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POSITION SPECIFICS​

Associate Director of Recruiting and AdmissionsOffice of Professional Graduate Programs – Smeal College of Business, Penn State UniversityPenn State’s Smeal College of Business seeks a dynamic, results-oriented, and collaborative professional to serve as Associate Director of Recruiting and Admissions for its residential one-year specialty master’s programs. This is a highly visible, fast-paced role focused on strategic recruitment, frequent travel, event planning, and high-volume prospective student engagement.Key Responsibilities

• Lead recruitment efforts for Smeal’s specialty master’s programs, with a heavy focus on domestic travel, Penn State campus recruitment (University Park and Commonwealth Campuses), classroom and club presentations, career fairs, and external university visits.
• Plan and execute engaging presentations, events, and information sessions virtually and in person, including frequent on-campus visits and periodic travel to major U.S. cities and international locations.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for prospective students throughout the recruitment and admissions cycle—delivering personalized guidance via email, phone, Zoom, and in-person meetings.
• Build and maintain relationships with internal and external stakeholders to expand recruitment pipelines, including faculty, staff, alumni, and key partners at Penn State campuses and surrounding colleges.
• Manage application follow-up and yield communications, ensuring timely, effective engagement with prospective students through Salesforce, GRADS, and other systems.
• Provide operational and logistical support for admissions processing, onboarding, and international student documentation, ensuring alignment with University policies and timelines.
• Evaluate applications and credentials to determine admissions decisions, financial aid eligibility, visa documentation needs, and transfer credit approvals, as appropriate.
• Hire, train, supervise, and assign tasks to part-time student assistants (up to 10 hours per week per student) to support recruiting and admissions functions.
• Collaborate across departments and programs to ensure consistent messaging and an excellent prospective student experience from first contact to enrollment.
• Support and occasionally lead evening and weekend events, including open houses, webinars, and partner events.

Qualifications

• Experience, preferably in graduate admissions, higher education, recruiting, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success in public speaking, relationship building, event coordination, and student supervision.
• Comfort with frequent travel—including 25–40% domestic travel and occasional international travel; evening and weekend availability required