and reviews information received in the context of the job responsibilities. The University reserves the right to make employment contingent upon successful completion of the background check.

Mandated Reporter

This position has been identified as a Mandated Reporter required to report the observed or suspected abuse or neglect of children, dependent adults, or elders to designated law enforcement or social service agencies. We reserve the right to make employment contingent upon completion of signed statements acknowledging the responsibilities of a Mandated Reporter.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. For more information about your rights as an applicant, please see the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission poster.



For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, please see the University of California Discrimination, Harassment, and Affirmative Action in the Workplace policy.





To apply, visit https://careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucb/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM.HRS_APP_SCHJOB.GBL?Page=HRS_APP_JBPST&Action=U&FOCUS=Applicant&SiteId=21&JobOpeningId=66499&PostingSeq=1