Job Details

Administrative Specialist II

Position Number: 6233626
Location: Dallas, TX
Position Type: Other Administrative Positions

Administrative Specialist II

Salary Range:

Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications

About SMU

SMU's more than 12,000 diverse, high-achieving students come from all 50 states and over 80 countries to take advantage of the University's small classes, meaningful research opportunities, leadership development, community service, international study and innovative programs.

SMU serves approximately 7,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students through eight degree-granting schools: Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Cox School of Business, Lyle School of Engineering, Meadows School of the Arts, Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Dedman School of Law, Perkins School of Theology and Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.

SMU is data driven, and its powerful supercomputing ecosystem - paired with entrepreneurial drive - creates an unrivaled environment for the University to deliver research excellence.

Now in its second century of achievement, SMU is recognized for the ways it supports students, faculty and alumni as they become ethical, enterprising leaders in their professions and communities. SMU's relationship with Dallas - the dynamic center of one of the nation's fastest-growing regions - offers unique learning, research, social and career opportunities that provide a launch pad for global impact.

SMU is nonsectarian in its teaching and committed to academic freedom and open inquiry.

About the Department:

The Department of Chemistry at SMU values a friendly and collegial atmosphere to pursue creative, high impact research and train students to tackle the important technological challenges of tomorrow. We foster a supportive and collaborative professional environment that has helped faculty grow their research program and achieve ample extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and other funding agencies such as the Welch Foundation and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas which offer funding specifically for Texas research institutions. SMU's high-performance computing clusters feature more than 2.6 PFLOPS of state-of-the- art CPU and accelerator computing capacity which supports faculty research as well as classroom teaching at no cost to faculty. The Department of Chemistry has a strong history of winning awards based on teaching excellence, and awards BA, BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Chemistry. Visit us at https://www.smu.edu/chemistry.

About the Position:

This role is an on-campus, in-person position.

The Administrative Specialist II supports the Chemistry dept in all aspects of the department. Directly responsible for student and adjunct payroll, overseeing department monthly budget reports, assisting with faculty/staff searches, hiring adjunct lecturers and initiating the postdoc hiring process. This position also provides administrative support to PI's with external grant projects and works directly with Grant Accounting to maintain accurate reporting. Works with the Director of Undergraduate Studies to support advising efforts for undergraduate students, works directly with graduate students for orientation and course scheduling, and assists International students with visas, I-20, J-1 extensions, DS-20219 and other needs specific to non-domestic residents. Oversees the coordination of special events and programming, and provides administrative support to the Chair for any additional needs.

Essential Functions:

Provide payroll support for all UG/GR students by creating PAFs, maintaining FAFSA & occasionally entering hours. Submits payroll information for adjuncts, including credentialing new adjuncts, requesting salary increases when necessary and submitting adjunct request forms each term. Provide administrative support for faculty/staff searches and oversees the postdoc hiring process for all PIs.
Complete the schedule of classes, process student specific permissions and manage enrollment. Support faculty/chair on teaching loads, coordinate summer teaching requirements and process extra comps for both teaching and research during the summer. Responsible for recording meeting minutes for faculty meetings, and others which require documentation.
Oversee all department budgets and q-drive reports, making sure orgs are accurate. Oversee external funding grant projects and assist with Grant Accounting, Budget Change Requests and Journal Entries on behalf of the PI. Provide support for all existing projects including keeping a list of current projects, award amounts, end dates and extensions.
Order office supplies and place Staples orders for FOSC, maintain coffee bar in FOSC 206, reconcile Concur accounts for which you are delegated. Help graduate students with Concur, process payment requests for awards and travel reimbursements, coordinate travel for seminar guests, GR students and search candidates.
Coordinate and assist with special events and programming, including Seminar Series, Fall Welcome Lunch, Holiday Pot-Luck, January Open House, Spring Student Celebration, Graduation, Ed Biehl Lectureship, etc.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

Bachelor's degree is required.

A minimum of three (3) years of experience is required or equivalent combination of education and work experience. Candidate with experience in working in an academic environment is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Candidate must demonstrate ability to coordinate various projects with minimal supervision. Candidate with excellent skills in budget management is desired. Must be able to exercise good judgment, discretion and diplomacy in dealing with diverse groups of students, faculty, and administrators in a variety of situations. Proficiency in Microsoft products is required.

Candidate must demonstrate strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate broadly across the University and develop and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of constituencies. Must also demonstrate strong written communication skills.

Candidate must possess strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify and analyze problems, as well as devise solutions. Must also have strong organizational, planning and time management skills.

Physical and Environmental Demands:

Sit for long periods of time

Deadline to Apply:

June 16, 2025.

Priority consideration may be given to submissions received by May 30, 2025.

EEO Statement

SMU is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression.

Benefits:

SMU offers staff a broad, competitive array of health and related benefits. In addition to traditional benefits such as health, dental, and vision plans, SMU offers a wide range of wellness programs to help attract, support, and retain our employees whose work continues to make SMU an outstanding education and research institution.

SMU is committed to providing an array of retirement programs that benefit and protect you and your family throughout your working years at SMU and, if you meet SMU's retirement eligibility criteria, during your retirement years after you leave SMU.

The value of learning at SMU isn't just about preparing our students for the future. Employees have access to a wide variety of professional and personal development opportunities, including tuition benefits.

Primary Location: USA-TX-Dallas

Job: Office and Administrative Support

Organization: Dedman College

Schedule: Regular

Shift: Staff

Employee Status: Individual Contributor

Job Type: Full-time

Job Level: Day Job

Travel: No

Job Posting: May 16, 2025, 2:36:41 PM

To apply, visit https://smu.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=DED00000434&tz=GMT%2B00%3A00&tzname=UTC