Program Officer

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Program Officer is a key member of the 20-person unit charged with managing the Fulbright Foreign Student Program in the Middle East and North Africa. The incumbent will have primary responsibility for student supervision caseload, a placement caseload of nominees, and supervision of a Program Assistant and interns. The incumbent also will assume responsibilities that pertain to and require the involvement of the Fulbright unit. Therefore, the Program Officer must be organized, diplomatic, and team-focused.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Manage the placement and supervision of Fulbright students from the Middle East & North Africa in degree programs at U.S. universities
• Communicate with students, State Department, field offices, Fulbright Commissions, U.S. Academic institutions, and other agencies concerning program-related matters
• Supervise Program Assistant and interns, assign workload as leader of student placement/supervision team
• Forecast student costs, develop individual grant budgets, approve grant payments, and track student disbursements
• Report quarterly student costs to Fulbright Commission on student costs
• Negotiate admissions and financial aid opportunities on behalf of students
• Promote the Fulbright Program to U.S. academic institutions through campus visits, presentations, and other outreach efforts
• Represent Fulbright and Amideast at U.S. professional conferences
• As public health guidelines and related program policies permit, travel domestically and to the region to assist with selection and pre-departure/post nominations orientations
• Contribute to department’s social media and web pages
• Contribute to revisions of program documents and manuals
• Draft statistical and narrative reports
• Contribute to refining program operations and procedures

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS:

Required

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum of 3-4 years’ experience in a student services environment
• Previous supervisory experience
• Experience with J-1 exchange visitor programs desired
• Experience with U.S. graduate admissions desired
• Ability to maintain and organize a large amount of detailed information (ex: budgetary and student related information)
• Ability to multi-task and prioritize responsibilities
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work independently
• Proficiency with Windows environment, particularly MS Office
• Familiarity utilizing Excel spreadsheets

Preferred

• Master’s degree
• Language proficiency in Arabic and/or French