Registration Assistant & International Student Advisor

Overview: Gordon-Conwell is a multidenominational, protestant graduate school, unique with its broad array of over 1,300 students and 25 faculty and staff from 78 denominations and over 50 countries. We offer a residential model of education at South Hamilton, MA (our main campus); an urban context in Boston, MA; adult educational models in both our Charlotte, NC campus and our offerings in Jacksonville, FL; in addition to online and cohort models involving students from around the world. Our mission is to prepare men and women for ministry at home and abroad. Rooted in the gospel and God’s Word, the seminary seeks to develop Christian leaders who are thoughtful, globally aware, spiritually mature, and ready for a broad array of ministries. While being historically orthodox and evangelical, we seek to address the issues of our times with both relevance to the culture and faithfulness to Christ and God’s truthful Word. Position Summary:

Under the supervision of the Assistant Registrar, this position oversees a variety of functions required to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the Registration Office and its service to students, serves as an International Student Advisor and provides support to the Veterans’ Services Specialist.

Primary Responsibilities:

Coordinates administrative activities of the Registration Office. (65%)

• Oversees office operations and supervises Registration student worker(s) to ensure the timely processing of:
  1. incoming requests via phone, email, voicemail, mail and walk-ins;
  2. timely responses to all requests or forwarding to the appropriate team member;
  3. student loan verification, transcript requests, withdrawal/leave of absence, pass/fail and other petitions, immunization/TB documentation, course registration actions, posting transfer credit, and grades;
  4. data entry and student record updates, ensuring the integrity and safe handling of all student records and files.
• Monitors and updates the Master Calendar list of tasks performed by Registration Assistant to stay on track with all work needing to be performed throughout the year.
• Creates, reviews, and revises office forms, documentation, academic and master calendars, and Registration web pages (in Canvas and Wordpress) for accuracy. Updates the web page content with schedule changes, updated forms, or other changes.
• Provides assistance to the Student Success team by creating accurate new student check sheets and updating current student check sheets.
• Oversees office upkeep and supply maintenance.
• Assists in other activities requested by the Assistant Registrar or Lead Associate Registrar and provides support to the Registration Team as needed.

Coordinates major events. (10%)

Oversees the administration of Online Competency Exams (fall, spring, summer), including training of proctors. Coordinates TB Clinics (fall and spring) in conjunction with GCTS TB nurse as needed. Serve as primary liaison between nurse and Registration Office, providing follow-up assistance as needed. Coordinates front office preparations for Commencement: regalia distribution, name review, diploma issuance, signage and labels, and other various tasks assisting the Assistant Registrar in Commencement preparations. Assists with New Student Registration Fair (fall and spring).

BTI Cross-Registrations. (10%)

Serve as the office liaison between students and the BTI host school registrars, providing updated course schedule (fall and spring), processing cross-registrations and other registration actions and grades.

Serves as an International Student Advisor. (10%)

Serves as a Designated School Official (DSO), assisting the Principal DSO with maintaining the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) for the Hamilton campus. Organizes SEVIS data processing under the guidelines provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Advises students with petitions and applications to include processing for new F-1 visas, work permits, reinstatement, and reduced course load authorizations, change of status, medical leave and economic hardship employment authorization. Assists international students with processing applications for work permits, reinstatements, extensions of stay and other F-1 visa related matters.

Assists Veterans’ Services Specialist. (5%)

Serves as the secondary School Certifying Official (SCO), assisting the primary SCO with processing of military education benefits: VA and TA (federal and state Tuition Assistance) communication, enrollment certification, invoicing, tracking, reporting, compliance survey preparation, and general assistance to student veterans for all campuses and programs.

Required Competencies:

• Communication and Interpersonal Effectiveness: Must have strong written and verbal communication skills and be able to communicate in a manner that allows information to flow freely and smoothly in order to perform job responsibilities in a timely fashion. Must be sensitive to the varied needs of a diverse student population, have the ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality, and be capable of functioning effectively within a student-centered, cooperative, decision-making environment.
• Technical Knowledge: Competent in using Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams, Zoom. Ability and willingness to learn to perform at an intermediate level in the Student Information System (SONIS). Experience with website content maintenance is helpful but not required.
• Customer Service: Strong customer service skills with ability to display empathy with all constituents. Commitment to a high level of confidentiality and attention to detail is required. Willingness to learn registration policies, procedures, and standard degree program requirements in order to assist students.
• Organization and Adaptability: Able to manage time well in order to accurately perform detailed work while also serving students in their varied academic concerns. Must be highly organized and detail oriented.
• Problem-Solving: Must be willing to work through complex certification process when certifying students from different campuses, programs, and course types. Must show patience in working through solutions with the VA as problems arise.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and Word
• 2+ years' experience working in an office or other administrative setting committed to confidentiality is strongly preferred.
• 2+ years' experience in customer service is strongly preferred.
• Experience working in a multi-ethnic environment with cultural sensitivity.
• Knowledge of Gordon-Conwell and its various academic programs is helpful.