ASSISTANT TO THE CHAIR - University of Washington

Req #: 239930 Department: UROLOGY Posting Date: 10/18/2024 Closing Info: Open Until Filled Salary: $7,000 - $8,000 per month Shift: First Shift Notes: As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here. (https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-20230701\_a11y.pdf) As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills, and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world. UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty. **The Department of Urology has an outstanding opportunity for an Assistant to the Chair to join their team.** **POSITION PURPOSE** This position provides executive support for the Chair of the Department of Urology and has overall responsibility for the administration of events management and advancement activities that reside in the department. This position provides executive support for the Chair of the Department of Urology and reports to the Chair of the Department with a matrixed reporting relationship to the Vice Chair of Finance and Administration for the Department of Urology. The Chair has a busy clinical practice and robust research and teaching duties and are the Principle Investigator on multiple grants and contracts. The department is active in development of philanthropic relationships that result in strong endowment basis for urological research. Consequently, the individual filling this position must be able to assist the Chair with duties outside of the Department and outside of the University, including independently staffing major initiatives and committees, often at the request of the Dean of the School of Medicine. **POSITION COMPLEXITIES** In addition to the duties required to run the Department, the Chair of the Department of Urology has a national and international professional reputation. They traditionally sit on many national boards and committees. The Chair is often appointed by the Dean of the School of Medicine to head major initiatives within the School of Medicine and the University in general. Given the large scope of the Chair's position, this individual has a highly complex job. This position must manage the multiple facets of the Chair's office, balancing each aspect with precision and sensitivity as well as absolute discretion. The individual filling this position must be able to assist the Chair with all duties in regard to their clinical practice, research and teaching duties. This will include relationships inside the Department, outside of the Department and outside of the University. This Assistant to the Chair must maintain strong adherence to/support of department mission. They are privy to highly sensitive information including, but not limited to, physician salaries and physician disciplinary issues. Being privy to "sensitive" information means knowing when and to whom to talk about issues and when to maintain the strictest confidences. It also means having a level of professionalism and maturity to "know" information and to manage that knowledge professionally, i.e., that knowledge does not affect judgment, activities or attitude toward individuals. This position will have considerable positional power and must exercise excellent judgment in this regard. The Assistant to the Chair is regularly called upon to thoroughly understand and interpret Departmental, School of Medicine and University policy for faculty and staff. They must be comfortable and able to speak for the Chair in their absence on matters within the scope of their position. They must have the absolute confidence and trust of the Chair and must regularly exercise independent judgment in a variety of arenas. This is a senior support position within the Department and as such must act as an outstanding example for the other support staff. Additionally, this position will partner with other department members to assure a smooth, streamlined office administration and seamless processes for human resources, faculty affairs, graduate medical education initiatives, and fiscal staff. The individual must maintain strong adherence to/support of department mission. **POSITION DIMENSION AND IMPACT TO THE UNIVERSITY** The Department of Urology at the University of Washington's School of Medicine is recognized nationally and internationally for its excellent programs in clinical care, teaching and research. The Department includes 57 full-time faculty, 9 fellows, 20 residents, approximately 35 adjunct, affiliate, and courtesy faculty, and approximately 50 research and administrative/support staff. Faculty and staff are located at the University of Washington Medical Center Montlake Campus (UWMC-ML), and University of Washington Medical Center - Northwest Campus (UWMC-NW), Harborview Medical Center (HMC), The UW Medicine Men's Health Center at Roosevelt Clinic, Eastside Specialty Clinic (ESC), the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System (VA), Seattle Children's Hospital (SCH), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC) and the South Lake Union Research facility (SLU). The Urology Department collaborates with a variety of academic, federal and community partners and institutions providing expertise in urologic care. The quality of the Chair's leadership and, by extension, support for this position is a major factor in making and maintaining this Department's prominent position within the School of Medicine, within the nation and internationally. **POSITION DESCRIPTION** The individual in this position must display excellent contextual and strategic understanding of the priorities of the Chair's office and the Department and how these fit into the larger University. Additionally, this individual must exhibit excellent communication and interpersonal skills in many forms and contexts. **DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES** ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE CHAIRS OFFICE (50%) The individual in this position must accurately, sensitively and confidently manage the communication to and from the Chair's office, his time and schedule, the myriad requests coming to the Chair and the flow of information to and from the office. This skill set and duties as broken down as follows: **Schedule, Priority & Time Management:** + Assist in management of complex day-to-day schedule of Chair; including the management of signficant amounts of travel for the Chair + Consistently review schedule of Chair and triage requests for internal and external commitments appropriately, adjusting actions to fit changing priorities. These activities may include departmental commitments, UW Medicine Committees, Boards and initiatives, out of office meetings, appearances and speaking engagements + Plan and manage complex meetings, including meetings for those outside the Department + Understand the value and limitations of the Chair's time and prioritize demands accordingly. Manage administrative time of Chair through management of calendar, email, correspondence and routine actions. This includes complex day-to-day and long-range schedule planning. + Systematically and accurately set priorities and managing multiple priorities with ease and professionalism + Coordinate and support all meetings requested by the Chair, including: department faculty, scheduling annual merit reviews, and service chiefs meetings + Manage relationship with Chair's clinical staff and manage Chair's schedule around clinical, teaching and research duties + Ensure that the Chair is prepared for his meetings and events, including briefing materials and assure that all arrangements have been made accordingly **Information Management:** + Knowledgeably, accurately and sensitively draft, edit, finalize and publish complex public and confidential reports, correspondence and presentations on behalf of the Chair in a timely manner + Review, distribute & dispose of physical & electronic communications with