Program Manager

The Center for Social Impact Strategy (CSIS) is a research and action organization based at the School of Social Policy and Practice. CSIS supports research initiatives, online education, residential programs, and campus events for individuals interested in social impact. Under the direction of the Managing Director and Faculty Director, the CSIS Program Manager will lead aspects of the Center’s online, on-campus, and residential programs. The Program Manager will establish project goals and budgets and ensure that each project features a team of CSIS staff, part-time instructors, student interns, and vendors that will work together to enact the educational mission of each project.

The manager will have a portfolio of projects related to online and residential educational programs, including but not limited to CSIS’s online Executive Programs, Impact House program, and other educational initiatives. CSIS currently has five executive programs, lasting four-to-eight months each, includes 20-150 students, and ~$900,000 budget each; five off-site week-long residential programs featuring 18-30 students with roughly ~$100,000 budget each; and three massive open online classes featuring more than 10,000 learners each. We refer to each Impact House and Executive Program, or the development of an online class offering, as a project. Associated with each project is its own recruitment and admissions cycle and educational team, comprised of part- and full-time instructional and logistics staff.

This is a 2-year term position, contingent upon funding.

* All SP2 staff are required to participate in convocation and graduation ceremonies as needed.

Responsibilities

• The program manager will manage educational programs, including admissions processes, communications, enrollment, course creation, program evaluation, data management, and community coordination, for projects in the manager’s portfolio. This will include interviewing applicants, reviewing applications, communicating admissions decisions, and student advising. Orient and steward students through their educational program, which entails facilitating program applicants’ smooth transition between recruitment, application, decision, and student status, and facilitating learning and community building online and at in-person educational experiences. Orientation and stewardship involve drafting program view books and program orientation manuals; facilitating activities, including webinars or in-person sessions; establishing program calendars and holding the team and students accountable to program milestones; and establishing and overseeing a communication plan between the instructional team and students.

• This work will be done online via email, video conferencing tools such as Zoom, on our learning management system Canvas, and in person during our on-campus and residential activities. The manager will draft budgets and program goals in collaboration with the Directors. Once parameters are established, the manager will work autonomously to implement all aspects of educational programs, informing CSIS Directors weekly of progress and seeking approval for budget changes over 10% in any category. The Program Manager will work relatively independently, to meet co-established program goals; identify gaps in planning or staffing; propose plans to address these needs and enact them with approval.

• Manage data organization, analysis, program improvement, and budget efficiency-creating for projects in the manager’s portfolio. The program manager will propose a plan for both data collection that happens as a byproduct of admissions, registration, and learning, including which data are collected and stored, and how to deploy those data useful in service of curriculum improvements or new program offerings. The program manager will also be responsible for analyzing and gathering insights from those data in service of the same. Key data relate to student demographics (location, career stage, venture stage, prior education, etc), and educational goals. This work will be done via tools including our learning management system Canvas, our student-progress and -payments tracking system Air Table, data collection system Survey Monkey or Qualtrics; communications tool Active Campaign, Excel, and other platforms. 

• This role will be responsible for all aspects of event planning of varying sizes, negotiating with vendors and contractors, tracking program goals against expenditures, and making budget recommendations. Manage financial tracking and reimbursement submission, travel and reimbursement, event planning, and communications with students and consultants. This work will be done via tools including payment collection tools Cybersource and Canvas Catalog; financial processing tool Concur; project management via Excel and Google Drive, and communication via Email, Slack, and Zoom. The program manager will own and delegate many event planning, administrative support, and payment tasks to a program coordinator responsible for working on that project as well as volunteers and student interns. Those delegated tasks include printing, ordering supplies, researching venues, crafting meals from catering menus, making name tags, securing audio-visual, and myriad other tasks associated with putting together intensive, multi-day learning experiences in which CSIS is responsible for learning, accommodation, and entertainment.  As part of this work, the program manager will manage the events budget, expenses, and ROI, as well as track and reconcile the payment of those expenses and manage the payments and reconciliation for program participation fees to ensure timely payments of students. This work will be done via tools including Excel; Concur; Catalog; CyberSource, and in collaboration with the SP2 finance office and the CSIS finance director.

• Manage the implementation of new residential or online educational partnerships per portfolio. This work will be done under the direction of the Managing Director and Faculty Director, in person and over email. Tasks include helping to craft presentations and demonstrations as part of the negotiating process; and, once partnerships are established, stewarding new partners in adherence with the appropriate partnership agreement through our extensive online curriculum; training new partners on how to implement and adhere to CSIS’s recruitment, admissions, program implementation, quality control, evaluation, improvement, and budgeting goals.

• Perform additional duties as assigned, including participation in convocation and graduation ceremonies as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and 3 to 5 years of experience or relevant combination of education and experience required; Master’s degree and 5 to 7 years of experience are preferred. Demonstrated ability to: organize tasks and set priorities, multi-task competently, take initiative and assume responsibility for complex projects in a small office environment with team approach, handle confidential information; strong verbal and written communication skills and strong interpersonal skills; computer expertise including entire MS Office suite, spreadsheet and database, networked computer environment; able to work accurately under pressure; knowledge of PENN systems a plus; creative thinking and dedication to tasks; and enjoys working as part of a fast paced team environment. Knowledge of design software a plus. Occasional travel, evening, or weekend work is required.