Career Center

As a UW employee, you have a unique opportunity to change lives on our campuses, in our state and around the world. UW employees offer their boundless energy, creative problem solving skills and dedication to build stronger minds and a healthier world.

UW faculty and staff also enjoy outstanding benefits, professional growth opportunities and unique resources in an environment noted for diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.

Language is an exclusively and intrinsically human characteristic, research on the structure, acquisition, and use of language cuts to the heart of human cognition and the social world, linking linguistics to psychology, anthropology, information science, and many other disciplines. The Linguistics Department hosts a vibrant community of scholars dedicated to the study of language as a natural phenomenon. It focuses on grammar, the social context of language variation, the physics and perception of speech sounds, the properties of language evolution and the automated processing of speech and language by computers.  Its16 faculty members and seven staff members serve 165 undergraduate majors, 139 graduate students, and a large number of non-majors enrolled in courses.  The department aim is to educate students and the public on the structure and use of language, and on the significance of invariant characteristics and systematic variation in languages.

The Administrator reports to the Chair as the chief administrative officer responsible for managing daily department operations, serving as an advisor to the Chair and faculty leadership providing financial guidance, policy background information and management advice.  The Administrator acts independently and responsibly, given general direction from the Chair and within the University's policies and procedures.  These responsibilities include departmental administration, business planning, financial management, personnel, facilities support, research project support, development, and other functions as necessary. 

Specific duties include:

Finance:  Manage nearly $3 million in annual revenue including approximately $1.5 million in state funds, $700 thousand in sponsored research funds, and $200 thousand in self-sustaining funds and gift funds.  The Administrator monitors all state budgets: tracking expenditures, verifying balances; and providing monthly budget reports, creating budget projections, analyzing spending patterns and alerting the Chair to potential allocation deficits or unusual expenditure patterns. Provide other reports as requested by the Chair or other decision makers. The Administrator manages and monitors the self-sustaining budgets associated with the department’s fee-based degree and certificate programs: creating and maintaining financial reports, overseeing budget reconciliation, creating and maintaining budget forecasts.  The Administrator oversees all gift funds (endowment operating funds as well as annual gifts funds.) Ensures gifts are transmitted and acknowledged in a timely fashion, estimate revenues from endowed funds and provides guidance on allowable uses of gift funds.

Sponsored Research:  The Administrator follows the entire grant process from pre-award through close-out. The Administrator assists faculty with grant submission, including budget preparation, internal and external electronic forms and sponsor reports.  The Administrator oversees the budget reconciliation and preparation of monthly reports. The Administrator provides guidance to principal investigators and staff regarding federal, state and university grant policies and procedures.  The Administrator assures compliance with federal, state and university policies and responds to information requests from faculty, chair, internal and external auditors. The Administrator assists principal investigators with close-out of awards

Daily Administration: Oversees payroll, procurement, accounts payable and receivable, records retention and other administrative functions, working with Shared Services to update Workday.  The Administrator provides guidance to the Linguistics community regarding UW, state and federal policies and procedures that impact their teaching and research activities.

Personnel:   Ensures that Linguistics follows all applicable policies, labor contracts and regulations for faculty, professional staff, classified staff, and hourly employees and Academic Student Employees (ASEs).  Prepares, assembles, and distributes required documentation for faculty promotion and tenure and reappointment and appointment processes.  Oversees faculty recruiting assuring compliance with UW and Homeland Security rules and regulations regarding faculty searches. Submit visa applications for international visiting students and faculty. Prepares all staff and ASE hiring requisitions, offer letters, and termination paperwork.

Supervisory:   Supervise 3 FTE administrative staff plus student assistants -- assigns and monitors work, conducts performance reviews and initiates corrective action as necessary.   Provides professional development and mentoring.  Works with Chair to hire and train new staff as necessary.

Facilities:  Prepare and analyze department space and equipment requirements.   Coordinate and manage renovations, moves, maintenance requests, new equipment purchases, surplus and repairs.  Ensure compliance with University, State and federal policies and procedures regarding space and work place safety. Serve as department coronavirus supervisor.

Communications: Manage and maintain the department website and social media accounts; work with Associate Chair and College marketing & communications officers for digital communications and newsletters; communicate with the diverse Linguistics community with sensitivity and awareness.

Student Services: Liaise with HAS Center; assist course scheduling committee; manage GNM enrollments; manage courses with the Office of the Registrar.
Other duties as required

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor’s degree

At least three years’ experience at a higher education institution in positions of increasing complexity and responsibility

Demonstrated experience managing annual funds totaling at least $1 million

Demonstrated experience in budget projection, problem solving and analytical skills

Ability to analyze large data sets

Desirable Skills or Experience:

Experience managing staff

Experience with external online systems such as grants.gov, NIH eRA Commons and NSF Fastlane

Experience managing facilities

Curiosity and imagination


Application Process:
The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.