Administrative Coordinator

SCHOOL/UNIT DESCRIPTION:

This is a hybrid position based on Stanford’s main campus at least three days per week, with the remaining two days per week telecommuting; this hybrid schedule is subject to operational need and may change in the future as directed by the position’s supervisor. 

The Geballe Lab for Advanced Materials (GLAM) is a transdisciplinary Independent Laboratory within the Office of the Vice Provost & Dean of Research (VPDoR), which spearheads innovative and high-impact research in bio-inspired materials, sustainable energy and manufacturing, quantum science and engineering, and electronic and magnetic systems. With 30 faculty and ~250 students, postdocs, and scientific staff across six departments – primarily Physics, Applied Physics, and Materials Science & Engineering – GLAM’s research portfolio is large, complex, and highly-heterogeneous, involving strong relationships with many Stanford academic and administrative units, SLAC, and federal and non-federal sponsors. As GLAM gradually expands its community-led programming for interdisciplinary collaboration, it relies upon 16 high-performing administrative staff to comprehensively support its researchers, visitors, and campus partners.

Our VPDoR Diversity Journey:

• We create a hub of innovation through the power of diversity of disciplines and people.
• We provide equitable access and opportunity to all members of the community in order to do their best work, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
• We listen to and value all colleagues who bring diverse perspectives to the advancement and development of a respectful community. 
• We promote a culture of belonging, equity, and safety.
• We embed these values in excellence of education, research, and operation.

POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to GLAM’s Associate Director, with a dotted-line reporting structure to approximately seven faculty appointed across the Departments of Materials Science & Engineering, Physics, and Applied Physics, the Administrative Coordinator (Administrative Associate 3) will support a highly-ambitious and -active portfolio of experimental research groups, including ~7 faculty, ~5 staff scientists, ~20 postdocs, ~50 graduate students, ~5 undergraduate and high school interns, and external faculty-level visitors. This position will provide a heterogeneous suite of administrative support services to ensure that researchers are able to focus their time on research excellence and collaboration, which will regularly involve processing a large quantity of financial transactions, scheduling travel and meetings with diplomacy, conducting advanced budget plans and accounting analyses, troubleshooting policy and communications transactions, planning special academic and social events, and contributing to complex procurement and programming activities within the larger GLAM organization. The Administrative Coordinator is a meaningful contributor to GLAM’s ever-evolving identity as an interdisciplinary unifier and incubator.

This is a special opportunity for an administrative professional who wishes to deploy and develop their skills in advanced organization, financial management, inclusive communications, and emotionally-intelligent collaboration. It is also an opportunity to join a high-performing and interdependent administrative team united in their commitment to faculty support, research excellence, and community development. Success in this role will chiefly be measured by overall faculty satisfaction with the comprehensive administrative support that they receive across the core duties defined below, as well as the incumbent’s commitment to a growth mindset, self-reflection, customer service, accuracy, and efficiency.

CORE DUTIES:

Faculty Administrative Support (70%)

• Serve as the first and primary administrative point of contact for researchers (faculty, staff scientists, postdocs, students, interns, and visitors) within assigned lab groups; with great independence and authority, embark on small and large projects as directed by researchers, most often connected to procurement, travel and meeting scheduling, appointment processing, space management, and academic event planning. Do whatever is possible to save faculty time, reduce the cost of doing research, and optimize efficiency in how faculty navigate a large, complex, and decentralized university.
• Route questions, concerns, and general information from researchers across GLAM and the university, including requests for fixes and improvements to GLAM’s physical spaces, needs for procurement within GLAM’s sponsored projects and/or general operations, rebudgets and cost policy analysis via federal and non-federal sponsored projects, desk reassignments, troubleshooting appointments and HR transactions, and a heterogeneous variety of other tasks associated with GLAM facilities and administration. Track the ebb and flow of information to ensure that all affected parties are sufficiently knowledgeable about timelines and that they feel fully supported.
• Compose and draft documents and correspondence for presentations, course handouts, grants, conferences, seminars, and reports; perform substantial editing and fact checking. Create, maintain, modify, and/or ensure accuracy of content in various unit documents, displays, reports, brochures, social media, and/or websites. 
• Coordinate travel plans and itineraries for faculty, postdocs, and students in a manner that promotes the best use of time and minimizes potential travel issues.
• Welcome new researchers to the GLAM community, involving emotionally-intelligent communications and orienting incoming members to the range of administrative and facilities services available to them. In close coordination with the Manager and Senior Coordinator of Academic Affairs, ensure each group member’s timely appointment and correct labor schedule for optimal Payroll and HR support. 
• Schedule faculty calendars for meetings, which will involve confidential communications with internal and external constituents with varying degrees of complexity and sensitivity.

