Administrative Aide

Department: Physics

Summary

The Department of Physics requires an administrative aide (level-8 classification) to manage the operational functions focusing on the departmental graduate program and financial operations related to departmental (i.e. general, research, and Tech Fund) accounts thereby, providing professional support to the department coordinator and chair of the department.

Responsibilities 

Effectively perform a wide range of administrative tasks including the graduate program; Manage payroll, Electronic Personnel Action Forms (EPAF), and prepare accounting reports regularly; Communicate effectively with faculty, staff, and students to optimize department and office operations; Ensure that deadlines are met and tasks are completed;
Some of the specific examples listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.
1. Provide administrative information and assistance based on established university policy and procedure to a diverse population in a professional, friendly, and courteous manner with a focus on the graduate program;
2. Provide excellent customer service to faculty, staff, and students to ensure smooth, timely departmental operations.
3. Maintain daily financial operations and files for the departmental accounts including General Fund, Research, and Tech Fund accounts.
4. Initiate and process purchase requisitions, check requests, travel reimbursements, and expense reallocations; disburse and maintain petty cash funds.
5. Oversee departmental purchasing card activities; assist department cardholders with submission of monthly procurement card reports in the Concur system
6. Verify payroll records for project certification summaries.
7. Compile financial records for monthly reconciliation.
8. Coordinate payroll for student employees; originate electronic payroll forms (EPAF) and reallocations, review and process employment forms for new student hires, approve bi-weekly timesheets, and serve as department timekeeper.
9. Assist with events; student orientations, guest seminars, student presentations
10. Generate monthly reports of Tech Fund donations.
11. Maintain printer and photocopier equipment and supply inventory; track monthly usage in Excel reports.
12. Order office and research-related supplies, when requested.
13. Coordinate and track departmental colloquia and visits, reserve local hotel and transportation, and initiate travel reimbursements; Prepare and distribute visitors' itineraries and announcements to appropriate audiences and Tech Today. Assist in the preparation for the coffee hour before the colloquium and other related events.
14. Coordinate with the MTU Registrar’s Office for the planning and scheduling of academic functions and activities;
15. Coordinate textbook orders with MTU bookstore and department instructors each semester, submit course textbooks using the university bookstore portal; process desk copy requests with publishing companies.
16. Collect and maintain records of syllabi and class rosters; post physics course schedules.
17. Generate Excel report of academic semester student evaluations for instructors.
18. Support and create departmental marketing material; including brochures, annual newsletter, departmental annual report, and other outreach activities
19. Monitor and maintain multiple Google calendars for departmental absences, departmental events, physics course schedules, and room reservations.
20. Independently answer routine inquiries. Receive, screen, and route telephone calls and mail and departmental email account.
21. Assist office manager with special events, surveys, and projects.
22. Utilize BANNER, Banweb, Canvas, Concur, Digital Measures, Perceptive Content, and Webfocus to access and extract confidential information, compile statistical data, and prepare spreadsheets/reports.
23. Other duties as assigned.
24. Commit to learning about continuous improvement strategies and applying them to everyday work. Actively engage in University continuous improvement initiatives.
25. Apply safety-related knowledge, skills, and practices to everyday work.

Required Education, Certifications, Licensures

• High School diploma with equivalent experience from which comparable knowledge and abilities about communication and accounting skills have been acquired.

Required Experience

• Minimum of five years of office/administrative support experience working in a collaborative professional environment.
• Minimum of five years of experience using personal computers and advanced software packages, including cloud-based software such as Google Suite, and advanced feature