acumen, timeliness and accuracy + Manage Chair dictation by assigning and/or personally processing + Anticipate and prepare Chair for meetings, including providing materials, assuring that arrangements have been made for meetings and that Chair is ready for his responsibility within the meeting + Manage faculty and personnel management processes that require Chair signatures and/or tracking + Organize file management & information retrieval systems **People/Relationship Management:** Interactions inspire confidence and trust from faculty, management, peers and staff inside and outside the department. + Anticipate and meet the needs of primary customers of the Chair's office (from department staff and faculty to leaders of international organizations from all over the world), while balancing the interests of all clients of the Chair's office + Balance interests of all clients of the Chair's office and readily adjusting priorities to meet pressing and changing customer demands; set routine priorities independently + Assure that the Chair's office is viewed in the highest possible light by demonstrating exceptional professionalism and dedication to excellence + Exercise sound professional judgment when using the positional power of the Chair's office + Work as a team with senior management staff and faculty working with external physicians, administrative officers and local and community leaders to ensure that the work of the Chair's office is completed smoothly and efficiently + Become expert at knowing who, how and when to loop in the appropriate people to solve issues; assuring the appropriate people/offices receive appropriate communications + Oversee planning and management of travel for guests of the Department **Financial Management:** + Manage travel expenses according to University regulations + Working knowledge of UW financial systems applicable to position, e.g., Workday + Analyze communications/media materials budgets (Newsletters / Brochures / Web based) and for various events, milestone events, faculty retreat, etc. Assure special events remain within budgeted limitation; approve relevant office purchasesOPERATIONS AND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT (25%)The individual in this position displays superb contextual and strategic understanding of the priorities of the Chair's office and the Department & how these fit into the larger University. Additionally, this individual must exhibit excellent communication and interpersonal skills in many forms and contexts. + Act as a confidential resource; successfully discriminating between mission critical and trivial information + Understand, interpret and appropriately apply requirements, regulations and policies related to the Department of Urology and the University + Recognize and independently solve issues and problems; knowing when and to whom to escalate issues + Effectively represent, when necessary, the Chair and acting on his behalf within scope of position + Understand Chair's clinical, educational & research priorities: successfully liaising with Chair's clinical and research staff; understand and promote working relationships with residents, ensuring that all receive timely and accurate information re. the Chair's schedule as necessary, to successfully perform their duties + Easily relate requests, questions etc. to priorities, policies & strategic direction of the Department and applying appropriate response + Understand and independently apply the "Need to Know" policy, balancing the need to keep information confidential, yet keep work flowing smoothly + Skillfully use techniques to diffuse difficult situations; acting as a calming influence in stressful situations + Communicate accurately, confidently, and skillfully in written or oral formats; applying appropriate etiquette to the communication situation + Develop/analyze policy; develop protocol policies for department website; interpret departmental, School of Medicine and University policy for faculty and staff; develop and administer surveysPROJECT MANAGEMENT (25%)The individual in this position is regularly responsible for organizing and managing projects of significant size and scope for the Chair's office. This individual must be able to manage projects in light of all other priorities and keep them on time, on task and on budget. Projects vary, but include independent organization and management of Department-wide programs and initiatives. + Oversee Department-wide or University-related events, which may include: lectureships; out-of-office functions that are connected to the Chair's professional commitments; monthly faculty meetings, annual faculty events, academic affairs, service chief meetings, department events, etc. + Assist in the organization and/or hosting of regional and national scientific meetings as requested by the Chair, including: solicitation of sponsorships, liaising with national organizations and negotiating vendor contracts + Provide staffing for school-wide committees when Chair functions as Committee Head + Coordinate and/or host endowed lecture events. This may include accommodations for the visiting professor/speaker, arranging a faculty dinner, Saturday morning lecture and/or resident case presentations + Manage patient education events: this includes organizing seminars for patients on urological topics, working with faculty to determine content and marketing the events + Act as the key contact for development activities (with UW Advancement) within the Chair's office; serve on the Chair's Development Team; Assist Chair with donor relations, outreach and community-relations projects; work with faculty and industry representatives on marketing and/or fundraising + Participate as a member of the internal advancement team and be the primary person to execute initiatives, projects and programs + Manage mentoring program for junior faculty including: assignments, planning events and monitoring needs of participants in program **MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS** + Bachelor's degree in a relevant academic field AND 2-3 years' experience in an administrative or assistant to executive position OR equivalent combination of education and experience **Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.** **ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS** + Demonstrated ability to manage concurrent, multiple projects under pressure of deadlines and changing priorities while remaining flexible + Experience with MS Office products including scheduling software, internet searches, graphics applications and desktop publishing + Excellent written and verbal communication and organizational skills + Ability to exercise discretion and confidentiality; exercise sound professional judgment; maintain a professional demeanor and appearance at all times + Demonstrated progressive career responsibility as it pertains to independent judgment and decision making authority + Ability to set routine priorities independently, keeping these on track and seeing to satisfactory conclusion tasks and requests **DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS** + Working knowledge of University policies and procedures, particularly relating to academic faculty + Experience working in an academic medical environment **CONDITITONS OF EMPLOYMENT** + At times of high productivity or project related work, flexibility in schedule will be required. This is to include: evening, early morning or weekends. **Application Process:** The application process may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select "Apply to this position". Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment, you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your "My Jobs" page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are access ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed. University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.