Career Center

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. All of which has allowed the UW to be nationally recognized as a “Great College to Work For” for four consecutive years.

For over 50 years, the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity (OMA&D) has advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Washington, a campus that sits on tribal land. Through our programs and partnerships, we create pathways for diverse populations to access postsecondary opportunities, nurture and support their academic success, and cultivate a campus climate that enriches the educational experience for all. This legacy of work continues to drive excellence at the UW and together, we help the university work toward its vision for becoming a more just and equitable campus community. More information about the Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity is available at https://www.washington.edu/omad/.

Within OMAD is the College Access unit that implements programs focused on expanding access for underserved communities by partnering with K-12 school districts, two-year colleges, and community coalitions. The Washington Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program is housed within the College Access unit.

Launched more than 40-years ago, Washington MESA is one of the 11 “MESA States” in the national MESA USA network . Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) is nationally recognized for its innovative and effective academic development program. MESA engages thousands of educationally disadvantaged students, so they excel in math and science and graduate with STEM degrees. MESA partners with all segments of higher education as well as 6-12 institutions.


As a statewide organization, WA MESA is committed to building pathways to careers in science, technology, engineering& mathematics (STEM) for traditionally underrepresented minority (URM) students, including women, Native Americans/AlaskaNatives, African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders. WA MESA supports six (6) regional MESA 6 -12Centers geographically placed throughout the state of Washington to coordinate and deliver STEM-focused programs and services to middle and high school students. In partnership with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges(SBCTC), MESA Community College Programs (MCCP) are housed within twelve (12) of the 34 community colleges in Washington. Through high-impact services and programming, MCCP Centers seek to accelerate the number of historically underrepresented community college students on their STEM career pathway. More information about WA MESA is available at https://depts.washington.edu/wamesa/.

We are seeking an Executive Assistant III to provide executive secretarial and administrative support to the Executive Director, including managing the Executive Director’s schedule and workflow, reviewing and prioritizing email, mail, and other forms of communication, planning, organizing, and preparing agendas, minutes, and reports. The Executive Assistant III is essential to ensuring that the WA MESA’s office is responsive to internal and external stakeholders’ needs. We are looking for a talented individual who works well under pressure and have a demonstrated exceptional ability to collaborate and communicate effectively.

Executive support

• Act as confidential liaison between the Executive Director and the full range of internal and external individuals and offices with whom the ED relates: staff, advisory board members, K – 12 and MCCP Directors, staff, teachers, industry partners, community groups, etc. Exercise a high degree of professional judgment in communicating with all parties.
•Manage the Executive Director’s email, reviewing all email and routing and/or delegating as appropriate, ensuring ED is aware of all matters requiring his attention. Independently draft and send email messages from the ED, using his voice and style.
•Maintains the Executive Director’s calendar, arranges, and schedules all meetings both off and on campus
•Arranges travel to and from meetings with center directors, utilizing UCAR or travel agency
•Coordinates Executive Director visits, high-level receptions, and other special events; manage special events budgets and vendor contracts; coordinate schedules and assist with presentation details; ensure Executive Director is supported, and handle any problems that arise.
•Leads/provides support for WA MESA Days as well as other K -12 or MCCP events scheduled throughout the year. Responsibilities include managing travel. event budget, agenda participants, organizing volunteers, coordinating with leadership to establish an event theme, outreach and marketing, and day-of-event troubleshooting.
•Maintains WA MESA centers, responsible administrators, fiscal support, and WA MESA Advisory Board member listservs and written directories and acts as the primary contact for written correspondences. Drafts press releases and public service announcements.
•Serve as liaison between the Executive Director and other universities’ responsible administrators, UW faculty and staff, and WA MESA staff.
•Communicate on behalf of the Executive Director with MESA USA and other MESA state organizations and national organizations.
•Prepare and review power point presentations, documents, records, or reports
•Type, proofread and edit the content of documents and presentation materials.
•Follow and/or update WA MESA branding guidelines on all correspondence and documents.
•Compose, sign, and release correspondence on behalf of the Executive Director.

Board liaison

•Prepare quarterly WA MESA advisory board financial report power point presentations
•Serves as the primary contact between advisory board members and the board committees.
•Coordinates quarterly meetings, arranges venues and refreshments, assists Executive Director, chair and vice-chair with developing an agenda, compiles board reports, maintains accurate minutes including Robert’s Rules of Order, summarizes, edits, and distributes advisory board minutes within seven days after the meeting
•Updates WA MESA Advisory board by-laws and/or board orientation
documents.
•Maintains a working knowledge of the advisory board bylaws.
•Other board liaison duties as assigned.

Fiscal Support and Office Management

•Assist with WA MESA Sharepoint sites, including routing, invoicing, and payment.
•Prepare and update WA MESA scholarship application.
•Assist scholarship committee with the recipient selection process.
•Communicate with scholarship recipient for information to pay institutions directly.
•Establish office and administrative systems and procedures and analyze current workflows and practices to ensure WA MESA compliance with the University of
Review bank accounts, update real-time expenses, check ProCard, and process
various payment requests.
•Maintain Executive Director’s and WA MESA staff expenditures and budgeted
allocations. Washington policies and external regulations.
•Serve as budget liaison and reconciliation support between WA MESA, Executive Director, and OMAD fiscal staff.
•Review bank accounts, update real-time expenses, check ProCard, and process various payment requests.
•Maintain Executive Director’s and WA MESA staff expenditures and budgeted allocations.
•Coordinate, schedule, and take minutes for WA MESA staff or leadership meetings.
•Use project management skills to work closely with the executive director and WA MESA staff on projects or tasks that have a high impact and are broadly
visible, keeping teams and projects on schedules.
•Follow through on items routed to other offices for a response, keeping the executive director apprised, as appropriate.
•Manage the Office of executive director including coordinating, reviewing, and recommending and implementing revisions to office procedures.
•Independently write and edit correspondence, field inquiries and internal and external questions on behalf of the executive director.
•Schedules one on one meetings with ED’s direct reports; follows up with minutes of meeting and discussion; schedules an annual evaluation as well as annual job description review.
•Responsible for keeping financial documents organized and in a safe location.
Follow small cash handling procedures.
•Serve as point of contact for vendors and/or consultants to ensure timely payment and execution as well as evaluation of services.
•Supervise temporary staff.

Requirements:

Requires High School/GED AND four years of office or administrative support experience OR equivalent education/experience.

Desired:

•Three years’ experience as an assistant to a senior administrator in a university, business, or agency setting.
•Exceptional administrative, project management, and organizational skills.
•Highly accurate and organized with high attention to detail.
•Interpersonal skills with a professional yet accessible demeanor to represent the Executive Director independently in person, on the phone, or in written communications.
•Proven ability to handle sensitive situations and highly confidential information with tact, discretion, and diplomacy.
•Ability to work as a team and interact well with persons of diverse backgrounds at all levels of the university and the community.
•Demonstrated skills in writing, proofreading, and communications; ability to interpret and communicate complex policies to others.
•Ability to work independently with minimal supervision, manage priorities, work efficiently, handle multiple projects with tight deadlines, problem solve, and exercise good judgment in a dynamic environment.
•Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), Sharepoint, SLACK, Zoom, UW Financial and Workday systems, Qualtrics, and other databases.