Olin College of Engineering Looking for Assistant Director for Accessibility and Advising Full Time

Overview:

Olin College of Engineering seeks employees who are passionate about working collaboratively within and outside of the Olin community to support the College’s mission and vision for the future.

At Olin, we are educating the next generation of engineering innovators and shifting the definition of engineering. Not only do our students ask, “Who are we designing this for, and what are their values?” They also ask questions about the impact of their work on society.

As Olin evolves under the leadership of our new president, Dr. Gilda Barabino, we seek to become a more diverse and aware community, a place where everyone is a learner and where everyone is an educator. Olin will become a place where experimentation—including making and learning from mistakes—will be embraced across the institution, not just in the classroom. Collaboration is key to Olin’s curriculum and culture, and we will work intentionally to reinforce the values and culture to which we aspire. We are a community that thrives on being together; we value trust. The College supports teams to collaboratively decide how they can best do their work, display a commitment to the community, all while providing individuals with overall work-life-flexibility.

Position Summary:

The Assistant Director for Accessibility and Advising will work directly with students to coordinate and support disability and academic support access to classes, programs, and facilities. This position will support two distinct but highly interconnected units in the Student Affairs and Resources (StAR) office at Olin College of Engineering: Disability Services at Olin (DSO) and Academic Advising and Support. Reporting to the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, this position will work directly with students to contribute to their developmental journey. The person in this role will thrive if they are deeply invested in building rapport, trust, and a high level of engagement with students. Mindful communication, earnestness, creativity, and curiosity underlies all of our work with students, staff, and faculty. 

Accessibility-related Duties:

• Serve as first point of contact for students who are interested in registering with DSO, or who have a need for temporary accommodation. 
• Review, evaluate, and interpret disability documentation.
• Determine appropriate accommodations, in collaboration with the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, as needed.
• Draft and send academic letters of accessibility to the faculty and student advisor. Coordinate medical singles, emotional support animals, and other residential life needs in collaboration with Housing. Assist with communication relating to dietary accommodations in collaboration with Dining Services. Provide timely delivery of accommodation letters and notifications. 
• Serving as primary resource for assistive technology options and alternate format materials consultations. Coordinating notetaking accommodations, assistive technology services and lending library, alternate format texts, and other coordinated accommodations provided through DSO.
• Adopt the social model of disability while advising students of their rights and responsibilities.
• Work in collaboration with Assistant Dean of Student Affairs to ensure an interactive process and a continued desire to learn best practices in disability services.
• Maintain timely, confidential, and detailed files for all DSO students.

• Contribute to the coaching, training, and supervision of student employees.
• Support office administration as needed by answering phone calls, responding to emails, and meeting with students, parents, visitors, prospective students who have questions about accessibility at Olin.
• Provide input into DSO policies and assessment of services for students with disabilities.
• Keep current on Office of Civil Rights guidance and Disability Law in Higher Education.
• Collaborate with various units on campus to create programming and resources that relate to disability as it relates to diversity and wellness.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Advising-related Duties:

• Developmentally advise students on topics relating to academic success and progress, teaming and communication, and self-exploration. 
• Support the maintenance of the Advising Tool, a curricular planning resource, by working closely with the Registrar’s office and remaining up to date on all curricular changes. You will also collaborate with a student worker to implement updates and modifications to the tool. 
• Communicates action on student cases to administrative offices on campus.
• Provides initial support for students facing personal challenges of mental and physical health, including difficult conversations, and connects students with appropriate university support resources.
• Assists with planning and execution of programming related to best practices in advising for faculty and staff advisors as well as students.
• Modify, create, and maintain written and web-based resources to educate the community about curricular- and advising-related information. 
• Coordinate with the Academic Life Administrative Assistant to field tutor requests, recruitment, and matching
• Assist with the development of advisor and tutor trainings.
• Collaborate across units in student and academic affairs to further the mission of the college and support academic success and well-being for students.
• Performs other related duties as assigned. The omission of specific duties does not preclude the supervisor from assigning duties that are logically related to the position.

Skills and Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Education, Counseling, or a related field or discipline
• 2-3 years of experience directly working with college students in an advising, counseling, or related capacity
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills
• Kind and empathetic approach to colleagues and students
• Knowledge and understanding of student academic advising, development, retention issues, trends, and programs.

• Familiarity with various assistive technologies such as screen readers (JAWS; Read, Write, Gold; ZoomText, etc.); text-to-speech and speech-to-text software (Dragon, Speechify, etc.); Braille displays and embossers/printers; SmartPens, etc.
• Proficiency with Office Suite software as well as experience with student information systems (Banner, Jenzabar, etc.)
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of information and records; ability to manage and distribute information appropriately.
• Openness to collaborate with students on various projects and efforts.
• Investment in continued professional development, with a focus on continued learning about equity, diversity, and identity. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with disability rights laws including ADA and Section 504
• Experience working with students with disabilities, including non-visible disabilities related to mental health and neurodiversity
• Understanding of FERPA in the context of DSO and advising.
• Familiarity with advising students in STEM fields.
• Comfort with working in an experimental, fluid academic environment.

To Apply:

Please complete this Interest in Position Form . Olin College is an Equal Opportunity Employer. 

• A current CV or resume.
• An Olin-specific cover letter. Tell us why you are excited to join Olin and how your experience might contribute to Olin’s community. 

Non-discrimination/Affirmative Action Statement

In accordance with its own values and with federal and state regulations, Olin College of Engineering does not discriminate in admission, programs, services or employment—including the recruitment, hiring, training and promotion of persons in all job classifications—on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, or veteran status.