What are the responsibilities and job description for the Operations Specialist position at usm?
Job Summary
The Operations
Specialist assists the staff, students, and liaisons for the Office of
Undergraduate Scholarships with day-to-day operations, including, but not
limited to, general office support such as assisting with scholarship
inquiries, database management, coordinating award timelines, managing budget
allocations, and campus training. The specialist also attends recruitment events
as needed.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities
- Provide direct administrative support to the Director and Assistant Director of Operations in daily responsibilities and special projects. Carry out duties, including scheduling meetings, amending policies and procedures as operations develop, taking meeting minutes, and providing routine reports.
- Conducts scholarship audits with internal and external liaisons to maintain university compliance, including evaluating and analyzing scholarship policies and procedures and running monthly financial reports. Prepare forms and documents, obtain appropriate signatures, and route them to the proper entity for approval (policy updates, budget amendments, award adjustments, candidate lists, etc.).
- Monitors and supports the scholarship awarding database system by utilizing standard builds, configurations, upgrades, and troubleshooting.
- Provide technical and administrative support for the complete awarding cycle for all scholarships, including reminders for candidate selection, form completion, and student verification processes in partnership with the Office of Financial Aid.
- Designs and schedules scholarship workshops and system training for awarding liaisons to ensure partners adhere to their allotted scholarship budgets and awarding policies.
- Maintains and/or increases technical knowledge through coursework, workshops, seminars, readings, and cross-training with vendors and other team members.
- Supports students, staff, and visitors by resolving award discrepancies and issues, making referrals to appropriate staff members to identify additional scholarship opportunities for students, and assisting the Director in creating new scholarships.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
