Please include a cover letter, and tell us about yourself! We'd love to hear your background and why Rackham Graduate School sounds like a good next step for your career. A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume.

The Rackham Finance and Fellowships team strives to be a consistent partner within the Rackham Graduate School community by delivering timely, accurate, and effective financial and fellowship support. We seek a highly responsible, detail-oriented, proactive Finance and Fellowships Specialist to provide exceptional service as an essential team member. This finance and financial aid cross-functional position is a career growth opportunity for finance or financial aid professionals interested in expanding their skillset. You will report directly to the Assistant Director of Finance & Fellowships and provide excellent customer service while administering fellowship awards, processing financial transactions, and solving a variety of financial and financial aid quandaries.

Because we are committed to diversity, we aspire to develop and nurture the individual and collective skills to recognize, celebrate, and deploy difference as a path to engagement, innovation, and the generation of new ideas and knowledge.

Rackham is currently offering hybrid work schedules to staff, requiring 2-3 days per week on-site with the remaining time being remote.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a three-year term-limited position.

For more information about the Rackham Graduate School visit https://rackham.umich.edu/,

This position will primarily focus on overseeing and completing all finance and financial aid aspects (e.g. posting/monitoring fellowship awards, journal entry processing, invoice creation, and maintaining a balanced budget) for some of the newest Rackham initiatives (e.g. Rackham Doctoral Internships, Rackham Faculty & Student Allies Diversity Grants, and Advancing New Directions in Graduate Education) as well as some more established programs (e.g. Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshops, Bridge to the Doctorate Program, and Continuous Enrollment).

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Financial Aid (50%):

• Oversee all aspects of specific initiatives/fellowship programs administered by Rackham Graduate School
• Provide holistic analysis of the impact of additional funding on students’ financial aid packages and proactively seek solutions in areas of potential concern
• Serve as a subject matter expert for Rackham programs, staff, faculty, deans, students, and external agencies regarding specific Rackham initiatives and fellowship opportunities
• Using professional judgment, independently answer questions, resolve problems, and make recommendations regarding graduate student funding matters, consulting Rackham leadership as needed
• Utilize the MPathways Student Administration, Financial Resources systems, and the United Fellowships systems (UFS) to process and monitor fellowship award disbursements accurately and in a timely manner
• Work collaboratively, exercising diplomacy when necessary, with the Dean, Associate & Assistant Deans, and faculty fellowship review committees
• Follow-through with communications to students and programs and ensure that the appropriate data entry is completed for students receiving Rackham awards
• Partner with University Development teams to award graduate student gift funds according to donor intent
• Independently solve a variety of financial and financial aid quandaries

Finance (50%):

• Process journal entries, request fund transfers, and budget changes, as appropriate for both Rackham Graduate School and the ADVANCE Program
• Create requisitions/purchase orders for payment of invoices
• Work with faculty, staff, students, and suppliers to troubleshoot and resolve purchasing issues and follow purchasing requests through to completion
• Assist faculty, staff, students, and business guests with reimbursement process using Concur system or travel and business hosting expense report process
• Process account receivables invoices to external organizations and/or foundations for graduate student support funding
• Prepare budget projections, re-budgets, and reports with various key financial metrics
• Complete ad hoc financial reports, analysis and projects using M-Reports and Business Objects to assist Principal Instigators, Assistant/Associate Deans and Directors/Managers with financial management
• Assist with data compilation for annual reports regarding graduate program financial aid
• Assist in the development, updating and implementation (including staff training) of administrative policies and written procedures

• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and work experience is required

• Minimum of 3 years of increasing responsibility in a financial aid role, program coordinator, student services administration, financial or accounting capacity

• Advanced knowledge of, and demonstrated proficiency in, Excel, including the use of advanced formulas, pivot tables, charts, graphs, and filtering
• Demonstrated customer service attitude and experience, and excellent interpersonal skills are essential, including the capacity to build relationships and the ability to work with a wide range of people who represent our diverse and multicultural society
• Demonstrated increasingly responsible experience as a successful member of a high-level collaborative work team in a university setting, including staff work, program planning, and administration
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, exercising good decision-making skills, as well as the ability to function as a team player
• Demonstrated organizational skills to plan, organize, manage and follow through on a large and diverse workload with excellent attention to detail and the ability to meet deadlines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with faculty, staff, and graduate students
• Demonstrated ability to exercise a high level of initiative, creativity and judgment, and to achieve organizational and operational change within a large and complex organization with a diverse group of stakeholders and constituencies
• Strong problem-solving skills, including demonstrated ability to synthesize ideas, anticipate next steps and prioritize important decisions.
• Demonstrated proficiency utilizing database management systems as well as MS Office Products, cloud-based storage (e.g. DropBox), and the Google Suite
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous business process improvement and ongoing professional development
• Ability to understand diverse perspectives and acknowledge the significance of differences and complexities in backgrounds, cultures, values, and viewpoints as the foundation for an inclusive environment.

• Knowledge of University student aid policies, student aid resources, and administrative systems, including M-Pathways Financial and Student,  M-Reports, and Business Objects
• Knowledge of accounting principles and applications
• Knowledge of UM policies and procedures
• Knowledge of UM organizational structure?
• Experience liaising with external agencies, academic departments, and faculty
• Experience with purchasing, budget review, and reconciliation
• Experience providing direct support to senior-level staff including supporting high-level faculty, and scheduling meetings

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days.  This job may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

U-M COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters when eligible, are required for all University of Michigan students, faculty and staff across all campuses, including Michigan Medicine.  This includes those working remotely.   More information on this new policy is available on the Campus Blueprint website or the UM-Dearborn and UM-Flint websites.