Procurement, Accounting & Data Analysis (10%)

• Process financial transactions, including reimbursement requests, Purchasing Card (Pcard) and Travel Card (Tcard) expenses, Purchase Order initiation, fund and expense transfers, and other financial processes. This position will be the cardholder and custodian for the assigned research groups’ Pcards and Tcards, and must keep abreast of all university and federal policies pertaining to permissible expenses, timely reconciliation, and confidentiality.
• Support faculty in distributing postdoc and student salaries and other support across available financial accounts, ensuring that existing and prospective group members can be supported in the current year and in as-needed subsequent years of their term. Working closely with the Manager and Senior Coordinator of Academic Affairs, prepare various financial and student affairs documents to process each appointment and gather requisite university-level approvals. 
• Maintain, reconcile, review, combine, and validate financial data sets and accounts, utilizing financial reports, financial databases, and key financial information.
• Run and analyze financial reports as directed by faculty and/or GLAM leadership, often from multiple systems, and complete data assimilation, clean-up, and reformatting work to ensure that finalized reports fully align with requests.
• With other administrative staff, provide as-needed support and cross-coverage for GLAM’s common areas to ensure a vibrant, welcoming, and clean physical space for 300+ researchers and administrative staff. Service GLAM’s espresso machines and dishwasher, order supplies (coffee beans, teas, holding containers, pens, paper towels, cups, etc.), and maintain an ongoing and ever-complex inventory of shared operational supplies. Conceptualize new policies and communications designed to enable equitable sharing of GLAM’s common areas, and recommend small and large improvements to the Associate Director and peer colleagues.
• Serve as GLAM’s primary point-of-contact for the Primo Water service of five hot- and cold-water filtration devices across the McCullough Building. Oversee contract management and compliance with timely payment, troubleshoot hardware issues as reported by GLAM community members, and make recommendations to the Associate Director for general improvement of GLAM’s drinking water program. 
• Serve as GLAM’s primary point-of-contact for the Iron Mountain service of document shredding and disposal services across the McCullough Building. Oversee contract management and compliance with timely payment, troubleshoot hardware and pick-up issues as reported by GLAM community members, and make recommendations to the Associate Director for general improvement of GLAM’s confidential document shredding service. 

Event Planning, Policy Communications & Special Projects (20%)

• Coordinate, organize, and manage complex academic conferences and seminars, including procuring vendor services; attendee accommodations, oversee distribution of print and digital materials, organize and manage logistics, and manage events within budget. Report progress and post-event outcomes to faculty and administrative leadership, and proactively relay operational recommendations to continuously improve upon existing programs to increase the utility for and positive impact to researchers.
• Serve as one of GLAM’s primary repositories for knowledge about the full spectrum of Stanford’s procurement policies, including the appropriate and best methods for procurement (e.g. purchase orders, credit cards, reimbursements), travel, and distributing prospective costs across sponsored and non-sponsored accounts. Working closely with the Associate Director, Assistant Director of Research & Finance, and Senior Grants Manager, navigate financial policies as-needed and draft simple communications to orient and inform the full GLAM community about financial best practices. 
• Co-administer GLAM’s Inclusion Committee focused on facilitating community dialogue across the axes of intersectional identity and anti-bias regarding people and generally-accepted operating procedures. As directed by the Committee members, plan and execute events, draft communications documents, prepare agendas and other briefing information, and project manage tasks to overall completion and success.
• Continuously analyze and critique existing financial policies implemented by GLAM and the larger university, and work closely and diplomatically with the Associate Director in collaborating with the appropriate policy-guardians in potentially changing policies and/or developing work-around solutions that are in the best interest of GLAM and its researchers.
• As directed by all GLAM researchers - and explicitly approved by the Associate Director - undertake special projects to troubleshoot systems-level inefficiencies or blockages in GLAM’s procurement activities, including submitting Help Desk Tickets, meeting with VPDoR’s Finance team, drafting executive-level correspondences, and tracking project progress to completion. 
• Serve as GLAM’s primary point-of-contact for Stanford’s Sustainability Office to coordinate waste and recycling programs, experiment with new environmental initiatives, and communicate opportunities for energy conservation and community service. In general, support GLAM in its current and potential future efforts to reduce its environmental impact and conserve natural resources. 
• Other duties as assigned by assigned faculty, GLAM Faculty Director, or GLAM Associate Director.