External Operations Associate | Berea College

Berea, Kentucky, This is a 12-month, grant-funded position offered through the NCAA's Pathway to Excellence Grant. The External Operations Associate supports the sports information coverage of Berea College's intercollegiate athletic teams and management of home athletic events. The External Operations Associate will also aid in athletic advancement initiatives. Following long-standing tradition and practice at Berea College, this position includes responsibility for supervising, mentoring, and developing students in the College's integrated Work College Program. This supports student learning, career readiness, and the program's learning goals and outcomes. The Work College Program provides a developmental framework that guides student learning while creating a structured mentorship opportunity, with role-specific training, that equips faculty and staff mentors to support student development. Faculty and staff mentors play an essential part in helping students connect their work-learning-service experiences with broader academic, professional, and personal development. For faculty, this aligns with Berea's tenure and promotion criteria. Your Key Responsibilities: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Regular and predictable attendance is essential. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.   Assist with managing home athletic events. Provide oversight of concessions operations, ticket operations, greeting the visiting team and officials, supervising sports information staff, event staff and the game broadcast on the Berea College Sports Network; Support statistical generation and reporting. Support the Coordinator of External Operations with Sports Information and Athletic Event functions and initiatives. Strategically plan and develop a Game Day the DIII Way training for the Athletic department and campus community;  Work with our campus SAAC to promote DIII Week; Assist with managing the sports information budget and process payroll requests for athletic event contract workers; Assist with hiring, training and managing student workers to assist in sports information and event operations; Distribute the Visitor’s Guide and serve as the department’s primary point of contact for visiting sports information directors, teams and media; Nominate student-athletes and coaches for conference, regional and national awards; Develop human interest stories for the department, conference website and other various publications; Manage content on the departmental website;  Oversee and provide athletics social media content. Help strategically plan and execute programming designed to increase charitable giving and corporate sponsorships for athletics in cooperation with personnel in College Relations; Serve as a liaison between the athletic department and staff in College Relations on all advancement activities; Work with the individual sport coaches to develop a comprehensive advancement plan inclusive of constituent engagement, communications, events, solicitation and stewardship for each sport;  Foster relationships with alumni and potential corporate sponsors; Coordinate major athletic fundraising efforts, including golf tournaments or other initiatives and events;  Related duties as assigned by the Director or other administrators Other roles/duties will be assigned as necessary to assist the College in the attainment of the goals set forth and the enhancement of a positive, respectful learning environment for all staff, faculty and students.   What You'll Bring: Education preferred to ensure success in this position: Bachelor’s degree in athletic administration, sport management, journalism, communications or a related field preferred.  Experience preferred to ensure success in this position: On-deadline writing experience, with 1-3 years of professional athletic communications experience preferred; Experience with website platforms (e.g., Sidearm, PrestoSports or similar) preferred. Knowledge of and experience in the sports information field. Experience with game or event management. Special skills, knowledge and abilities: Familiarity with statistical software (e.g., NCAA Genius Sports/LiveStats, StatCrew, etc.), as well as Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office; Photo and video editing experience, or experience with Synergy, preferred; Familiarity with livestreaming options and services. Understanding and agreement with the mission and Great Commitments of Berea College; Ability to meet time-sensitive deadlines; Superior communication (oral, written and interpersonal) skills; Demonstrated organizational, leadership and time management skills; Ability to work with and relate well to students, faculty, staff, coaches, alumni and potential business partners. Must be willing to work flexible hours, including nights, weekends and holidays as needed. Strong interest in intercollegiate athletics administration and familiarity with the NCAA Division III philosophy. License, certification, or registration necessary: CPR/AED/First Aid; Driver’s license. For any certifications or licenses not possessed upon hire, certifications or licenses must be promptly attained and regularly maintained. Physical requirements: Some heavy lifting, occasionally lifting up to 50 lbs; Ability to move freely throughout a four-floor, 106,996 square foot athletic and recreation facility, as well as all outdoor athletic facilities. It is expected that the individual in this position will work at times other than, or in addition to, normal business hours and days, including attendance at numerous evening and weekend events.  This is especially true from August to May. Environmental conditions: Indoor and outdoor.  Ability to operate the following vehicles or equipment: Video camera equipment; Scoreboards and sound equipment; Standard computer hardware and software applications; Be able to drive a 12-passenger van and golf carts.