Area Coordinator, Residential Experience

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The Area Coordinator (AC) is part of Housing and Residential Experience (HRE) in the Student Affairs division at Vanderbilt University. The Area Coordinator plays a vital role in fostering belonging, connection, inclusion, and care within residential communities to support students in their personal and academic growth. Reporting to one of four Assistant Directors for Residential Experience, the Area Coordinator is a 12-month live- on position responsible for the management and operation of a residential area(s) (approximately 500-700 students) to build and develop communities that support student learning, development, and academic success. 

Key responsibilities in the AC position include graduate and undergraduate student staff management, community development, faculty and campus partner collaboration, and student care follow-up and crisis response. This position works closely with HRE partners to manage residential facilities, including occupancy, resident satisfaction, safety, and educational opportunities. This management can include maintaining spaces that are conducive to studying, providing basic mediation services, and offering referrals to other offices at the University. Area Coordinators serve in an on-call rotation, responding to incidents of crisis that can occur after hours and on weekends at the University and following up when there is a concern for student safety, health, and well- being. In this role, ACs work most closely with Residential Colleges faculty and staff, the Department of Public Safety, the Office of Student Accountability, and Student Care Network offices. The Area Coordinator also has collateral assignments within the department in a variety of areas which may include, but are not exclusive to, the following: residential security; community development; student staff selection and training; care response; graduate and professional development; diversity, equity, and inclusion; summer school operations; assessment; and general housing operations. This is a live-on position with housing accommodations provided.

About the Work Unit
Housing and Residential Experience houses over 90% of our undergraduate students. We seek to provide a safe, secure, comfortable, accessible and healthy housing for its residents. Programming for residents builds engaged communities in which students' social needs for belonging, friendship, recognition, respect and dignity are met. These communities foster learning, personal development, academic achievement, and successful transitions for both new students and graduates.

About Student Affairs
Student Affairs serves a central role in student learning and development at Vanderbilt, advancing the University's mission of teaching, research, and service. Student Affairs at Vanderbilt cultivates vibrant, inclusive communities that foster a student's sense of belonging and wellbeing through collaborative partnerships, transformative learning experiences, and an accessible and holistic network of resources. We value connection, belonging, compassion, development, and innovation. Our staff are committed to continued growth in knowledge, awareness, skills, and experience engaging with these priorities in a higher education environment.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

Student Support

• Meet with students within the community to address student or community concerns, mediate roommate conflicts, provide care follow-up, and offer campus resource referrals to address any needs that go beyond the scope of Housing and Residential Experience.
• Serve in departmental on-call rotation to support the residential population through timely response and collaboration with the Student Care Network, Project Safe, Vanderbilt Public Safety, and other campus partners.

Leadership

• Recruit and supervise engaged and passionate graduate and undergraduate student staff (between 15-22 staff members) providing motivation and challenge through clear performance expectations, weekly one-on-ones and team meetings, effective and on-going feedback, regular evaluations, and opportunities for professional development in accordance with HRE guidelines to ensure staff can be successful in fulfilling their job functions.
• Create and implement a Community Development Plan (CDP) to facilitate student residential engagement and learning through collaboration with student staff, faculty, and campus partners in line with the University Academic Strategic Plan and Student Affairs values of belonging, connection, compassion, development, and innovation.
• Demonstrate a willingness to support colleagues within Residential Experience and across the division in order to encourage the implementation or fulfillment of Residential Experience values and goals, divisional goals and strategic priorities.
• Work with departmental colleagues (Housing Assignments, Housing Facilities) to maintain residential facilities, manage occupancy, and account for keys through regular meetings, building walkthroughs and occupancy checks to ensure a safe, clean and secure residential experience.
• Serve on internal and divisional committees and working groups to enrich the experience and resources available to students and staff.
• Support community programming through programming area budget maintenance, programming supply procurement, and expense compliance.
• Participate in division-wide events as needed (Move-In Day, Rites of Spring, etc.) to support colleagues and ensure these events run smoothly.

Administrative

• Maintain an understanding of institutional and departmental financial policies related to areas such as travel, procurement, expense, and time reporting to ensure compliance and proper stewardship of university resources.
• Represent the department and division with the highest degree of professionalism to both internal and external audiences.
• Promote awareness, inclusion, and appreciation of cultural and lifestyle differences.
• Confront negative behavior and maintain community standards.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Relationships:
This position does have supervisory responsibility, supervising a Graduate Area Coordinator and 15-22 Resident Advisers. The Area Coordinator position reports administratively and functionally one of four Assistant Directors.
 

Education and Certifications:

• A Bachelor's Degree is necessary.
• A Master's Degree is preferred.
   

Experience and Skills:

• A minimum of one year of graduate or full time professional live-in experience is necessary.
• Experience collaborating with faculty members in a residential setting is preferred.
• Experience serving in crisis response and care follow-up is preferred.
• Experience supervising, advising, or coaching students is preferred.
• Living in a University-provided apartment is required.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to personal and departmental development, professionalism, diversity, equity and inclusion education, creativity, collaboration, and initiative.
• Discretion and sound judgment required in dealing with confidential and sensitive student issues and communication with all campus constituencies and outside constituencies (including parents).
• Strong attention to detail; strong organizational skills; ability to handle multiple tasks, often under deadlines; ability to work collaboratively in a diverse, and fast- paced environment to build strong working relationships within HRE and Student Affairs Division, across campus and in the broader community; ability to write clearly and concisely with great attention to details.