Administrative Support Assistant I

San Diego State University is a prominent educational institution seeking an Administrative Support Assistant I to join their team. The role involves providing general office support for NIH-grant-funded research projects, ensuring smooth operations and coordination among faculty, staff, and volunteers.

Responsibilities

• Schedule and set up meetings and conferences
• Solicit attendees for availability
• Reserve conference or meeting rooms at IBACH or off site
• Send meeting confirmations (date, time, location) to attendees
• Send meeting reminders to attendees—7 days and 2 days before
• Attend team and investigator meetings as requested to record minutes; compile, transcribe, and distribute minutes of meetings
• Make travel arrangements for faculty and staff
• Reserve hotel, flight, and other transportation (e.g. to/from airport)
• Arrange payment for travel, lodging, and conference registration/fees
• Reconcile expenditures (advance closeout or reimbursement) following travel
• Assist in institute wide special events
• Prepare and maintain checklists and protocols to ensure smooth implementation of events
• Coordinate room reservation, catering ordering, communication with speakers and vendors, travel arrangements for outside guests, etc
• Maintain good rapport with diverse teams and partners (investigators, staff/faculty, community stakeholders, Advisory Board, etc.) during communication and coordination of meetings
• Coordinate intake and reporting requirements for personnel and volunteers (complete onboarding paperwork and get relevant signatures, ensure eRA Commons IDs are set up)
• Provide incoming staff and interns with an orientation to the project including the location of equipment (printers, fax, copier, etc.), suite layout, faculty and staff introductions, general office policies/procedures, and project-specific workflows and expectations
• Coordinate and maintain records for staff/students, office space, telephones, and office keys
• Update email/phone directories and provide updated directories to faculty, staff, interns
• Maintain database with records of volunteers and personnel
• Arrange for the repair and maintenance of office and computer equipment (e.g. facilities requests, IT requests)
• Arrange for new phone numbers, keys/access cards, etc. for new personnel
• Assist students in
• Connect staff and students with appropriate parties as needed for IT support, payroll questions
• The administrative assistant is often the first face that students interact with when working on our projects and helps to provide a welcoming environment for new team members to feel comfortable asking questions
• Maintain inventory of equipment and supplies (office supplies, participant incentives, project materials) and make purchases as needed
• Research prices and purchase office furniture and supplies
• Create and modify documents and forms (e.g. journal vouchers, reimbursements, reports, memos, letters) using software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and/or Adobe
• Complete paperwork
• Draft justifications for expenditures
• Obtain necessary signatures and approvals
• Perform general clerical duties to include but not limited to copying, faxing, mailing, and filing
• File and retried organizational documents, records, and reports
• Assist with all aspects of general office support coordination
• Maintain calendar to coordinate work flow and meetings
• Interact with faculty, staff, students, vendors, and visitors
• Sign for and distribute delivered packages
• Answer telephones and transfer to appropriate staff member
• Receive visitors and screen to control interruptions
• Support staff in assigned project-based work
• Correspondence with staff and community partners, including reserving rooms on site
• Translation of documents and/or content for dissemination to Spanish speaking community
• Maintain group email account and respond to or forward inquiries as relevant

Skills

• High school diploma or equivalent
• Previous experience in an office or administrative environment
• Prior experience in an administrative role
• Prior experience at an academic research institution
• Bilingual Spanish & English (written and spoken) preferred

Company Overview

Company H1B Sponsorship