Career Center

POSITION PURPOSE

The Community Director (CD) serves as educator and role model while assisting students in their efforts to make full use of the opportunities available to them at the College. The CD is responsible for all aspects of the supervision, administration, and community development for a number of residential facilities. They will also be assigned special projects and provide leadership and mentoring for other Residence Life and Housing professional and student staff. The CD will report to the Associate Dean of Students: Campus Life.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES

Supervision

• Supervise a team of paraprofessional Resident Assistants.
• Present and facilitate training and leadership development opportunities.
• Provide ongoing team building and build a sense of group support and learning for your staff.
• Provide mentoring and assistance to Resident Directors (RDs).

Community Development and Programming

• Develop strategic goals for learning and development within residential spaces.
• Arrange and facilitate social and academic events and programs.
• Advise student group programming.
• Act as a resource for residents requesting program information.
• Organize programming around alcohol and drug education.
• Build a residential environment where residents respect others’ rights and maintain a safe and secure community atmosphere.
• Assist the Associate Dean of Students for Campus Life/Director of Residence Life and Housing with assigning and advising projects for other staff in the area.

Counseling and Referral

• Be generally available to residents and communicate effectively with students, staff, and faculty.
• Be supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices to best support community members.
• Counsel students concerning personal college concerns and refer to other resources when appropriate.
• Respond to student wellbeing concerns, including those referred through the College’s Care Team, and keep clear records in the College’s care network platform.
• Participate in an on-call rotation to assist other junior professional staff in the event of a crisis or unexpected significant concern.

Administration

• Inform residents of College functions, resources, and beneficial off-campus agencies.
• Attend CD/RD team meetings and facilitate student staff  meetings.
• Open and close the hall at each vacation period. Collect and report information on hall maintenance problems.
• Maintain accurate and current hall records, including weekly logs, floor plans, key check-out and inventory, space scheduling, expenditure accounts, incident reports, damage reports, and room condition reports.
• Keep the Residence Life and Housing Office informed as to all room changes and change requests.
• Interpret and enforce College policy in residential spaces.
• Meet with students about student conduct violations when instructed to do so.
• Be responsive to communications including emails in a timely manner.
• Serve on campus committees as requested.
• Represent the College to parents and guests.

BENEFITS

Whitman College offers a competitive benefits program that is designed to attract qualified candidates and retain talented employees. Full-time employees enjoy the following benefits:

Medical/Dental/Vision Insurances.
Basic life, accidental death and dismemberment and long term disability insurances with the capability to elect additional voluntary coverage.
403(b) Defined Contribution Retirement Plan with a 10% matching contribution after eligibility requirements are met.
Paid Time Off: 20 accrued vacation days, 12 accrued sick days, 13 paid holidays.
Tuition Remission – Dependent Children
Employee tuition waiver for one Whitman course per semester.
Employee Assistance Program

Learn more about benefits eligibility here. 

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE SKILLS & ABILITIES

Must be able to explain and/or demonstrate possession of the knowledge, skills, and abilities to safely perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation. Specifically,

• Ability to support and advance the core goals of diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism.
• Ability to build community among residential undergraduate college students.
• Ability to stay organized, set attainable goals, and complete projects. Ability to facilitate team building, present training material, and speak to large groups
• Ability to be flexible and comfortable with ambiguity.
• Ability to communicate clearly on difficult topics while being emotionally intelligent.
• Ability to manage email and text communications and respond in a timely manner.
• Ability to both work independently and in a team-focused educational environment.  

PREFERRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Experience implementing evaluation surveys, collecting data, and analyzing results.
• Experience presenting to groups and leading trainings.
• Knowledge of Student Development Theory.
• Experience with diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism programming, theories, or analysis.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree
• 2+ years of post college professional experience in higher education.
• Experience working with undergraduate residential college communities.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s Degree in college student affairs, higher education administration, counseling, or a related field.

About Whitman College

Located in the historic community of Walla Walla, Whitman’s vibrant and beautiful tree-lined campus is home to an intellectually diverse, dynamic, welcoming and supportive community of some 500 staff and faculty serving approximately 1,500 students from the local region and across the globe.  With exceptional students, accomplished faculty and staff, and a fiercely loyal and growing number of engaged alumni, Whitman College continues to build on its national reputation for academic excellence as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country.  

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