Administrative Associate: Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering - UTK
University of Tennessee Athletic Marketing Department
Reporting to the Business Manager for the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, the Administrative Associate will serve as the initial point of contact for the department. The Administrative Associate will greet, welcome, and direct visitors to the department and will handle department communications by telephone and through department email. The Administrative Associate will coordinate and perform academic services including holds adjustments, maintain timetables, room assignments, and compiling support data analytics. The Administrative Associate will provide record-keeping related to all departmental activities and will provide procurement services to the department by holding the department credit card and handling ordering for faculty and staff. The Administrative Associate will plan and coordinate department meetings and events including securing venue, ordering food, managing guests, program, and event timelines.
Reporting to the Business Manager for the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department, the Administrative Associate will serve as the initial point of contact for the department. The Administrative Associate will greet, welcome, and direct visitors to the department and will handle department communications by telephone and through department email. The Administrative Associate will coordinate and perform academic services including holds adjustments, maintain timetables, room assignments, and compiling support data analytics.
Required Qualifications
- Education:
- High School Diploma
- Experience:
- Two to three years of office administration experience
- Event coordinating or planning experience
- Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
- Excellent communication, customer service and organization skills.
- Ability to multi-task and work independently.
- Ability to prioritize a heavy work load.
- Excellent organizational and time-management skills.
- Ability to multi-task and prioritize tasks based on needs of others and with time-sensitive deadlines.
- Ability to work autonomously as well as within a team environment.
- Sound interpersonal and communication skills.
- Working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
- Dependable
Preferred Qualifications
- Education:
- Associate's degree or Bachelor’s Degree
- Experience:
- Four to Five years of office administration experience
- Experience working in an academic environment preferably at a college or university
- Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:
- Working knowledge of UT fiscal and HR policies and procedures
- Knowledge of enterprise applications such as Oracle and Banner
Work Location
- Location: Knoxville, TN
- Onsite
Compensation and Benefits
- UT market range: MR05
- Anticipated hiring range: $47,000 - $49,0000
- Find more information on the UT Market Range structure here
- Find more information on UT Benefits here
Application Instructions
To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments.
- Resume
- Cover Letter
- List of 3 Professional References
About The Department
The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The ISE Department offers BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering and MS and Doctor of Engineering degrees in Engineering Management. The Department currently has 13 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and an enrollment of more than 560 students, including 268 UG, 172 MS, and 121 Doctoral students. The annual externally funded research expenditure is more than $5.4M. The department was ranked 26th among all public institutions in the 2025 U.S. News Best Graduate School Ranking. For additional information about the Department, please visit https://tickle.utk.edu/ise.
Administrative Functions:
- Greet, welcome, and direct visitors to the department
- Answers departmental phones and maintains department email and social media accounts
- Maintains proper files and record retention for active departmental accounts and other files as needed for compliance
- Provide administrative support to department staff; helps maintain calendars, accurately schedules appointments, assists with travel arrangements
- Process incoming packages and mail; enter receipting; inform recipients of delivery
- Coordinates with College on overall communication strategies and maintains department bulletin boards, communication monitors, calendars, website etc.
- Department coordinator for Promotion and Tenure activities in Interfolio and other Interfolio cases as needed
Academic Coordination:
- Assists faculty and students with registration issues (adding, dropping, lifting holds, errors, etc.)
- Assist with reporting related to academic program
- Inputs semester timetables changes in Banner and updates as needed
- Works with Registrar's office to ensure instructional room scheduling each semester
- Assist faculty with textbook orders through UT bookstore or other vendors
- Serve as point person for academic issues
- Manage SAIS data as needed for department head and faculty review processes
- Assists Director of Cohort program and Graduate Program coordinator with academic issues as needed
- Assists with collection of ABET and other accreditation materials as directed by department accreditation POC
- Works with graduate school for student records and student forms
- Works sends out exit interview forms and schedule interviews with graduating students and DH at end of each semester
Procurement:
- Provides purchasing support services for department orders including equipment, office supplies, lab supplies, classroom supplies, etc.
- Obtains and uses departmental Procurement card (P-card) and travel card for procurement needs and follows policies as applicable for both
- Obtains approval from faculty for orders charged to sponsored projects and manager approval for general orders prior to purchase
- Confirms delivery, setup and insurance requirements for product orders. Requisitions purchase orders.
- Works with Financial Assistant to get asset numbers for equipment purchases.
- Serves as point of contact for delivery and validates receipt of packing slip.
- Maintains equipment checkout forms and assists with annual inventory.
Event Coordination:
- Orders food for department meetings and events and ensures delivery/setup when needed
- Ensures event space is clean and orderly after department use
- Assists with room reservation systems for JDT 500 and other ISE shared conference spaces
- Coordinates and assists all major department events (annual banquet, holiday party, student welcomes, etc.) including securing venue, ordering food, managing invitations/RSVP's, audio/visual, program, and event timeline
- Assists with faculty candidates and seminar speaker scheduling and itineraries
- Assists department head in scheduling and organizing spring and fall faculty retreats
Other tasks:
- Orders keys and building card access for faculty, staff, and students
- Maintains student desk assignments in graduate student offices
- Represent department on TSAC committee as part of staff rotation
- Maintain department spaces including conference rooms, student areas, and lounge
- Parking representative for department
- Assists faculty, staff, and students with other tasks as assigned by supervisor or department head