Area or Building Administrative Assistants
Area or Building Administrative Assistants report to the appropriate Area Chair although many of the duties described below involve the department and program chair. Department and program chairs should refer problems and conflicts to the Area Chair and serve as an intermediary between department faculty and the assistant.
Faculty Administrative Assistants are to provide support for the academic endeavors of individual faculty, departments, areas, and in some cases, special programs such as The Engaged Citizen and the Steel Center. Academic endeavors include the work of the faculty in teaching, advising, preparing recommendations for students, professional development, grant management, and committee work; of departments/programs in budget management and capital outlay requests, course scheduling, curriculum development, maintaining student records as appropriate, meeting scheduling, recruiting, and assessment; of areas (where appropriate) in faculty evaluation and the other work of the Area Chair; and of special programs, in scheduling speakers, etc. They are also expected to manage their own offices, including supervising student workers, ordering supplies as necessary, managing and prioritizing the work load, maintaining office machines in good working order, responding to inquiries and requests from students, other faculty and staff, and off-campus constituencies, as appropriate, and to make sure new faculty are properly oriented to the operations of the office and their individual offices adequately furnished.
Unless otherwise specified, their salaries are based on 10-month annual appointments, beginning August 1 and ending May 31, and their holidays during the academic year are limited to those in which all offices are closed. Additionally, four or five days in early January are added to the winter break closing schedule for these staff. Those four or five days are added back to their schedule at the beginning of June.
For 2018, the work schedule is as follows:
January 2018 – Four Days
First four days of staff schedule: M8 – T9 – W10 – Th11
Area/building assistants return: F12
First day of classes: T16
June 2018 – Four Days
Original last day for area/building assistants: May 31
Area/building assistants remain: F1 – M4 – T5 – W6
For 2019, the work schedule is as follows:
January 2019 – Five Days
First five days of staff schedule: M7 – T8 – W9 – Th10 – F11
Area/building assistants return: M14
First day of classes: T15
June 2019 – Five Days
Original last day for area/building assistants: May 31
Area/building assistants remain: M3 – T4 – W5 – Th6 - F7
As non-exempt, 10-month employees, they do not accrue vacation leave or personal leave days. Each year at the beginning of August, 48 hours of sick leave are assigned to these staff. Those hours, if unused, expire at the end of the academic year. Their hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with an hour for lunch (adjustments may be made for that portion of the year when summer hours are in effect), for a total of 40 hours per week. These times may be adjusted out of necessity, but they cannot work more than 40 hours in any given week.
Assistants are not expected to grade student work, to perform work for faculty or staff that is not related to their professional responsibilities, to provide assistance for individual faculty projects that preclude performing routine work serving larger numbers of faculty or students, or to run personal errands.
Work such as photocopying for classes should be submitted at least 24 hours before needed. Larger projects that involve more than photocopying, such as preparing grant applications, manuscripts, or brochures, should be submitted at least a week before they are needed. Longer lead time may be required during hours of peak demand, as for instance in the spring when class schedules and budgets are due. Faculty should consult with assistants ahead of time to make sure their work can be completed in a timely fashion. In cases of competing priorities, assistants should consult with the appropriate Area Chair for assistance in resolving conflicts.
Faculty are reminded that while the assistants’ offices are of necessity high traffic areas, they are also the assistants’ work spaces, and should not be thought of as general gathering places for casual conversation. Note the new policy about staff evaluation as described in an earlier section.
Department/Staff Employees
Some departments hire staff employees such as lab managers. The department chair is the supervisor of these employees and should work with Human Resources to comply with all appropriate personnel policies. A copy of the Staff Handbookcontaining these policies can be obtained from Human Resources. The hiring of such employees should be coordinated with the Provost’s Office and Human Resources. Note the new policy about staff evaluation as described in an earlier section.
Student Employees
Student Assistants for research, secretarial, laboratory, or clerical work are provided through the work study programs administered by the Office of Financial Aid, subject to limitations of budget and student availability.
There are two types of work study programs available on the Hendrix campus: Federal Work Study (FWS) and the Hendrix Work Program (HWP). No student will be allowed to work until a fully completed hiring packet is on file with Financial Aid office. Direct students to www.hendrix.edu/getworkstudy for more information and to download the packet.
Federal Work Study eligibility is based on financial need as determined through the FAFSA. Students who qualify for FWS will have this award indicated on their financial aid award notification. The maximum award for this program is $2,000 for the year. Students may not work in excess of their awarded amount. The departmental budget is charged for 100% of the wages earned under this program.
Students who do not qualify for Federal Work Study may be hired through the Hendrix Work Program. Any student eligible to work in the U.S. may qualify for this program. The number of hours the student works depends upon the department’s budget and the agreed upon work schedule. The departmental budget is charged for 100% of the wages earned under this program.
Students approved for Federal Work Study (FWS) should receive hiring priority for two important reasons: FWS students demonstrate true need over Hendrix Work Program students, and the College is required to spend its FWS allotment, or else it may be decreased. If no FWS student meets the criteria or needs of a supervisor, then an HWP student can be hired.
To hire a work study student, job descriptions must be listed online through “Hire Hendrix.” More information can be found at www.hendrix.edu/hireworkstudy. Please consult with your department chair or area assistant for the full policy and guidelines.
Hire Hendrix (hereafter HH) is the College’s online job and internship posting board. Using HH as the centralized location for work study listings ensures job-seeking students have access to opportunities, as well as visually showing students the number and variety of work study positions that exist. This new hiring procedure should dramatically decrease the amount of paperwork for hiring a work study student, pushing most steps to pre-existing online capabilities.
In person, step-by-step training will be available for all faculty/staff who hire work study students. There will also be ‘live’ help available from the Media Center’s Help Desk as well as handouts for further reference and use after training.
Federal Work Study (FWS) students should receive hiring priority for two important reasons:
1) FWS eligible students demonstrate true need over Hendrix Work Program students, and
2) the College is required to spend its FWS allotment, or else it may be decreased.
If no FWS student meets the criteria or needs of a supervisor, then an HWP student can be hired.
SUPERVISOR Information:
- ALL work study positions must be posted on Hire Hendrix for a minimum of 5 days.
- Supervisor completes online job posting through HH including budget code.
- Supervisor interviews applicants and selects student to hire; directs hired student to Campus Web where student downloads, completes and turns in paperwork to Financial Aid office.
- Supervisor submits hired student via Hendrix Website ( www.hendrix.edu/HireWorkStudy).
- Once online form and Financial Aid student hiring packet are completed in full, Financial Aid creates time card in Campus Web and supervisor/student are both notified to begin work. Students MAY NOT begin working until this notification.
- Through HH, job postings have ‘free text’ areas that can be used to specify necessary skills, qualifications, class/lab pre-requisites, preferred schedules, how/when/ where to apply, etc.
Notes:
- Once a position is posted, it never needs re-posting! Supervisors can simply re-activate when they need to hire a new worker, and can edit the position as necessary.
- For the first year, all supervisors will complete job postings regardless of whether they are hiring or not. Those that have already selected students will go through step 3-5 without having to interview, etc.
- Supervisors absolutely still have the freedom to select the best student for work study needs. If no FWS approved student meets the job criteria, a Hendrix Work Program student can be hired.