Job Details

Job Title

This role coordinates and prioritizes the Dean's complex schedule, communications, travel, meetings, and special projects while serving as a key liaison with library faculty and staff, university leadership, donors, alumni, community partners, and colleagues across the state and nation.

Responsibilities

Executive Level Administrative Support:

• Manages and prioritizes the Dean's day-to-day activities and complex calendar, including appointments, meetings, external engagements, speaking commitments, dining arrangements, and room reservations while proactively protecting the Dean's time for strategic priorities.
• Ensures timely transitions between meetings and events and monitors RSVP responses to ensure alignment with library and university priorities.
• Manages Senior Associate Dean and Associate Deans day-to-day activities and complex calendars
• Arrange numerous meetings for library, campus administration, university and local entities; answer and screen phone calls; schedule conference calls; greet visitors to the administrative suite and coordinate office coverage.
• Manages communications on behalf of the Dean by drafting, reviewing, and distributing routine and confidential correspondence, emails, reports, and other materials using discretion and independent judgment.
• Screens, triages, resolves, redirects, and responds to communications on behalf of the Dean as appropriate.
• Serves as the primary liaison between the Dean and internal and external stakeholders, including university leadership, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, community partners, and professional organizations.
• Anticipates administrative and operational needs, identifies priorities, and proactively addresses issues before executive intervention is required.
• Conducts research and gathers information on confidential, sensitive, and strategic matters; prepares reports, presentations, briefing materials, talking points, background documents, and decision-support materials for executive meetings and engagements.
• Attends meetings as requested and prepares agendas, minutes, action items, briefing materials, and follow-up communications.
• Handles complex inquiries, issues, and confidential matters with professionalism, sound judgment, and discretion.
• Serves as a resource regarding university and library policies, procedures, and administrative practices.

Executive Level Travel Support:

• Coordinates & manages all travel arrangements and logistics for the Dean, Senior Associate & Associate Deans including airfare, lodging, transportation, registrations, itineraries, vendor coordinator, travel documentation, reimbursements, and expense reporting while ensuring compliance with university policies.
• Anticipates travel needs and proactively resolves issues related to scheduling, reservations & reimbursements
• Prepare organized folio for each trip containing all registration and confirmation numbers as well as complete agendas for each trip for Dean.
• Coordinate travel arrangements for library guests and candidates selected for on-campus interviews, including flight arrangements, hotel arrangements, parking, lunch/dinner arrangements for interviewee including prepared & process expense reports as needed

Operational, Event and Special Project Coordination

• Serves as the primary point of contact for library administrative events, receptions, retreats, meetings, and special programs.
• Coordinates event logistics including scheduling, facilities, catering, technology support, registration, vendor communication, budget tracking, and attendee communications.
• Partners with campus units, external organizations, and vendors to ensure successful event planning and execution.
• Exercises delegated authority, in consultation with library leadership, to approve, modify, reschedule, or decline event-related requests based on operational priorities and resource availability.
• Coordinates TDX proposals for catering for internal programming & events with the event organizer
• Works with Libraries Facilities Manager and event stakeholders to ensure adequate space, staffing, technology, and logistical support are available for all events.
• Creates and maintains libraries administration on SharePoint site, including updating SharePoint events calendar; Creates and maintains Libraries Teams site for Libraries HR and Administration; annually makes calls for standing library committees & updates standing committees
• Manages and maintains lists for all-library staff, library faculty, library training, and library bulletin board listservs.
• Maintains web presence for Library Administration (and Hodges Society as needed) & updates libraries organizational charts
• Assists with Student Library Advisory Committee
• Maintains Speaking Volumes email list - ARL, SEC Deans, Campus leadership (Chancellor & cabinet, Provost & leadership team, Deans)
• Serves as the Parking representative and acquires orange dots for the library
• Manage office supply inventory and order supplies as needed
• Serves as back up for search support: schedules interviews for all faculty & staff searches; schedules reference calls; assists with interview schedules
• Assists with hiring, training, scheduling, onboarding, and co-supervision of student library assistants to ensure effective office operations and customer service coverage.
• Completes 1 – 3 hours of professional development per month.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Education:

  • High school diploma or GED with 4 years of relevant experience or an equivalent, combination of education, training & experience

• Experience:

  • Experience supporting senior level directors, executives, Deans, or Associate Deans

• Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

  • Demonstrated ability to exercise independent judgment and discretion in handling highly confidential information.

  • Exceptional organizational and project management skills.

  • Ability to manage multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills.

  • Ability to anticipate leadership needs and proactively address issues.

  • Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with individuals at all organizational levels.

  • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and related administrative technologies.

  • Strong customer service orientation and professional presence.

  • Ability to analyze information, conduct research, and prepare executive-level reports and presentations.

  • High attention to detail

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis without need now or in the future for sponsorship for employment-based visa status.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education:

  • Bachelor's degree with 2 years of relevant experience

• Experience:

  • CAP Certified

  • Experience in higher education and UT policies & procedures

  • Experience with Oracle (DASH)

• Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

  • Knowledge of University policy and procedures

  • Skilled in Adobe Creative Suite (Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, Publisher), Canva, or Zoom

About Us

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has shaped leaders, changemakers, and innovative thinkers since its founding in 1794. The university is home to more than 38,000 students and 10,000 statewide employees—the Volunteers—who uphold the university's tradition of lighting the way for others through leadership and service. UT Knoxville offers over 900 programs of study across 14 degree-granting colleges and schools. As Tennessee's flagship land-grant university, its footprint spans the entire state. The university holds the highest Carnegie classification for research activity and has deep partnerships with industry leaders and the US Department of Energy's largest multidisciplinary laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Knoxville campus serves and recruits for UT Knoxville, including the Institute of Agriculture and the Space Institute, as well as the UT Institute of Public Service. UT Knoxville considers its employees its number one asset. With values that focus on work-life balance, compensation,