Chief of Staff, Student Academic Engagement & Success (HR Title: Director)

Salary Range:

Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications

About SMU

SMU’s more than 12,000 diverse, high-achieving students come from all 50 states and over 80 countries to take advantage of the University’s small classes, meaningful research opportunities, leadership development, community service, international study and innovative programs.

SMU serves approximately 7,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students through eight degree-granting schools: Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Cox School of Business, Lyle School of Engineering, Meadows School of the Arts, Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Dedman School of Law, Perkins School of Theology and Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.

SMU is data driven, and its powerful supercomputing ecosystem – paired with entrepreneurial drive – creates an unrivaled environment for the University to deliver research excellence.

Now in its second century of achievement, SMU is recognized for the ways it supports students, faculty and alumni as they become ethical, enterprising leaders in their professions and communities. SMU’s relationship with Dallas – the dynamic center of one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions – offers unique learning, research, social and career opportunities that provide a launch pad for global impact.

SMU is nonsectarian in its teaching and committed to academic freedom and open inquiry.

About the Department:

Student Academic Engagement and Success (SAES) is a multi-unit division within SMU’s Office of the Provost focused on helping undergraduates persist, thrive, and graduate. It spans Honors and Scholars, Experiential Learning, Career Services and Professional Development, Student Advising and Academic Success, General Education and Pre-Major Academic Records, and University Foundations, supported by central teams for budget, data and systems, and operations.

Working with partners across the University, it leads a shared retention and graduation strategy and is mission-driven, collaborative, and data-informed. Its work reaches across schools, faculty and staff, and academic and student-facing offices, and it measures success by what happens for students: persistence, progress, and graduation. Each effort depends on coordination among leaders and teams who do not share a reporting line, and on shared priorities, clear ownership, and reliable follow-through.

About the Position:

This role is an on-campus, in-person position.

The Chief of Staff serves as a senior strategic and operational partner to the Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success (SAES). The position is responsible for ensuring that the priorities of the Associate Provost are translated into coordinated strategy, effective operations, clear accountability, and measurable results across the division.

Working closely with the Associate Provost, the Chief of Staff provides leadership for the day-to-day operations of the Office of the Associate Provost, helps develop and advance student academic success strategy, coordinates cross-functional initiatives, and ensures effective communication and execution across the division.

The Chief of Staff directly supervises key administrative and operational functions within the office, including staff responsible for data and systems management and budget and financial management. The Chief of Staff ensures that financial, operational, and data resources are aligned with divisional priorities and that the Associate Provost has the information necessary to make timely and informed decisions.

The Chief of Staff also represents the Associate Provost in designated working meetings, committees, and project teams, providing continuity in decision-making and ensuring appropriate follow-through. The position works in close partnership with the Senior Executive Assistant, with the Chief of Staff focused primarily on strategy, operations, execution, and organizational coordination, while the Senior Executive Assistant focuses primarily on executive time, scheduling, meeting preparation, correspondence, and administrative support.

Essential Functions:

• Strategic Partnership and Execution

  • Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Associate Provost in identifying, developing, and advancing priorities related to student academic engagement, persistence, retention, and success.
  • Help translate the Associate Provost’s vision and priorities into actionable goals, initiatives, timelines, and measures of success.
  • Support the development and implementation of the division’s student academic success strategy, working across departments to identify opportunities, barriers, and priorities.
    Facilitate planning processes that establish clear objectives, ownership, milestones, and measures of progress.
  • Monitor progress against strategic priorities and proactively identify initiatives that are off track, require additional resources, or need leadership intervention.
  • Synthesize complex information and competing perspectives to help the Associate Provost evaluate issues and make informed decisions.
  • Ensure decisions made by the Associate Provost and leadership team are translated into clear actions, assigned ownership, and appropriate follow-through.

