Student Engagement and Community Specialist

Columbia University in the City of New York; New York (NY); On-site; USD 66,000 - 73,000; Full time

Job summary

Columbia Engineering seeks a service-oriented professional to support the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program and the Engineering Student Affairs Office. The Specialist coordinates student engagement activities, orientation, and community-building from admission through graduation and alumni engagement.

The role oversees logistics, provides administrative support for events, and partners with faculty, staff, alumni, and employer partners to enhance student experience and

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree and/or its equivalent is required. 0-2 years of relevant experience required; full-time, internship, practicum, or graduate assistantship experience in student affairs or a related area is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Serve as an initial point of contact for MSAI students, responding to routine inquiries and routing students to appropriate campus resources and offices.

Skills

Student affairs knowledge

Teamwork and collaboration

Interpersonal skills

Communication

Administrative skills

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Google Suite

MS Office (Excel with pivot tables, VLOOKUP)

PowerPoint

Publishing software

Social media management

Student services database software

Job description

Student Engagement and Community Specialist (MSAI)

School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University | Morningside campus, New York, NY

Job requisition: 560161 | Full time, 35 hours per week | Regular | Grade 10, Officer of Administration

Salary range: $66,300 to $73,000

Position Summary

Columbia Engineering seeks a service-oriented and collaborative professional to serve as the Student Engagement and Community Specialist supporting the Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (MSAI) program and the Engineering Student Affairs (ESA) Office. Reporting to a supervisor, the incumbent supports the student experience and sense of belonging by coordinating assigned aspects of student engagement, orientation, and community-building activities across the student lifecycle from admission through graduation and into alumni engagement.

The Specialist oversees logistics and provides administrative support for established academic, social, professional, and co-curricular programming for MSAI students and, as assigned, supports school-wide ESA initiatives. The role follows established event planning processes, communications templates, and University/school procedures, escalating non-routine issues and policy interpretation questions to senior staff. The Specialist collaborates with faculty, staff, student leaders, alumni, and employer partners to support student engagement and effective program delivery.

Responsibilities

Student Life and Engagement (45%)

• Serve as an initial point of contact for MSAI students, responding to routine inquiries and routing students to appropriate campus resources and offices.
• Oversee assigned components of MSAI new student orientation, including scheduling, room requests, speaker logistics, communications distribution, materials preparation, registration, and day-of support.
• Organize the delivery of MSAI academic, social, professional, career, alumni, and co-curricular events by coordinating logistics such as calendars, registration, space requests, vendor coordination, run-of-show materials, and check-in.
• Maintain the MSAI student events calendar and organize group advising sessions, student town halls, and other forums.
• Prepare and distribute event communications using approved templates, and create and maintain event and program feedback surveys, compiling routine participation and feedback summaries.
• Organize recruitment and yield efforts by assisting with event logistics, webinar set-up, class visit coordination, and responding to routine prospective and admitted student inquiries.

Student Affairs (35%)

• Serve as an initial point of contact for Columbia Engineering graduate students regarding Graduate Student Life events and University-recognized student organizations.
• Organize orientation and signature events such as Graduate Welcome Day, Graduate Class Day, Doctoral Hooding, and Graduate Engineers Connect by coordinating logistics and day-of operations.
• Organize educational, social, and community-building programming, and provide administrative support for student group events by tracking submissions, confirming required forms, and routing proposals for approval.
• Process routine enrollment-related transactions such as Registration Adjustment Forms and Leave of Absence requests, reviewing for completeness and escalating discrepancies.
• Assist with delivery of Professional Development and Leadership courses and graduate career placement initiatives, and direct student workers and temporary staff on event days as assigned.

Marketing and Communications (15%)

• Update and maintain MSAI program web pages using established content standards and approval processes.
• Schedule MSAI and Graduate Student Life social media posts and maintain content calendars using approved messaging.
• Draft routine newsletter content from templates, update distribution lists, and oversee the MSAI program email aliases.

Performs related duties and responsibilities as assigned (5%).

Minimum Qualifications

A bachelor’s degree and/or its equivalent is required. 0-2 years of relevant experience required; full-time, internship, practicum, or graduate assistantship experience in student affairs or a related area is preferred.

Skills and Requirements

• Understanding of student and academic affairs opportunities and challenges affecting a diverse domestic and international population, and ability to represent the Program and School professionally at recruitment, yield, and orientation events.
• Strong technical competency with student services database software and online resources, Google suite, MS Office (Excel with pivot tables, VLOOKUP), PowerPoint, publishing software, and social media.
• Ability to interpret and apply standards and communicate complex policies and procedures to students, faculty, staff, and other stakeholders.
• Ability to take initiative and work independently within a team environment.
• Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed, especially during recruitment, yield, orientation, and when a student crisis arises.
• Excellent interpersonal and administrative skills, attention to detail, good judgment, diplomacy, and a student-wellness mindset.