Student Success & Pathways Officer
2 months ago
Manhattan, New York
The Part-time Student Success & Pathways Officer at The Cooper Union expands access to The Cooper Union’s precollege STEM programs by actively managing the student recruitment and engagement pipeline from initial outreach through application, enrollment, and early academic persistence. Student Success & Pathways Officer — Revised Job Description TITLE: Student Success & Pathways Officer DEPARTMENT: STEM Pre-College Programs (STEM Outreach), School of Engineering REPORTS TO: Director of STEM Outreach TYPE: Part-time: 25 hours/week, Exempt, Non-Union Last Edited: 08.15.2026 JOB SUMMARY The Part-time Student Success & Pathways Officer expands access to The Cooper Union’s precollege STEM programs by actively managing the student recruitment and engagement pipeline from initial outreach through application, enrollment, and early academic persistence. This is a high-autonomy, hands-on role for a fast-paced thinker and exceptionally strong independent operator who can move fluidly between strategy and execution. The successful candidate must be able to identify what needs to happen next, investigate details, solve problems, make sound judgment calls, and move work forward without waiting for step-by-step direction or administrative support. The Officer serves as a one-person recruitment, engagement, and student-pathways operation within the STEM Pre-College Programs team. This individual must be equally comfortable developing a recruitment strategy, calling a school counselor, analyzing application conversion data, cleaning a CRM record, following up with a family, troubleshooting an enrollment issue, creating a tracking system, and noticing that an important detail has fallen through the cracks. This role is best suited for someone who: • Thinks quickly and critically and can assess a situation, determine priorities, and act., • Is naturally inclined to get into the weeds and investigate details rather than assuming someone else will handle them., • Demonstrates exceptional follow-through and is persistent about closing loops., • Can manage multiple active recruitment and student-engagement priorities simultaneously., • Works independently and does not require an assistant or extensive administrative infrastructure to remain organized and effective., • Understands that successful recruitment depends not only on outreach, but also on meticulous tracking, timely follow-up, relationship management, and conversion., • Can distinguish between what is urgent, what is important, and what requires escalation to the Director., • Takes ownership of outcomes rather than simply completing assigned tasks. This is a student-facing, partner-facing, strategic and execution-oriented position grounded in relationship-based recruitment, pathway navigation, operational excellence, and data-informed decision-making. It is not a clerical or administrative “catch-all” position; however, the successful candidate must be willing and able to personally execute the detailed operational work necessary to produce results. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES AND TIME ALLOCATION 1. Strategic Access, Engagement & Recruitment — 6.5 Hours Strategic Focus: Build strong, productive referral pathways that generate qualified applicants while personally managing the details required to move prospective students from awareness to action. Responsibilities: • Build and deepen referral pathways with STEM teachers, guidance counselors, school departments, school leaders, and community-based organizations., • Identify high-potential schools, communities, organizations, and recruitment channels rather than relying solely on broad-volume outreach., • Prioritize fit, preparedness, and conversion over outreach volume alone., • Conduct school visits, information sessions, recruitment presentations, and Zoom meetings for prospective students, families, educators, and partners., • Proactively contact schools and community partners by email and phone rather than waiting for inbound inquiries., • Develop and maintain a comprehensive High School and Community Partner Database., • Maintain accurate records of outreach, responses, follow-ups, referrals, and recruitment outcomes., • Identify stalled relationships or recruitment opportunities and independently determine appropriate follow-up., • Track prospective students and referral sources through the recruitment funnel., • Coordinate recruitment activity with STEM Ambassadors and ensure outreach assignments are completed., • Continually assess which recruitment strategies are producing applicants and adjust efforts accordingly. 