The Assistant Director of Academic-Residential Partnerships for Dining Engagement provides visible and strategic leadership to collaborate between Student Life, Academic Affairs, and Dining Services to achieve the university’s goal for engaging students, faculty, and staff with each other through dining experiences.

Elon University is in the midst of a robust campus-wide initiative to integrate the academic, residential, and social aspects of student life and the Assistant Director ensures that engagement through dining is an important element of that integration.

This position will serve as a resource for faculty and staff members to facilitate event planning and partnerships involving unique dining opportunities, identify opportunities to create dining-initiated events that enhance campus programs, and coordinate signature experiences such as College Coffee, Take a Student to Lunch, and the long tables in residential dining facilities. This is an exempt, 12-month position.

• Serve as a resource for faculty and staff members to facilitate event planning and create linkages between Dining Services and campus academic and administrative units
• Identify opportunities to create dining-initiated events, programs, or experiences that enhance cultural programs, heritage months, visiting speakers, and other university intellectual and cultural activities; work with Dining Services and other campus partners to implement these ideas
• Maintain strong relationships and meet regularly with leaders and staff of key administrative and academic units that contribute to the residential campus initiative, including but not limited to Residence Life, Dining Services, Auxiliary Services, Student Involvement, Cultural Programs, Core Curriculum, academic departments, and others
• Solicit and support student-initiated ideas and activities that enhance intellectual climate and contribute to the integration of academic, residential, and social aspects of student life, working closely with student organizations, including the Student Government Association, cultural groups, fraternities and sororities, and academic organizations
• Market “What is Dining Engagement” to the Elon Community and showcase the uniqueness of this position on a college campus

• • Promote, monitor and assess student, faculty, and staff usage of the “Take a Student to Lunch” and “Student Initiated Dining Engagement (SIDE) Swipes” programs
  • Coordinate and ensure a robust programming schedule for Life Around the Table and the dining engagement long tables in the residential dining halls
  • Coordinate the College Coffee program

• • Establish and monitor annual goals and measures of success for integrating dining, residential, and academic experiences
  • Allocate meal plans to faculty and staff serving in key roles with the residential neighborhoods (community directors, faculty directors, faculty-in-residence, graduate assistants, LLC advisors, linked course instructors, etc.) and monitor usage
  • Prepare documents and reports for projects, metrics, meetings and committees
  • Maintain and track budgets for programmatic events (TASTL, SIDES, College Coffee, etc.)

• • Serve as a member of the Residential Campus Advisory Committee
  • Participate upon invitation in meetings of various campus committees that contribute to intellectual climate and the residential campus initiative, including neighborhood associations, Student Life director meetings, joint deans council, academic affairs council, dining advisory committee, common reading committee, and others
  • Collaborate with the Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Campus Life, Director of Academic Initiatives for the Residential Campus, and Director of Auxiliary Services on strategic planning initiatives

• • Be available for occasional weekend or evening work related to student programs and events
  • Must have a valid North Carolina driver’s license and be insurable by the University’s carrier. Following a conditional offer of employment, Elon conducts motor vehicle record checks on all job applicants who are required to drive a university vehicle as an essential function of their job. Thereafter, a random motor vehicle record check will be conducted annually. Employment is contingent upon successfully passing a motor vehicle record check
  • Other duties assigned by the Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Campus Life, Director of Academic Initiatives for the Residential Campus, and Director of Auxiliary Services
  • Other duties as assigned

•  Bachelor’s degree required. Master’s degree is preferred.
• At least 2-3 years of post-baccalaureate experience preferred
• Experience with event planning, particularly on a college/university campus preferred
• Familiarity with living learning communities and residentially focused programming with faculty is preferred; experience working with faculty is preferred
• Familiarity with dining and catering programs, student life, and university academic culture. Experience working with these areas or with event planning is preferred
• Ability to interact effectively with a wide range of university constituencies, including students, university administrators, dining services staff, faculty and staff
• Demonstrated commitment to intellectual climate, civic engagement, and diversity
• Innovative, entrepreneurial, creative, self-directed, and collaborative
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Previous experience working with and providing programs for college students and student groups preferred