Careers at UMass Amherst

The flagship of the Commonwealth, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a nationally ranked public land-grant research university that seeks to expand educational access, fuel innovation and creativity, and share and use its knowledge for the common good. Founded in 1863, UMass Amherst sits on nearly 1,450-acres in scenic Western Massachusetts and boasts state-of-the-art facilities for teaching, research, scholarship, and creative activity. The institution advances a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where everyone feels connected and valued—and thrives, and offers a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees across 10 schools and colleges, and 100 undergraduate majors. We believe every member of our university community can contribute to our ongoing success by striving for the highest level of excellence as we seek breakthrough solutions to mounting environmental, social, economic, and technological challenges in our world.   

• Provide high quality and timely reception and customer service for the Residential Life Assignments Office. Respond to in-person, telephone, email, and social media inquiries. Maintain accurate records of inquiries and communications in databases such as Salesforce and SPIRE.
• Support response to second level student and family concerns including completing research and information gathering and documenting and supporting findings. Make appropriate referrals to campus departments and services.   
• Provide leadership for student office staff including providing functional supervision of student staff, training student staff on customer service and office processes, and supporting student staff to provide a high level of customer service and support.    
• Manage overall operations of the Assignments Office including creating and maintaining student staff office schedule, maintaining office inventory and ordering needed supplies and equipment, distributing correspondence and mail, ensuring that office opening and closing processes are completed daily, maintaining the conference calendar, and keeping office systems updated.
• Execute anticipatory planning of office processes and staffing to respond to the overlapping cycles of student assignments and occupancy management. Manage and track office budget and provide quarterly, mid-year and year-end information for budget reviews.  
• Provide administrative and project support for the professional assignments staff including drafting correspondence, maintaining staff calendars and scheduling meetings, completing assigned projects, and reviewing and providing feedback on a range of processes and procedures. Provide administrative support for the Residential Appeals Committee. Review and provide recommendation for housing exemption applications.   
• Support assignments and occupancy management processes for a residential system of over 13,500 beds.
• Complete regular audits of occupancy data including blocked rooms, student withdrawal processes, student check ins and check outs, living learning community assignments, no-shows, cancellations, break and summer housing, and a range of other data sets to ensure that occupancy data is maintained at a high level of accuracy. Run queries and reports in data systems such as Salesforce and SPIRE to support occupancy audits and other job functions.   
• Maintain strong working relationships with student services offices such as Residential Services, Bursar, Dean of Students, Financial Aid, Registrar, Disability Services, and others.   
• Serve as primary liaison for the U.S. Census Bureau representatives related to census activities in the residence halls.   
• Prepare and complete data entry for weekly time and attendance processes for student office staff and full-time staff. Complete hiring and onboarding processes for new student office staff. Audit and confirm data from HR Direct and other related time and attendance tracking systems.  
• Participate in Residential Life meetings, trainings and other functions. Provide back-up support for administrative support team functions such as reception and payroll processing.   
• Operate a motor vehicle to transport supplies and equipment as well as to travel to campus work sites.   

Other Functions 

• Perform related duties as assigned or required. Understands responsibilities with respect to Title IX, Clery and other compliance requirements.
• Demonstrate capacity, skill, and willingness to engage students and contribute to student success.   
• Understand responsibilities with respect to conflicts of interest and behaves in ways consistent both with law and with University policy.   
• Contribute toward creating a positive and respectful workplace. Uses access to sensitive and/or not yet public university related information only in the performance of the responsibilities of position and exercises care to prevent unnecessary disclosure to others.   

Minimum Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure) 

Preferred Qualifications (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Education, Experience, Certifications, Licensure) 

• Office experience preferably in a housing assignment operation or college/university setting. 
• Knowledge of Residential Life and University policies, procedures and protocols. 
• Competency in using specialized software applications utilized by Residential Life including performing data entry, query and audit functions.  
• Remain current with the changing software and database systems utilized by Residential Life. 
• Ability to handle difficult or emergency situations in the appropriate manner.  

Physical Demands/Working Conditions 

• Typical office environment. 
• Some travel required to transport supplies and equipment as well as to drive to campus work sites. 

Work Schedule 

• Monday – Friday; 8:30am-5:00pm. 
• Some weekend and evening work is required, including during residence hall move-in and move-out, winter session and summer school housing transitions. 

Salary Information 

Grade 13

Special Instructions to Applicants 

Along with the application, please submit a resume. References will be checked at the finalist stage. Please be prepared to provide contact information for three (3) professional references.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst welcomes all qualified applicants and complies with all state and federal anti-discrimination laws.