2. Student Pathway Navigation — 7.0 Hours Strategic Focus: Ensure students and families clearly understand program opportunities, admissions expectations, readiness requirements, deadlines, and next steps. Responsibilities: • Facilitate structured student and family touchpoints, including office hours, individual pathway consultations, and application support sessions., • Explain admissions standards, timelines, prerequisites, academic-readiness thresholds, and course requirements., • Help students determine which STEM Pre-College opportunities are appropriate for their interests, experience, and academic preparation., • Conduct virtual consultations to support students navigating the application process., • Identify application or enrollment barriers and actively work with families to resolve them., • Clearly communicate the Student and Parent Code of Conduct and program expectations., • Follow up with students and families when required information, documents, decisions, or actions remain outstanding., • Maintain accurate records of significant student and family interactions., • Recognize recurring areas of confusion and recommend improvements to communications, processes, FAQs, or recruitment materials. 3. Enrollment & Application First-Glance Review — 2.5 Hours Strategic Focus: Maintain momentum across active application cycles by identifying incomplete, incorrectly submitted, or stalled applications before they become lost enrollments. Responsibilities: • Conduct first-glance reviews of applications for Summer STEM, STEM Saturdays, and other assigned STEM Pre-College cycles., • Review applications for completeness, adherence to instructions, and required supporting materials., • Identify applicants requiring follow-up and act quickly to prevent unnecessary attrition., • Trigger and personally manage reminder communications through email, text, phone, or approved CRM workflows., • Move students from Incomplete → Submitted → Reviewed → Decision → Enrollment with disciplined follow-through., • Monitor patterns in application abandonment and identify opportunities to improve conversion., • Escalate substantive admissions questions appropriately while independently resolving routine application issues. 4. Persistence Supports — 3.0 Hours Strategic Focus: Identify students who may require additional academic or pathway support and coordinate timely interventions. Responsibilities: • Serve as the Student Success & Pathways Officer for students requiring bridge planning, readiness support, or referrals., • Identify students whose academic preparation, participation, or performance suggests that additional support may be beneficial., • Coordinate appropriate interventions and referrals in collaboration with the Director and instructional staff., • Maintain concise intervention records linking identified needs, actions taken, and outcomes., • Follow through to determine whether interventions were completed and whether additional action is required., • Identify recurring student-success patterns that may inform future recruitment, admissions, or program design. 5. Impact Analytics & Data Storytelling — 2.0 Hours Strategic Focus: Translate recruitment and enrollment activity into actionable information that informs decisions and demonstrates program impact. Responsibilities: • Maintain disciplined tracking of student pipeline movement:, • Interest → Application Started → Application Submitted → Accepted → Enrolled → Participated., • Produce concise, fact-based pipeline updates that quantify progress and identify areas requiring attention., • Compare recruitment channels and strategies to determine which approaches generate stronger engagement and conversion., • Produce reports such as:, • “85 applications started; 72 submitted; 51 accepted; 46 enrolled.”, • Identify bottlenecks, unusual trends, missing data, or conversion gaps rather than simply reporting totals., • Use data to recommend immediate adjustments during active recruitment cycles., • Help translate student recruitment and enrollment outcomes into clear narratives demonstrating reach, access, effectiveness, and ROI. 6. SLATE/CRM Data Hygiene & Systems Navigation — 1.0 Hour Strategic Focus: Maintain accurate systems and reliable student records so that recruitment and enrollment decisions are based on trustworthy information. Responsibilities: • Manage application bins and communication workflows using Bin Manager and related SLATE tools., • Update applications and processes for each new program cycle., • Create and run queries required for recruitment, admissions, enrollment, and reporting., • Generate and send Admission, Waitlist, and Deny communications for each program cycle., • Maintain accurate student records and identify missing, duplicated, inconsistent, or incorrect data., • Troubleshoot routine system issues independently and coordinate with the SLATE team when escalation is necessary., • Verify that reports, communications, and student statuses accurately reflect the underlying records., • Maintain disciplined data hygiene without allowing systems work to consume the broader student-facing purpose of the role. 7. Internal Collaboration & Planning — 3.0 Hours Strategic Focus: Mainta
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