Penn State Job Catalog

Additional levels that exist for this job profile can be seen below.
Missing levels within the leveling matrix can be added based on business need.

The defined natural career progression within or between job profiles.

Academic Advising

The Academic Advising Manager leads the strategic planning, administration, and continuous improvement of a comprehensive academic advising program within an assigned college, campus, or academic unit; develops and implements advising strategies, programs, and services that promote student success, persistence, retention, and timely degree completion, while ensuring alignment with institutional priorities, accreditation requirements, and University policies; provides strategic leadership for advising operations by establishing advising standards, assessing program effectiveness, managing resources, and fostering a culture of student-centered service, innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement; oversees advising staff and serves as the primary resource for complex academic cases, policy interpretation, organizational change, and advising best practices; collaborates with faculty, administrators, and campus partners to advance student success initiatives, enrollment strategies, and institutional goals; may teach courses that support student success and adviser development.

• Lead the strategic planning, development, implementation, administration, and assessment of a comprehensive academic advising program that supports student success, retention, persistence, equity, and degree completion
• Establish advising philosophies, service standards, operating procedures, and evidence-based practices that promote consistent, high-quality advising across assigned academic programs
• Direct advising operations and ensure effective delivery of advising services through appropriate staffing, workload management, technology utilization, resource allocation, and continuous process improvement
• Develop, implement, and evaluate student success initiatives, advising programs, orientation activities, first-year experiences, peer advising, and other programs that support recruitment, engagement, retention, and graduation
• Provide leadership and consultation on complex student cases involving academic standing, appeals, transfer credit, curriculum exceptions, graduation eligibility, student success interventions, and interpretation of institutional policies and academic regulations
• Interpret, analyze, and implement University, college/campus, accreditation, and regulatory policies; assess the impact of policy changes; develop operational procedures and communicate changes to faculty, staff, and students
• Monitor advising effectiveness through assessment, student success metrics, enrollment trends, and data analytics; establish performance measures; prepare reports and implement improvements that enhance advising quality and student outcomes
• Lead organizational change initiatives involving advising redesign, technology implementation, curriculum changes, policy revisions, organizational restructuring, and student success initiatives
• Collaborate with faculty, academic leadership, enrollment management, student affairs, registrar, financial aid, and other campus partners to coordinate advising services and improve the student experience
• Represent the college or unit on University committees, task forces, and cross-functional initiatives related to advising, curriculum, enrollment management, student success, assessment, and academic policy
• Direct adviser training, professional development, onboarding, mentoring, and continuing education; establish advising competencies and ensure consistent application of advising standards and best practices
• Develop communications, advising resources, educational materials, and training programs for advisers, faculty, students, and other stakeholders
• Administer the advising budget, develop staffing and resource plans, monitor expenditures, forecast operational needs, and ensure responsible stewardship of financial and organizational resources
• Utilize student information systems, advising technologies, and reporting tools to monitor operations, evaluate program effectiveness, support decision-making, and identify opportunities for continuous improvement
• May administer specialized advising, testing, consultation, or student success programs serving designated student populations
• May teach first-year seminar, student success, transition, or other academic courses consistent with academic unit or campus policies
• Hire, supervise, coach, mentor, develop, and evaluate advising staff; establish performance expectations; promote employee engagement and accountability; foster an inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing work environment

Level:

– Principal Manager

Base Description:

– Manages direct reports where primary duty is the management of a working unit.

Level Summary:

– Demonstrates awareness of broad issues and management trends. Applies exemplary management principles. Evaluates impact of policy and adjusts accordingly. Ensures appropriate skills are developed and maintained within team/unit. Realigns staff responsibilities to meet desired changes. Provides administrative and policy direction. Develops and articulates broad goals. Fosters collaboration between units. Engages in written and verbal communications that reach a university-wide and/or broad external audience. Develops and implements solutions to highly complex and often controversial problems.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

– Oversees teams of other supervisors/managers
– Leads a business unit

Fiscal Responsibilities:

– Plans, forecasts, develops, and/or approves budgets
– Typically has final signature authority for business unit

Problem Solving:

– Encounters highly varied and complex problems that may have a significant impact on multiple units and/or the University
– Regularly develops creative and/or novel approaches to resolve the most difficult problems
– Creates an environment that encourages imaginative solutions to problems

Independence of Action:

– Work results are not clearly defined and may be frequently changing
– Sets own goals and determines how to accomplish results with few or no guidelines to follow
– Oversees completed work of others and is accountable for unit results
– Delegates advanced tasks to others and provides guidance to team members

Communication and Collaboration:

– Communicates with both internal and external audiences
– May represent the University externally
– Collaborates closely with team members and other leaders across the University
– Communicates a compelling vision that inspires and motivates others

• Comp Grade – 12
• Minimum – $81,312.00
• MidPoint – $101,664.00
• Maximum – $122,016.00

• Advising
• Consulting
• Customer Service
• Document management
• Organizational training
• Records management
• Reporting
• Scheduling
• Writing