Executive Assistant – Academic Dean

PRINCIPIA

Executive Administrator to the Dean of Academics managing daily operations and serving as strategic thought partner. Supporting the academic unit at Principia with effective administrative practices.

Posted 6/30/2026full-timeElsah • Illinois • 🇺🇸 United StatesMid-LevelSenior💰 $66,500 - $79,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Spring

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Oversees and manages all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the Office of the Dean of Academics, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in all processes, including:
Serves as the initial point of contact for the Office of the Dean of Academics to both internal and external constituencies
Acts as the primary liaison between the office, Center Directors, and HR for hiring and onboarding new and visiting faculty, managing secondary contracts and stipends, and supporting the completion of the faculty annual evaluation process.
Manages budgets for the dean's office, serving as a proxy on all budgets within the Academic Unit; reviews all budgets monthly for the Dean of Academics; and coordinates budget requests that require a purchase requisition when appropriate
Manages temporary staff who support the office, including student employees and adult hourly employees
Tracks due dates and deadlines for dean’s office action items; creating/maintaining faculty due dates calendar
Ensures internal office policies and procedures are current, monitors and maintains the Dean of Academics' internal website so that it is current
Tracks all hiring paperwork and processes for the academic unit
Responsible for maintaining accurate faculty lists, files, internal data, and Banner information
Provides executive support to Dean of Academics, including:
Manages Dean of Academics’ calendars and travel arrangements
Prepares correspondence and campus-wide announcements from the dean, reviews the dean’s correspondence, and makes edits and recommendations
Prepares slide decks and presentations on behalf of the Dean of Academics, for internal and external audiences
Attends meetings and takes minutes; ensures that deans have necessary documents for meetings
Coordinates regularly with the EAs for the College President and Chief Executive, and may support the Office of the College President when their EA is unavailable or on leave, as appropriate
May mentor or support the development of Executive Assistants within the institution, as appropriate
Provides strategic support to Dean of Academics including:
Serves as strategic thought partner for Dean of Academics, proactively identifying challenges and developing solutions to enhance the effectiveness of the Academic Unit
Develops and implements processes and procedures for the Academic Unit on behalf of the Dean of Academics, improving Academic Unit effectiveness and efficiency
Manages the visiting faculty hiring process, including collection of department applications, analysis of course requests across the academic unit, makes recommendation to the Dean of Academics, makes offer to candidates, and coordinates onboarding process with relevant offices
Supports the Dean of Academics in collaboration with Center Directors in analyzing course needs for the Academic Unit, such as supporting course cancellation process, FTE proposals, and special projects
Serves as central point of communication between Dean of Academics and members of the Academic Unit
Prepares agendas for meetings; tracks action items developed in meetings and ensures their timely completion
Manages and executes special projects, ongoing projects, and events, including:
Plans, coordinates, and implements special events hosted by the Dean of Academics' office
Collaborates with the President’s office on the planning and execution of Fall Convocation and Commencement ceremonies and rehearsals.
Coordinates special projects (Annenberg scholars, visiting consultants, program reviewers, etc.)
Manages the College’s annual academic calendar approval review/process
Manages logistics and development of the faculty/academic staff workshops, including any related meeting space reservations, catering, and supporting materials, developing agendas, coordinating with invited presenters
Oversees the setup and collection of all syllabi each term through the online syllabi software program
Creates and manages the administration of the online course evaluation software each term
Oversees and executes annual College Awards Ceremony, which requires up to 20 hours/week during Spring semester and beginning of Summer: Coordinates collection of all student and faculty awards
Manages all awards budgets and collaborates with Advancement staff on any funds and awards that require stewardship
Executes all aspects of awards ceremony, including scheduling, invitation to awardees and awards donors, developing the ceremony script, ordering awards, etc.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Student of Christian Science
Supportive of Principia’s guiding statements as articulated here https://www.principia.edu/about/guiding-statements
Bachelor’s degree, or 3-5 years of related administrative experience
6+ years of administrative experience with track record of progressively responsible roles in administrative positions
Comfortable with managing unanticipated urgent demands with confidentiality and discretion.
Demonstrated capacity to manage priorities in a fast-paced environment, working independently, using good judgment and creative problem-solving to anticipate and handle issues that arise and may need the dean’s attention.
Demonstrated strong relationship-building skills.
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Demonstrated organizational and general computer skills, including proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, internet, Outlook email, scheduling, and others; demonstrated ability to learn and work with new software programs.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Generous Employee Tuition Discount: Enjoy a 90% discount on tuition (pro-rated for part-time staff) for your eligible children enrolled from Pre-K3 through College (infant and acorn programs excluded).
Relocation: Principia provides a relocation reimbursement of up to 12% of your annual salary when moving from outside a radius of more than 50 miles
Professional Development: Access to learning opportunities, training programs, and career growth support.
Comprehensive Benefits : Learn more about all our benefits here , including comprehensive health, dental, and vision plans, paid time off, a 403(b) retirement plan with Principia matching, and more.

ATS Keywords

✓ Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools

Budget ManagementFaculty Hiring ProcessesEvent CoordinationProject ManagementData Management

Soft Skills

Problem-SolvingDiscretionIndependenceCreativityConfidentiality