Executive Assistant to the President

ABOUT UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center ranks among the top academic medical centers in the world.  Its faculty members – who are responsible for a broad array of groundbreaking biomedical research advances – are respected for their dedication to teaching and patient care.  The medical center has four degree-granting institutions: UT Southwestern Medical School, UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UT Southwestern School of Health Professions and the UT Southwestern School of Public Health.  The schools train about 3,700 medical, graduate, and allied health students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows each year.

UT Southwestern was named one of the Top 5 Best Organizations for Leadership Development (BOLD) Award winners by the National Center for Healthcare Leadership (NCHL) in 2022. The NCHL conducts a survey of health care organizations across the U.S. every other year to assess all components of organizations’ efforts to prepare and develop leaders.

A great medical center offers outstanding patient care in addition to fine teaching and innovative research.  We emphasize compassionate medical treatment.  UT Southwestern’s physicians are equipped to bring the latest laboratory findings to each patient.  We provide inpatient care to nearly 117,000 people and oversee approximately 3 million outpatient visits annually. UT Southwestern has approximately 21,000 employees and an operating budget of approximately $4.1 billion.

POSITION SUMMARY

This position supports the President of UT Southwestern Medical Center and works closely with the Executive Leadership team. The Executive Assistant to the President serves as an ambassador of both the President and UT Southwestern to internal and external constituents at the local, state, national, and international levels, which requires a high degree of professionalism, interpersonal skills, independent judgement, and maturity. The position also requires the ability to support and excel in a dynamic, fast-paced, and high-pressure environment. The ideal individual will have the ability to consistently exercise good judgement in a variety of situations; will have strong written and verbal communication, administrative and organizational skills; and the ability to maintain a realistic balance among multiple, often competing, priorities.

Please submit a cover letter along with your application for consideration.  

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION

REQUIRED

·        Associates degree or equivalent.

·        Ten (10) or more years of administrative support at the senior executive level. 

·        Any qualifications to be considered as equivalents in lieu of stated minimum require prior approval of Vice President for Human Resources Administration or his/her designee.

PREFERRED

·        Prefer experience in Academic Medicine.

JOB DUTIES

·        Executes, with minimal direction, executive administrative duties at the highest level, using significant discretion and independent judgement to prioritize conflicting needs, handle matters expeditiously and proactively, and follow through on projects to successful completion, often with deadline pressures and interruptions.

·        Manages and accurately maintains a complex and extremely active, often-changing calendar of appointments in an efficient manner that maximizes the President’s productivity while being mindful of deadlines, confidentiality, priorities, and protocol. Determines priorities and makes decisions regarding the scheduling of daily and long-range meeting requests. Collaborates with the Director about scheduling priorities and dealing with potential calendar conflicts. Ensures that the President’s schedule is consistent with institutional priorities and is followed and respected.

·        Answers phones, provides direction on routing of calls, and greets visitors as an ambassador of the President and UT Southwestern. Exhibits professionalism in all communications with a diverse group of current and prospective contacts on behalf of the President. Provides accurate, complete, and detailed messages in a timely manner.

·        Handles sensitive patient messages and conversations with compassion and a sense of urgency while exercising a high degree of judgement, discretion, and understanding of medical terminology or complex medical situations. Displays thorough understanding and application of HIPAA rules and guidelines. Determines appropriate course of action, referral, or response.

·        Supports patient advocacy by communicating on behalf of the President directly with the Patient Liaison Services Office and the Special Assistance Office to ensure that patients have access to appropriate information and resources and that patient complaints are resolved confidentially and appropriately.

·        Assists with delegation of tasks among President’s Office administrative assistants to ensure that all work is handled in a timely, efficient, and professional manner with keen attention to detail, including preparation of boardrooms for meetings, ensuring that meeting materials and/or presentations are submitted and ready to distribute/project.

·        Exercises a high degree of personal ownership over office activities to ensure quality work products are delivered and support activities are performed in an efficient and timely manner with minimal supervision.

·        Compiles documents for President’s meetings including collection of documents from secure portals.  In collaboration with the Director, provides all necessary arrangements and advance reading materials for each day to ensure President is fully prepared for all appointments.

·        Develops and shares best practices to improve efficient and effective administrative operations. Provides a bridge for smooth communication between the President’s Office and internal departments, demonstrating leadership to maintain credibility, trust, and cooperation with Executive Leaders; oversees and facilitates flow of information among the areas that report directly to the President.

·        Communicates directly and on behalf of the President to arrange donor-related meetings with the Development Office and to organize high-level legislative appointments with Government Relations.

·        Demonstrates sound judgement in bringing information and issues to the attention of senior leadership and offers creative solutions.

·        Completes other duties as assigned.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

·        Work requires expert level written and verbal communication skills.

·        Work requires strong organizational skills that reflect the ability to perform and prioritize multiple tasks seamlessly with excellent attention to detail.

·        Work requires highly resourceful and committed team player with the ability to also be extremely effective independently.

·        Work requires proven ability to handle confidential information with discretion, be adaptable to various competing demands, and demonstrate the highest level of customer/client service and responses.

·        Work requires flexibility and resiliency to deal with ambiguity and interruptions, and to handle stressful and difficult situations with composure.

·        Work requires strong command of the MS Office Suite, related technological experience and willingness to learn and utilize new technology as it develops.

·        Work requires the ability to meet deadlines in a fast-paced, quickly changing environment.

·        Work requires proficiency in the form and style of professional/business correspondence and knowledge of office management practices and scheduling protocols.

·        Familiarity with PeopleSoft, Raiser’s Edge, Infinite Conferencing, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and AP Style Guide as well as Institutional and UT System policies a plus.

WORKING CONDITIONS

·        Work is performed primarily in the office area.

To learn more about the benefits UT Southwestern offers, visit https://www.utsouthwestern.edu/employees/hr-resources/

This position is security-sensitive and subject to Texas Education Code §51.215, which authorizes UT Southwestern to obtain criminal history record information. UT Southwestern Medical Center is committed to an educational and working environment that provides equal opportunity to all members of the University community.  As an equal opportunity employer, UT Southwestern prohibits unlawful discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, genetic information, citizenship status, or veteran status.