The School of Education and Human Development (EHD) seeks an experienced and capable professional to serve as the Chief of Staff to the Dean. Reporting directly to the dean of the school, the chief of staff will provide the dean with professional support and thought partnership in furtherance of EHD and University strategic priorities. This experienced professional will actively represent the dean’s position through effective communication and will work to integrate the dean’s priorities and objectives in all facets of their activity. In executing their duties, the chief of staff will support the dean’s core commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion, foster an unwaveringly collaborative atmosphere and promote goodwill as they work to further the school’s mission, goals, and values. Working in close collaboration with colleagues on the dean’s leadership team, the chief of staff assumes a wide variety of administrative duties, supports the dean’s obligations, tracks and supports projects of considerable scope and complexity, and conducts the business of the office with diplomacy, in accordance with school and University policy, and with a strong sense of fiscal responsibility. The chief of staff supports the dean in both complex and routine matters, with the goal of freeing the dean to focus on major priorities. The chief of staff serves as a member of the dean’s leadership team and is an exemplar of ethical behavior and effective leadership.

Duties of the chief of staff will include but are not limited to:

Executive Leadership Support

• Executive Support: Serve as a thought partner and strategist to the dean. Work in close concert with school and university leaders and chiefs of staff to ensure coordination and alignment of university strategic priorities.

• Meeting support: Oversee the executive assistant’s management of the dean’s calendar and assist the dean’s executive assistant to prioritize competing scheduling requests. Ensure that the dean’s meetings are effective, with realistic objectives, and clear action items. This will involve querying and working with stakeholders, guiding others in their preparation for their interactions with the dean, preparing agendas or briefing materials for the Dean, and monitoring progress and achievement of action items. In all work, maintain awareness and alignment with strategic through-lines and promote achievement of long-term goals.

• Response to requests: Manage internal and external requests received by the dean’s office and use discretion to determine and prioritize which matters need the Dean’s direct attention. Respond to or delegate matters to others as appropriate. Use project management tools to track all matters to ensure follow through and resolution. Ensure that the school is responsive to all queries, invitations, and requests for action. Develop communication protocols and processes to streamline the Dean’s email responses.

• Project Support: Work with the Dean and school leadership on projects as assigned. Partner with the dean’s leadership team and collaborate with faculty, staff, students within EHD and across Grounds to actively drive priorities forward in a consensus-driven environment. Manage projects, both long-and short-term as assigned, and monitor progress on projects assigned to the dean’s leadership team.

• Decision Support: Research a variety of issues in partnership with associate deans and other key stakeholders as appropriate, prepare summary reports, briefings, presentations, and recommendations. Proactively identify emerging issues and current events and elevate impactful issues to the attention of the dean, along with options for effective response or resolution. Identify data needs of the dean and devise technological solutions to provide updated information in an efficient manner.

• Communication management: Ensure that the dean is fully prepared for all internal and external engagements by partnering with the EHD communications team to draft speeches, correspondence, presentations, talking points and reports. Establish and maintain accurate, tactful and timely messaging aligned with the dean's and EHD’s vision and values. Develop an understanding of the dean’s communication style and reflect that style in these materials. If communicating via email on behalf of the dean, emails will be attributed as such.

• Representation and Liaison: Represent the dean in meetings and serve as a liaison between the dean and internal and external stakeholders including EHD faculty, staff and students, the Provost, Vice-Presidents, President, Faculty Senate, other departments and schools, alumni, donors, students and distinguished guests/visitors of the school.

• Events: In coordination with the dean’s executive assistant and events staff, support the dean’s involvement in major EHD student, staff, faculty, Board, alumni, and foundation events.

• Dean’s Schedule: Work closely with the dean’s executive assistant to strategically manage the dean’s time and travel schedule. Meet regularly with the Dean to establish the key priorities for the week, semester, and year.

Management of Dean’s Office

• Supervise the Dean’s executive assistant.

• Manage and streamline the day-to-day flow of issues, and projects within the dean’s office.

• Organize the Dean’s office staff and leadership retreats and workshops.

• Support leadership level searches – associate deans, department chairs, and center directors.

Faculty and Staff Community Building

• Consult the Staff Advisory Council to develop staff professional development opportunities and workshops.

• Provide guidance and partnership in collaboration with the Senior Associate Dean for Management and Planning to the Staff Advisory Council and the Office of Faculty Affairs to support healthy workplace initiatives, community engagement activities, and award/recognition programs.

Minimum Requirements
Education: Bachelor's degree
Experience: At least four years of relevant experience or Master's degree with at least one year of relevant experience. Relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Master's or Doctoral degree preferred, with special consideration for degrees in Education or Human Development.

• Leadership experience in a complex organization, with special consideration for leadership experience in a university environment.

• Familiarity with trends and challenges in higher education

• Relevant experience at the University of Virginia

• Demonstrated proficiency in oral and written communication.

• Aptitude for collaboration and relationship-building.

• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and handle multiple projects of widely varying complexity simultaneously, with sustained attention to detail and accuracy.

• Demonstrated proficiency in multiple technology platforms, including but not limited to Microsoft OneNote, TEAMS, Outlook, Excel, Qualtrics, and Smartsheet.

• Experience with data management, data analysis, statistics.

• Experience handling confidential and sensitive information.

• Ability to work under pressure, while maintaining a high degree of professionalism, and sense of humor

Physical Demands
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings, and programs.

Application Instructions: Apply Now . Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile, search for Find Jobs and then R0055671. Complete an application online, include the following documents:

• A CV/resume

• A cover letter

All documents can be loaded into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

This is a restricted, 3 year term position.

For questions about the application process, please contact Margaret Weeks, Academic Recruiter. Before a formal offer of employment is extended, the selected candidate will undergo a background check per university policy.

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences. We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.