Executive Assistant

Overview

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position. This is a 100% FTE position.

The Department of Linguistics and the Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science (WICS) are seeking an experienced Executive Assistant who has advanced administrative skills to support the planning, coordination, and implementation of efforts across two units. All staff in Linguistics and WICS split effort to support the mission of both units. Due to the collaborative nature of the position, the candidate must be customer-service focused, team-oriented, and an effective communicator.

The individual selected for this position must exercise sound judgment, have a welcoming and professional demeanor and have the demonstrated ability to work with diverse individuals and groups. The ideal candidate will be a self-motivated person that is flexible with changing assignments and priorities, highly organized, reliable and comfortable managing multiple projects, and possesses great attention to detail.

The Department of Linguistics and the Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science are both vibrant academic units within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. The Executive Assistant is an important member of a dynamic team of staff that supports faculty and students. To learn more about the units, please visit lsa.umich.edu/linguistics and lsa.umich.edu/weinberginstitute.

This position will provide a high-level of administrative support to the Department of Linguistics Chair, the Director of the Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science, the Chief Administrator, and the respective unit leadership teams. These duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Support department and unit academic HR tasks, which include, but are not limited to:
  • Faculty / lecturer recruitment and on-boarding
  • Faculty / lecturer annual reports
  • Courtesy appointments
  • Promotion / tenure / reviews
  • Visiting Scholars paperwork
  • Postdoc / Research Fellows
  • Reporting
  • Faculty awards
  • Retirement memoirs
• Manage calendars, arrange meetings, schedule appointments, and conference calls for chair and director with university, college, department, unit and other visitors.
• Answer telephone, email, or mail inquiries exercising considerable judgment and discretion in providing information to students, faculty/staff, and the general public, directing matters to appropriate persons for action or follow-up.
• Edit and prepare confidential and sensitive reports, manuscripts, and correspondence.
• Prepare meeting agendas and materials, attending meetings as needed. Take detailed minutes/notes, track action items and decisions made, and generate all necessary follow-up correspondence to ensure work is completed as appropriate to support related projects, and to prepare for subsequent meetings.
• Maintain files, correspondence, and documentation in an organized, consistent and confidential manner.
• Develop and maintain follow-up systems to ensure that deadlines are met and materials are received on a timely basis.
• Develop and utilize strategies for managing information across multiple systems including MBox, Google Drive, and Shared Drive. Maintain department MCommunity and group email lists.
• Manage day to day office needs including interfacing with LSA Technology Services for technology concerns. Coordinate and conduct an inventory of office supplies, managing the purchasing of supplies.
• Coordinate travel arrangements, planning, hosting and catering logistics, multiple unit sponsor ships and other related tasks pertaining to department and unit events, such as faculty recruitment, department retreats and gatherings, colloquiums, annual symposia, graduate recruitment, and other circumstances as needed.
• Manage office work-study students, including recruitment, hiring and direct supervision.
• Act as a liaison to LSA Advancement. Review donor reports. Coordinate, initiate, and track thank you letters for donor gifts. Coordinate and send solicitation letters to alumni and friends. Collect and tabulate data required for reports, records, or other needs, as requested.
• Maintain or coordinate website updates as needed
• Miscellaneous project support as needed.
• This position will also perform other duties as assigned in order to support the goals and objectives of the department.

• High School diploma, Associate Degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 2-4 years of administrative experience, preferably in an academic setting.
• Ability to navigate the complex scenarios that often arise when working for multiple units and supervisors.
• Excellent computer skills including Microsoft Office, Google Suite and Zoom.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong attention to detail and the ability to track and prioritize multiple projects.
• Ability to produce accurate and high-quality work in a busy…