Director of Student Support Job Posting

THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
JOB DESCRIPTION

June 25, 2014
TITLE: DIRECTOR OF STUDENT SUPPORT
REPORTS TO: ASSISTANT DEAN OF STUDENT AFFAIRS
SUPERVISES: N/A
QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree in counseling, social work, higher education or related field is required.
• Work Experience and/or degree in social work or counseling is required, preferably with college students.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills required.
• Experience in supporting individuals in crisis (preferable in a higher education setting) as well as experience exercising sound judgment and managing complex crisis situations.
• Skills in working effectively with parents/families, and providers of students is required.
• Experience in working with art and design students is preferred.
• Knowledge of student development theory preferred.
• Successful candidate is likely to have computer experience with Symplicity (or similar case management system), Microsoft Office, MS Excel and Peoplesoft.

BASIC FUNCTION:
The Director of Student Support will serve as the Lead Case Manager in the Office of Student Affairs for individual students for student in distress and students experiencing acute mental health concerns. Assist the student affairs team in coordinating the needs of students who present complex problems/concerns in areas including but not limited to: academic, health and wellness, psychological, economic, conduct, family relationships and social adjustments through appropriate interventions, referrals and follow up services. Liaise with families, outside providers and other individuals in a student’s support network to provide support with these problems and concerns. When appropriate, proactively contact parents and others to assist students. Develop and revise policies and protocols (for the final approval by the Assistant Dean, Dean, VP, and Associate General Counsel) related to Case Management and Student Support.
The Director will facilitate the weekly Student Support Team Meetings, including: preparing the agenda for the meeting, updating individual student entries based on the meeting, and developing ongoing reporting. Serve, as needed, as a member of the Incident Assessment Team. Be familiar with all aspects of academic advising so they can provide academic advising for students with concerns, in collaboration with Academic Advising. Provide training for Mental Health First Aid and other training for faculty, students, and staff. Develop and implement training for Student Affairs staff related to providing student support and policies and protocols. Develop and update the system for online care reporting through Symplicity. Develop and implement marketing and outreach (e.g. web and brochures) to increase awareness on campus of student support. Assist with educational programming related to wellness, including sexual health and substance use education. Serve as the primary administrator for the Symplicity Care Management Database, assisting SAIC in fully realizing its potential. This individual will be an expert in Case Management and its impact on student success and retention. The Director will
service on committees as appropriate. The Director will serve in the Dean on Call rotation (apx. 1 day a week and 1 week a month- including holidays). They will also assist with school-wide events such as Orientation, Family Weekend and Graduation, and some evening and weekend commitments are to be expected.