• Office Operations and Organizational Effectiveness

  • Provide operational oversight for the Office of the Associate Provost and establish systems that enable the office to function efficiently, consistently, and proactively.
  • Develop and maintain effective operating processes for decision-making, information sharing, project management, budgeting, data reporting, meeting management, and cross-functional coordination.
  • Work in close partnership with the Senior Executive Assistant to ensure the Associate Provost’s time and attention are aligned with strategic priorities.
  • Provide guidance regarding the relative priority of meetings, initiatives, and requests when strategic or organizational context is required.
  • Coordinate with the Senior Executive Assistant regarding upcoming meetings requiring strategic preparation, briefing materials, decisions, or follow-up.
  • Maintain clear role differentiation: the Senior Executive Assistant owns the effective management of the Associate Provost’s calendar, meeting logistics, correspondence, and executive administrative workflow; the
  • Chief of Staff owns strategic coordination, organizational execution, office operations, and cross-functional accountability.
  • Identify operational inefficiencies, gaps, or duplication of work and recommend improvements to organizational structures and processes.
  • Coordinate major office initiatives and ensure projects involving multiple staff members or departments have clear objectives, owners, timelines, and deliverables.
  • Create mechanisms for tracking commitments, priorities, decisions, and deliverables across the office.
  • Maintain an enterprise-level perspective on the work of the division and help connect individual projects and operational decisions to broader SAES and university priorities.

• Staff Leadership and Management

  • Provide direct supervision, coaching, and performance management for designated office staff (Administrative Specialist, Coordinator, Department Business Systems Analyst and Manager of Operations).
  • Establish clear performance expectations, priorities, and accountability for direct reports.
  • Ensure calendars, data, systems, and financial functions are integrated into strategic planning rather than operating solely as transactional support functions.
  • Develop staff capabilities and create structures that encourage ownership, collaboration, responsiveness, and continuous improvement.
  • Coordinate workload and priorities across office staff to ensure resources are appropriately aligned with the Associate Provost’s highest priorities.
  • Ensure the Associate Provost has timely, accurate, and decision-relevant financial information.
  • Review budget performance, forecasts, significant expenditures, and resource allocation with appropriate staff and identify emerging issues for the Associate Provost.
  • Support strategic resource allocation by connecting budget decisions to divisional goals and priorities.
  • Partner with data and systems staff to improve reporting processes, dashboards, systems, and data governance.
  • Help translate data into organizational questions and strategic decisions, ensuring that reporting informs action rather than functioning solely as a compliance or reporting activity.

• Representation of the Associate Provost

  • Represent the Associate Provost in designated working groups, implementation teams, committees, and internal meetings.
  • Participate with sufficient knowledge of the Associate Provost’s priorities and perspective to provide direction, resolve routine issues, and maintain momentum when the Associate Provost's direct participation is not necessary.
  • Clearly distinguish between matters the Chief of Staff is authorized to resolve and those requiring consultation or decision by the Associate Provost.
  • Communicate relevant decisions, concerns, emerging issues, and action items to the Associate Provost.
  • Ensure appropriate follow-through after meetings and maintain continuity between the Associate Provost and teams carrying out the work.
  • This responsibility is intended to extend the Associate Provost’s leadership capacity while allowing the Associate Provost to focus personal attention on decisions, relationships, and initiatives requiring executive-level involvement.

• Leadership Team Coordination

  • Support the effectiveness of the SAES leadership team by helping establish clear operating rhythms, decision-making processes, and accountability structures.
  • Partner with the Associate Provost to develop leadership meeting agendas around decisions, priorities, risks, and strategic issues rather than routine information sharing.
  • Ensure significant initiatives have clearly identified decision-makers, responsible parties, timelines, and expected outcomes.
  • Track major leadership commitments and facilitate follow-through across functional areas.
  • Identify issues that cross organizational boundaries and convene the appropriate stakeholders to resolve them.
  • Promote communication and coordination across SAES units and reduce organizational silos.
• Occasional weekend and evening work may be required to support departmental and organizational needs, priorities and/or programs.
  

Salary Range:

Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications

About SMU

SMU’s more than 12,000 diverse, high-achieving students come from all 50 states and over 80 countries to take advantage of the University’s small classes, meaningful research opportunities, leadership development, community service, international study and innovative programs.

SMU serves approximately 7,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students through eight degree-granting schools: Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Cox School of Business, Lyle School of Engineering, Meadows School of the Arts, Simmons School of Education and Human Development