How to Onboard/Train a New Academic Administrative Assistant
Academic Administrative Assistants support one or more academic departments in one of the following Colleges:
- Access College
College of Arts and Sciences
College of Business
Christ College
- Christopher Center Library
College of Engineering
College of Nursing and Health Professions
Graduate School
The following plan outlines the knowledge and skills needed to perform the daily functions of their jobs. This plan may be used as a checklist when onboarding a new academic administrative assistant to your team.
Prior to Start Date:
Activity or Training Topic | Notes | Trainer | Training Date/Time/Location |
Email Deans, Dept Chair, and VAST (vast@valpo.edu) to share new hire name and start date. | The VAST cohort consists of all academic administrative assistants on campus. | Supervisor | |
Complete Notice of Employment Form located on Human Resources website. | On the form the Supervisor should request system access modeled after the previous Academic Administrative Assistant or an Academic Admin. Assistant in the VAST group. This helps IT know how to prepare for the new hire. Admins use systems such as: Colleague, EMS, Wordpress, Informer, and department S Drive. | Supervisor | |
Contact FM to request keys for new hire’s office and office cleaning prior to start date. Stock office with pens, pencils, post its, scissors, calculator, stapler, tape dispenser, ruler, and legal pad. If the admin will be doing purchase orders, have a PORC stamp available (reach out to another admin if you are unsure what this is). | Supervisor should enter office and check file drawers to ensure personal belongings were not left behind by previous occupant. (We want our new hires to see we've prepared for them and created a welcoming, clean space) | Supervisor | |
Hardware: Request phone and computer if needed. Provide access to building printer, scanner. | Supervisor |
After Start Date:
Activity or Training Topic | Notes | Trainer | Training Date/Time/Location |
How to clock-in, submit time card and request time off | Instructions for approving employee time cards. Payroll dates. | Supervisor or AA Trainer | |
Office, mail, kitchen, workroom, and general building tour. | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Make in-person Faculty introductions. Then, point new hire to dept web page to learn faculty names and departments. | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Policies and General Procedures: | Supervisor or AA Trainer | Set goals within 30 days of start date. | |
| Human Resources Intranet/Resources. It is common for faculty to ask the AA for policy and process information. Follow the links in the notes section to locate much of the information requested. | AA | ||
Gmail: | Valpo Email Signature Template | New Hire | |
Google Calendar: | Import Registrar's Calendar dates to Admin Calendar from the Registrar's website | Supervisor or AA Trainer | |
Input office and phone number in University directory | Access DataVU. Log in. Select employees tab. Select Office and Emergency Phone Information. Enter office location and phone number. Submit | New Hire | |
New Hire | |||
Campus Tour (especially Harre Union) Enjoy a meal together to introduce Admin. Assistant to Parkhurst options as Admin. Assistants use them for catering. | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Intro to Google Suite | Recommended LinkedIn Learning Modules: | AA | |
Photocopier: Create user in photocopy machine and train how to use photocopier. Academic Admins do not typically assist with photocopying related to research. Printing should be limited as online resources abound. Refer to the copyright policy to familarize employee with Faculty photocopying limitations: "An instructor may make a single copy, without the copyright holder's permission, of any of the following for his or her scholarly research or use in teaching or preparation to teach class:
| Copyright Policy | Supervisor or AA Trainer | |
S Drive Access | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Admin. Assistant sends a message at the beginning of each semester, or as as needed, to faculty with the link to ITicket. Faculty should be completing their own tickets. Troubleshooting a ticket is best done by communicating directly with the person experiencing an issue. | ITicket (Help Ticket) | New Hire | |
| Faculty Office Hour Signage | Prior to each semester, Admin. Assistants point faculty to Office Hour template. Ask faculty to complete, and either print and post or send to Admin. to print and post. Office hours need to be posted by the first week of classes. | AA (Self Guided, during work hours) | |
Sending and Receiving Campus Mail/Mass Mailing Locate Building Codes and Use Directory to find people on campus | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Share textbook adoption instructions/order link with faculty. Faculty complete their own textbook adoptions. Admin. Assistants help with desk copy requests. | Textbook Adoption Instructions Suggestion: Bookstore contact present instructions annually at Chair's Meeting and New Faculty orientation. | Bookstore Contact, Julie LeBeau, julie.lebeau@valpo.edu. | |
Event Planning: | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Schedule a Room using the EMS System | Discuss Meeting, Class, Conference Rooms | Supervisor or AA Trainer | |
How to order Catering using Catertrax | Discuss checking budget and knowing guest estimate prior to ordering | Supervisor or AA Trainer | |
WordPress training | Dean's Assistant is responsible for updating Dean's website and Dean's Intranet site. *Colleges need to determine what is expected of Admin. Assisistants in terms of website updates vs. content creation. In the past IMC has created content and admins make simple edits. | Contact: webmaster@valpo.edu | |
How to Pull Majors and Minors List in Informer | Supervisor, AA Trainer, or Enterprise Processes and Projects Team member | ||
Course Evaluations: 1. Supervisor, contact Office of Institutional Effectiveness to verify new Admin. Asst. has access to CourseEval program. 2. Supervisor, submit an ITicket requesting new Admin. Asst. access to the Department's Course Eval folder located within the College's main Course Eval folder on the College's S:/ drive. | Each semester the Office of Inst. Effectiveness emails survey adminstrators (which are the admin. assistants) with survey dates. Upon receipt of this email, the administrative assistants have 3 key things to do:
| ||
Syllabus archive | Each semester Admin. Asst. must download syllabi to College S drive for records retention. If Professor is using Simple Syllabus- you do not need to download their syllabus. | Supervisor or AA Trainer | |
| Order Valpo Letterhead and Envelopes | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Budget Work | Finance Office and Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Procurement | Procurement Office and Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Academic Colleague Forms How to enter Pre-requisite Waivers and grant Instructor Approval in Colleague (these functions will soon be moving to Self-Service. Dept. Chairs and Instructors will then perform these two tasks) | Supervisor, AA Trainer, or Enterprise Processes and Projects Team member | ||
Student Workers | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Building Manager Duties | Supervisor or AA Trainer | ||
Office of the Provost | Office of the Provost team member |
Department Specific Training
Activity or Training Topic | Notes | Trainer | Training Date/Time/Location |