A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position.

The Administrative Core serving three centers within the Institute for Social Research is searching for a highly-organized, energetic, detail-oriented individual to serve as the primary administrative support for one of its three centers.  Administrative Core-served centers at ISR include the Center for Political Studies (CPS), the Population Studies Center (PSC) and the Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD).  This position will provide planning, organizational, and coordination support to its assigned center on behalf of the Center Director, faculty, researchers, students, and center governing committees and make sure all events and activities run smoothly.  Center activities will include seminars, colloquia and conferences, center-based programs, and other activities based on Center operations.  Related planning and governance tasks may include committee staffing and elections, organizing multiple committee meetings and strategic planning activities, and working with Directors and other leads to plan and deploy new initiatives.

The best candidate for this position will have capability to manage and provide a high volume of concurrent services including procurement, expense reimbursement, meeting and event planning and general administrative support.  Services will be provided as a part of the Administrative Core in ISR which aims to provide responsive custom support services to these Centers while preserving each Center's unique operating structure and culture and delivering support with strong stewardship-oriented interfaces with HR, facilities, research administration, and Center, ISR, and UM central administration. This role will be supervised by the lead Administrative Specialist within the Administrative Core.

Provide complex procurement support services to assigned faculty, staff, and students, with knowledge of university stewardship principles in procurement and diligence toward best practices. The incumbent will become expert in securing bids, assuring proper vendors and contractors, and providing complete documentation for timely transaction processing for assigned faculty research laboratories and departmental customers.

Provide administrative support to the Center Director for activities, including meeting scheduling and calendar maintenance with forward-facing reminders to key leadership on upcoming events;

Plan and organize Center initiatives and events, including seminar series and colloquia, strategic planning and retreats, and other Center-led activities;

Handle travel arrangements for assigned faculty, staff, students and visitors, including the preparation of itineraries and the coordination of agendas with complex meeting schedules;

Provide expense reimbursement processing for faculty and research teams;

Assist in finalizing exchange visitor and affiliate partnerships with M-Community.

Assist with processing building maintenance requests, office/space moves/cleaning and processing building access and key forms for space at ISR.

Serve as initial reception for the Center, handling mail, center-based maintenance issues such as supplies, cleaning, water delivery, and more.

General administrative support for the PSC Training Program including event scheduling and hosting support, travel and reimbursement support and trainee program requirement tracking.

High School education or equivalent plus 2 to 4 years of job-related administrative experience

Experience in coordinating meetings and event planning

Working knowledge of procurement procedures

Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite products and Google tools or a similar product

Demonstrated high-level interpersonal skills and positive service-oriented attitude

Ability to exercise initiative, independent judgment, diplomacy, and confidentiality, and to work effectively independently and collaboratively as a member of a team

Excellent organizational skills and a high degree of attention to detail and accuracy is a must, as well as the ability to assess competing priorities in order to multitask to achieve results on time.

Associate degree plus one year of office-related administrative support experience. 

Familiarity with university travel/expense, and procurement policies and procedures is highly desired

This position will be on-site at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with flexible scheduling and remote opportunities made available within our overall center policies.

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

The Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Michigan, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to ground our research in varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning. This position includes health benefits detailed in the link below. All University of Michigan policies, practices, and procedures applicable to your classification title apply to your employment.  Please explore "Working at U-M" for additional information regarding benefits and employment: https://hr.umich.edu/working-u-m

ISR job openings are posted for a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. This posting may be removed at any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.