PRIMARY DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Serve as the Lead Case Manager in OSA – Serve as the Lead Case Manager, assisting individual
students who have problems/concerns in areas including but not limited to: academic, health and
wellness, psychological, economic, conduct, family relationships and social adjustments through
appropriate interventions, referrals and follow up services. Assist students and their families in
navigating SAIC’s policies and procedures. Identify students at risk, connect students to resources,
liaise with appropriate campus support (e.g. Dean of Student Life, Assistant/Associate Deans of
Student Affairs and the Wellness Center), collaborate with departments to provide support (e.g.
Residence Life), and make parental/emergency contact as needed. Provide direction for the OSA
Student Support Team team on their response to supporting students in crises. Liaise with academic
departments, Student Services and other Student Affairs offices. Consistently exercise good
judgment and professionalism when working with students and colleagues.
2. Student Support Team – review all Student Support updates submitted by staff, consulting with the
Dean and Assistant/Associate Deans to ensure timely and appropriate responses to student
concerns. Facilitate the weekly SST meeting including: preparing the agenda for the meeting,
updating individual student entries based on the meeting, and developing ongoing reporting. Serve
as a member of the Incident Assessment Team as needed. Develop and recommend for approval
policies and procedures related to student response, follow-up, and reporting.
3. Reporting and Technology – serve as the primary facilitator/manager of the Symplicity Care
Management Database to track student concerns. Liaise with the company, work with users to
develop and refine the systems, data reporting, procedures, and techniques. Implement the online
“Care Report” system for the community and develop protocols on how to market and respond to
the reports. Consistently review methods of improving the system. Review methods of integrating
the other systems (Class Progress Reports, Advising Tracking, Student Conduct, and Class Absence
Reporting) with Symplicity. Train users on Symplicity and solicit feedback on how to improve the
system. Become familiar with and utilize Peoplesoft and Excel to support individual students and to
develop robust reporting systems
4. Programming, Training, and Outreach – serve as a trainer for the Mental Health First Aid program,
providing information and training to OSA staff, faculty, staff, RA’s and students. Develop and revise
materials for students, faculty and staff in to provide them the information to identify, report and
respond to students in distress. Provide training to OSA staff to ensure they are familiar with and
able to implement SAIC policies and procedures related to Student Support. Utilize the web, portal,
email, paper, Symplicity and in-person contact with the community to increase awareness of
working with students in distress. Assist with educational programming related to wellness,
including sexual health and substance use education.
5. Academic Advising- Provide academic advising to degree-seeking students, as appropriate. Prepare
degree audits, assist students with course selection, course add/drops, course withdrawal, leave of
absence, reinstatements, transfer of credits, graduation requirements as well as course and/or
instructor concerns. Advise students individually on personal, health, financial, and academic issues
related to their overall experience and satisfaction. Refer students to a strong network of support
services, such as Health Services, Counseling Services, the Disability and Learning Resource Center,
the Writing Center, International Affairs, Student Financial Services, Registration and Records,
Academic Departments, etc.
6. Policy and Protocol Development/Compliance/Legal Issues– under the direction of the Dean and
Assistant Dean and in collaboration with appropriate SAIC/AIC departments, including the General
Counsel’s Office, develop and revise policies related to student support and crises, including but not
limited to: student crisis protocols, Leave of Absence (including Involuntary Withdrawal) policies.
Assist with maintaining compliance with federal and state laws and policies, such as FERPA, Clery
and others. Consult with the Dean and Assistant Dean to assist in managing risk.
7. Retention and Student Success- Assist in the development of a plan to improve student success,
specifically for students in our student support network. Coordinate intervention for at-risk students
and retention outreach; assist with student issues as appropriate; take the lead on the development
of an academic recovery program; coordinate the retention outreach assignments and monitor
progress.
8. Collaboration- consistently and effectively collaborates with multiple groups and individuals on
campus to provide students with the appropriate amount of support. Works very closely with the
Wellness Center Care Manager to ensure consistent and necessary support is provided to students.
9. Communication- Maintain regular contact with appropriate resources to ensure the effective
collaboration between staff and faculty involved in student support. Communicate student issues
and crisis to OSA staff as appropriate. Coordinate with various departments such as Health Services,
Counseling Services, the Disability and Learning Resources Center, Residence Life, International
Affairs, Student Financial Services, Registration and Records, and Academic Departments to support
students with a wide range of personal and academic concerns.
10. Assessment and Analytics- Work with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life
to assess the effectiveness of the Case Manager role and the overall SSG support on campus
Maintain SSG statistics on information including student visits and retention outreach; and
collaborate with other staff.to show the impact of distress on Retention. Assist with other
assessment initiatives including the Drug Free Schools and Community Act Bienniel Review and
evaluating climate data from initiatives AlcoholEdu and NCHA. Develop Learning outcomes and
assess how the Director of Student Support role and SST case management model supports student
learning.
11. Committee/School involvement-Serve as a Student Affairs representative on campus committees as
appropriate.
12. Deans on Call Rotation - serve in the Dean’s On Call rotation to provide 24-hour support for
Residence Life Professional Staff and off-campus students – approximately 1 day a week and 1 week
per month.
13. Departmental Initiatives and Programs -- Provide assistance with OSA departmental
functions such as Orientation, Graduation, and Family Weekend. Evening and Weekend
commitments may be expected.
14. Other duties as assigned.

The Education and Counseling Center Needs Internship Students

The Education and Counseling Center needs internship students who are interested in seeing a client in the ECC. This is a great way to get more hours, and/or further your experience by facilitating individual counseling. 

We currently have teenage young women on the waitlist.
Please let Dr. Mason know if you are interested asap. mmason26@depaul.edu or 773-325-8420