Job Description

Title: Academic Advising Specialist - 100013

Position Number: 100013

Unit/Department: Dean's Office Arts & Sciences

Salary: Commensurate with qualifications and experience

Department Summary:

Drake University's College of Arts and Sciences is a community of life-long learners engaged in the creative us of knowledge, culture, and reflection to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. Through its interdisciplinary programs, offerings in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and fine arts, the college prepares you for a productive career, active leadership, and responsible citizenship in the global and diverse community of the future.

The College offers degree programs in the full range of arts and sciences disciplines and interdisciplinary programs, enabling you to lay the groundwork for a career in business, the arts, and the professions, including teaching. It also provides the liberal education experiences of students in the University’s undergraduate professional programs, and, through its School of Fine Arts, addresses the artistic needs of all members of the Drake community.

With 41 majors in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and fine arts, the College of Arts and Sciences spans a vast territory of human knowledge and provides the foundation of the liberal arts at Drake.

To learn more about the College, visit: https://www.drake.edu/artsci/

Drake University’s Office of Advising and the College of Arts and Sciences are thrilled to launch this search for a new Academic Advising Specialist. Drake has adopted a blended advising model, utilizing both professional staff advisors and faculty mentors to support student development and advising. This model allows our faculty and staff to leverage their expertise and best support students as students’ advising and mentoring needs change throughout their time on campus. The College supports a team of professionals who share responsibilities for academic advising, student support, and a variety of other student-focused activities.

The Academic Advising Specialist will inspire trust and confidence and possess the knowledge and skills to support the College’s efforts to attract, retain, and engage students. They will build strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, administrators, alumni, and other university constituents. The Academic Advising Specialist will regularly collaborate with the Dean’s Leadership Team, the College’s Assistant Deans, and the University’s academic advising processionals across all Drake colleges/schools.

We are seeking candidates who are highly organized professionals to help promote a positive and successful learning experience for our undergraduate students. This position will play an integral role in increasing student retention, engagement, and completion through the execution of a range of student-centric initiatives in collaboration with the College’s Dean’s office as well as with partners across campus.

Central to this role will be an inclusive mindset to acknowledge the unique identities of students, and the ability to interpret relevant data to design and implement culturally appropriate and equitable programmatic interventions to support retention and completion for identified groups of students. This role will also lead efforts to promote a superior student experience from orientation through graduation and play a supporting role in promoting the college and its programs to prospective students and their families.

We are particularly interested in candidates who have experience working with people having diverse backgrounds, working in teams, and working in a matrixed organization. Candidates should be aware that this position requires limited evening and weekend work, occasional travel, and access to a vehicle.

Upon successful completion of the onboarding process and continued satisfactory performance, a customized work arrangement (such as flexibility with hours and remote work) may be possible.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree with two years of directly related experience
• Graduate assistantships or graduate-level internships will be considered as years of experience
• Knowledge of the principles, practices and techniques of academic advising and the ability to apply such principles, practices and techniques to academic advising, retention, and student success
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, customer service skills, proficiency in Microsoft Office, and familiarity with social media platforms
• Experience with, and enthusiasm for, collaborating with diver students, staff, faculty, and community constituencies

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree (or working towards) with two or more years of work experience in advising and/or recruitment
• Graduate assistantships or graduate-level internships will be considered as years of experience
• Preference given to those with work experience in academic or career advising and/or admission/recruitment
• Strong organizational skills and an ability to maintain accurate, detailed records
• Ability to manage multiple projects with competing priorities and deadlines
• Ability to build cooperative, collaborative partnerships across the university that support student retention and success
• Proficiency in speaking and writing Spanish is a plus

Job Duties:

• 55% - Academic Advising and Registration: The person in this role is responsible for working with students to ensure successful completion of degree, focusing on student retention and developing intervention strategies that will help students stay on track and lead to improved persistence rates. At the core of this work is engaging students in one-to-one proactive conversations using academic success best practices and strategies, and specific coaching and academic counseling techniques. This includes, but is not limited to: • Facilitating students’ transition to Drake by providing general information about university academic requirements, policies, processes, and resources. Facilitate introductions to faculty mentors. • Advising an assigned caseload of students and provide support in making recommendations regarding program of study, degree requirements, course offerings, and necessary testing and pre-requisites for curricular requirements. Provide accurate, detailed information about applicability of transfer credits and time and path to degree. Provide support and outreach for registration preparation. • Tracking and monitoring progress toward degree. Maintaining accurate and detailed student records, including degree audits, academic petitions and substitutions, and curricular files. Assists with graduation applications, candidacy petitions, and degree verifications. • Serving as a member of the university advising council. Collaborating with Director of Advising, advising specialists, and faculty mentors to implement advising policies, procedures, communications, and training as agreed upon by the group. • Assisting various campus offices with the operational aspects of advising, including faculty mentor training and support, study abroad planning and equates, NCAA athletic certifications, transfer credit evaluations, etc - (Essential)
• 40% - Student Success: The person in this role supports all aspects of the student experience to promote engagement, retention, and success. The person in this role will collaborate in the design and implementation of initiatives that deliver on the college’s commitment to developing qualities and skills within their students that make them effective participants in society. The person in this role can expect to: • Collaborate on unit and university initiatives to support retention and persistence, including but not limited to summer melt mitigation, bridge programs, academic recovery plans and proactive student interventions. • Provide information about and connect students to key student support resources and make referrals as appropriate. • Participate in new student programming, including but not limited to assisting with the planning and implementing of the college advising and registration dimension of new student transition programming. In addition to programming aimed at engaging and retaining current students. • Assist college/school with student academic issues, including academic notice and suspension, dismissals, withdrawals, reinstatements, and re-enrollments (both recent students who indicate an intent to return and need follow-up/guidance on to-be-transferred credits and those who are returning to the University after substantial time away). - (Essential)
• 5% - Other Duties as Assigned: In addition, this position supports curricular and co-curricular initiatives and is responsible for supporting the College Dean’s office. - (Essential)

Special Instructions to Applicants:

Applicants will be asked to complete the online application through Drake's job board and provide: a resume/cv, a cover, and contact information for three references.

Have Questions?

Question about the application process, working at Drake, reasonable accommodations, benefits, or additional information about Drake or Des Moines, Iowa may be directed to Drake Human Resources. You can best reach us at jobs@drake.edu

All job offers are contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background check, satisfactory reference checks, and proof of work authorization.

Review of Applications Begins:

A review of applications will begin immediately. This position will remain open until filled.

Salary and Benefits:

At Drake, we are proud to offer our employees, their spouses, and eligible dependents a comprehensive benefits package, which includes a wide range of core benefits, perks, and discounts. If you are exploring a job with Drake University, we invite you to spend a little time with our Drake Benefits Guide 2026 One of our popular policies provides a tuition waiver for Drake employees, their spouses, and eligible dependents. Drake also participates in not one, but two tuition exchange programs available to dependent children. Tuition Benefits