Graduate Student Specialist III

Job Title

Graduate Student Specialist III

Agency

Prairie View A&M University

Department

Graduate School

Proposed Minimum Salary

Commensurate

Job Location

Prairie View, Texas

Job Type

Staff

Job Description

The Graduate Student Specialist III will assist master’s and doctoral students in locating resources and campus partners to effectively navigate the university and overcome obstacles to their success. This support is dedicated to empowering students to discover solutions and answers to their challenges as they progress through graduate school to degree completion. The overall goal of the position is student satisfaction toward retention and enrollment growth.

The salary is determined in accordance with the University’s compensation structure and will be commensurate with the candidates’ education and experience, within the assigned salary range for this position.

Responsibilities:

• Strengthen Support Services: Develops and implements programs that support graduate and doctoral student retention and ensure timely degree completion.

• Academic Support: Helps students navigate their programs and understand the requirements needed to excel. Provides personalized guidance to help address individual academic challenges, such as connecting students to resources and services toward their success.

• Financial Support: Helps students identify financial resources, including scholarships, grants, and assistantships. See to it that student processes such as onboarding occur in a timely manner so that stipends and tuition payments are not delayed.

• Resource Coordination: Coordinates with various university departments to streamline access to academic resources, career services, and extracurricular opportunities.

• Relocation Assistance: Assists incoming students with relocation needs by providing information on housing, transportation, and local community resources.

• On-boarding Processes: Assesses and enhances current on-boarding processes to ensure a smooth transition for new students into their academic programs and the broader university community.

• Community Building: Fosters a sense of community among graduate students through organizing events, workshops, and social activities that promote engagement and collaboration.

• Advocacy: Serves as an advocate for master’s and doctoral students, ensuring their voices are heard in university decision-making processes and policies.

• Mentorship Program: Establishes, evaluates, and maintains mentorship programs that connect students with faculty and alumni, providing opportunities for professional development and networking.

• Mental Health Support: Collaborates with campus mental health services to assist students in accessing support tailored to the unique challenges faced by master’s and doctoral students.

• Identify Obstacles: Conducts assessments to identify barriers to student progression and develop strategies to address these challenges effectively.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Required Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree

• Four years of related experience.

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Knowledge of word processing and spreadsheet applications.

• Ability to multitask and work cooperatively with others.

• Strong interpersonal and organizational skills.

• Verbal and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Five years of experience in a Counselor assignment or a related unit preferred.

• Proven ability to plan, organize, and make decisions reflecting a high level of independent judgment, initiative, and discretion.

• Good interpersonal and collegial skills.

• Proven track record in maintaining absolute confidentiality on all highly sensitive information related to student records.

• Ability to interact courteously and effectively with students in a variety of situations.

• Ability to perform complex office operations using various software applications (preferably Office 365 suite, Word, PPT, Excel, Zoom, TEAMS, and OneNote).

• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written.

• Ability to interpret inquiries and problems and direct them to proper resources.

• Ski