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Special Projects Manager, uAspire Central Office, Boston, MA

Posted October 25, 2015

Organization Vision: uAspire imagines a day when all young people have the opportunity to reach their full potential by graduating from college, regardless of their families’ financial resources or college experiences. 

Organization Summary: uAspire is committed to ensuring that all young people have the financial information and resources necessary to achieve their dreams of higher education. uAspire provides free college affordability advice and advocacy to students and families in Massachusetts, Miami, Florida, and the Bay Area of California helping them to overcome the financial barriers to a postsecondary education. Through strategic partnerships with high schools, community organizations and local universities, uAspire helps academically prepared students find an affordable path to – and through – a postsecondary education.

uAspire is in the middle stages of implementing a multi-faceted Strategic Plan for Growth with Quality that will enable the organization to positively impact the lives of 1,000,000 students by 2017. This plan includes three models for impact:

  • Impact in High-Need Cities – prove our model and build credibility by providing direct services to students and families in 3-5 markets across the country. Currently, uAspire is operating in Massachusetts (4 locations – Boston, Springfield, Fall River and Lawrence) and Miami, Florida, and the Bay Area of California (San Francisco & Oakland).
  • Training & Technical Assistance (T&TA) – provide best-in-class training and ongoing support on issues of college affordability to frontline college access and success providers, community based-organizations, school districts and higher education institutions. Following a successful pilot and business case summary procured by Deloitte Consulting, uAspire received a generous investment from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation to enable the full national launch of this highly scalable training and support model.
  • Policy/Systems Change – use impact data, scalable best practices, and a network of knowledgeable practitioners to influence policies and practices within city, state, federal and higher education circles. uAspire is currently engaging in policy efforts at federal and state levels when appropriate while working out the details of our multi-year policy impact strategy.

Position Summary:

The challenges of college affordability have never been more pronounced, and uAspire’s expertise – built over 30 years of practice – has never been more needed across our sites and communities nationwide. The Special Projects Manager in the Central Office will play a critical role in ensuring that uAspire achieves our ambitious and multi-faceted plans for growth with quality, thereby enabling the postsecondary dreams of thousands of students to be realized each year. S/He will work in uAspire’ Central Office supporting uAspire’s President, Erin Cox, and CEO, Bob Giannino. In addition to providing day-to-day administrative and project support to the executive leadership team, the Special Projects Manger will create and improve systems that enable 1) capacity building and administrative support for the President & CEO, 2) effective internal collaboration across the growing national uAspire team and 3) forward momentum on key projects of strategic importance to uAspire’s efforts to grow with quality.

This position requires a highly organized and driven individual who is an effective coordinator of processes, projects, and groups. S/He will possess the strong interpersonal and communication skills required to interact effectively with a broad range of stakeholders, including uAspire colleagues, funders, and key programmatic partners. S/He will have a proven ability to deliver high-quality work and ensure the timely completion of tasks and deliverables in a collaborative environment. This is a demanding and exciting position, and the successful applicant will understand and receive great satisfaction from the importance of capacity-building work that enables people, programs, and organizations to achieve new heights. This position will report directly to the President of uAspire.

Key Responsibilities:

Administrative Support

  • Build the capacity of the President and CEO by managing their calendars, travel bookings, reimbursements, and other administrative functions.
  • Draft key internal and external communications on behalf of President and CEO
  • Coordinate details (logistics, content, preparation) for key meetings, including internal all-staff meetings and retreats, Leadership Team meetings and retreats, and meetings with external stakeholders
  • Identify and implement new systems and technology solutions to enhance the organization’s ability to operate more efficiently and collaborate more effectively
  • Assess the effectiveness of select current internal operating systems and develop and implement recommendations for improvement
  • Manage multiple projects across the organization at one time ensuring effective communication, calendar and task management, and leveraging of internal and external resources
  • Work closely with the Impact & Innovation Team and the organizational Leadership Team to strategize on and carry forward initiatives of key importance to the organization

Qualifications

  • Postsecondary degree required; Bachelor’s degree preferred
  • Belief in and adherence to uAspire’s Organizational Values – Student-Centered, Excellent, Dedicated,
  • Collaborative, and Systems-Focused – required
  • High degree of professionalism, tact, initiative and diplomacy
  • Ability to manage confidential and sensitive information with discretion
  • High level of flexibility and adaptability required
  • Extreme attention to detail and commitment to high-quality work, regardless of project or one’s role in it
  • High proficiency in Google Mail/Docs, and Microsoft Office Suite – Word, Excel, PowerPoint – required
  • Positive experience working in an entrepreneurial, non-profit setting highly desired
  • Advanced organizational skills with a proven ability to multi-task in an efficient and effective manner
  • Strong oral and written communications skills
  • Energetic, enthusiastic, and interested in learning within a growing, entrepreneurial organization
  • Personal growth mindset with a strong desire to develop as a professional
  • Ability to work flexible hours that will include some early morning, evenings and some weekends

Compensation: Salary commensurate with experience.

Applications: Applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to [email protected], Subject line:
Special Projects Manager