Charlottesville, VA

Position Title: Administrative Assistant

Organization: Institute for Engagement & Negotiation (IEN) at the University of Virginia

Location: Charlottesville, VA

Organization Overview: The IEN is a nationally recognized leader in fostering collaborative change across a broad range of issues through multi-agency and multi-stakeholder processes as well as through community outreach and engagement. Through its more than 40-year history, IEN has deep experience in developing, fostering, and facilitating environmental and other collaboratives, as well as conducting research into the nature of collaboration and developing recommendations for collaborative approaches. IEN offers exceptional knowledge, skills, and experience with the foundational elements of what makes collaboration successful in the environmental community. IEN’s mission – “Catalyze and facilitate the shared creation of equitable solutions for organizations, communities, and leaders through research, collaboration, and training” – reflects the continuous commitment to helping others address policy, planning, and place-based issues and challenges. They are dedicated to supporting collaborative, transparent, informed, and equitable decision-making processes.

Position Overview: The core focus of the Event & Training Programs Manager will be to work closely with IEN senior staff and the VNRLI Faculty team to coordinate and manage all aspects of VNRLI, now entering its 21st year, including the VNRLI Alumni network activities and events. VNRLI is a ninth-month program, with six sessions lasting three days each, that reflects the highest level of professionalism and sensitivity to participant needs, including attention to issues of environmental justice, systemic racism, and equity. It is a collaborative partnership between IEN, Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Virginia Department of Forestry and other state agencies. In addition, IEN also provides customized client-based trainings and workshops on topics such as principled negotiation, conflict management, consensus building, and collaborative governance. Now, after pivoting all of its trainings to the online virtual environment during COVID, IEN is developing a new series of trainings. Coordinating and managing these trainings will be a second responsibility of the Event & Training Program Manager. Additionally, the Event and Training Programs Manager will coordinate occasional internal events for IEN staff as well provide support for special stakeholder events. This position will also develop a monthly e-news for circulation to the School of Architecture and others, and IEN’s social media postings.

Duties: The Event & Training Programs Manager must enjoy working closely with people from all sectors and walks of life – corporate, small business, government, nonprofit, academic, and grassroots organizations – and must excel at highly proactive collaborative planning, event coordination, and creative program marketing. Program decisions must be made well in advance so that program implementation is in a timely and effective manner. This position will be responsible for managing the VNRLI budget of $200,000 or more, in consultation with senior IEN staff, and working closely with the core faculty team in designing and implementing all aspects of VNRLI and other training initiatives. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate successful creative ideas for marketing, including social media and other mechanisms.

Minimum Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s Degree is required and two years of experience in event and training coordination, or project management, OR equivalent combination of experience and education
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders (e.g. the public, state and local governments, private business and industry)
• Superlative people and professional-level communication skills, both verbal and written, and demonstrated experience of working with individuals from a variety of background.
• Proven ability to work independently, take initiative, and work proactively to account for inevitable delays and challenges in event planning
• Demonstrated excellence with problem solving
• Experience with event/conference coordination, logistical coordination, coordinating complex projects, multi-tasking, setting and maintaining schedules, working proactively to prevent conflicts, and ability to “manage up”
• Ability to manage project finances, including budget management
• Strength and experience in working on collaborative decision teams
• Knowledge of and/or passion for the work of the IEN, and a desire to be a fully contributing member of the IEN high-performance team
• Willingness to pursue continuous learning in areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Commitment and ability to support the mission of the Institute for Engagement & Negotiation
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite; Website content management, Adobe creative suite including InDesign, Mailchimp (or similar), Qualtrics, database management, social media marketing and communications

Desired Qualifications:

• Master’s degree is preferred
• Experience in conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving, consensus building
• Experience and/or training in marketing, graphic design, and communications
• Experience working with state government and with environmental issues
• Ability to work with and oversee graduate student associates
• Knowledge of public outreach and stakeholder engagement practices
• Knowledge of current issues relating to Virginia’s built and natural environment
• Familiarity with local, state, and federal environmental policy, regulations, programs, and institutions
• Design applications such as Canva or InDesign
• Multilingual skills (esp. Spanish) a bonus

Salary/pay: $40,800 – $44,800 commensurate with experience (based on 32 hour/week position).

How to Apply: To see the full job description and to apply, please click here.