Financial & Event Associate: Department of Defense Research Center - UTK

The Financial Associate and Event Coordinator supports the Senior Director, Program Manager, and Army Research Laboratory Principal Investigators with financial tracking, reporting, and event coordination. This role manages mission-critical accounting, reporting, and planning for internal and external initiatives in compliance with university, state, and federal policies, and provides administrative support for visits, tours, and exchanges with higher education, government, and industry leaders.

This is a grant-funded position and is contingent upon the continued funding of the grant.

Financial and Accounting Functions:

• Processes accounting transactions and financial actions accurately and timely
• Processes travel expenses after obtaining all necessary information and receipts from the traveler and approval from the Senior Director, Program Manager, or appropriate Principal Investigator (PI)
• Processes Accounts Payable and Receivables contracts, especially those supporting our research efforts with the Army Research Laboratory
• Helps prepare monthly reports for both the university and our government customer so Program Management and appropriate oversight can be accomplished
• Assists the Program Manager with all financial reporting by leveraging DASH, Excel, and other financial tools as required
• Provides backup support for travel requests, parking passes, room scheduling (conference and classroom), office supply, textbook, publication and graphic arts purchases, and conducts conference and workshop registration for staff and/or appropriate PIs as required

Event Planning:

• Determines best location and vendor selection for all staff and departmental events based on discussions with the Senior Director and Program Manager
• Negotiates event location, venue and catering contracts
• Coordinates university, government, and other senior leader visits and tours, including making speaker travel arrangements and purchases of snacks and beverages for large research visits and workshops
• Coordinates department travel arrangements, lodging, catering, and all other logistics as needed to support workshops, conferences, workgroups, and events
• Communicates with other departments, laboratories, government, and industry partners as necessary for event planning
• Supports off campus departmental events in and out of state as requested by department leadership

Communication:

• Facilitates department communication activities with all partners and stakeholders
• Provides information and guidance to staff and PIs regarding processing of contracts, purchase orders, invoices, and travel policies and regulations
• Attends campus meetings and trainings in person and online to stay informed of changing policies and procedures and communicates policy and procedural changes to department leadership, PIs, and other partners
• Communicates and coordinates events and appropriate financial information with the Tickle College of Engineering, University of Tennessee Space Institute, and numerous internal and external departments, organizations, government, and industry partners as directed
• Communicates with potential students inquiring about the University of Tennessee and specifically the Tickle College of Engineering and the University of Tennessee Space Institute
• Responsible for social media, digital messaging, and other communication initiatives for the office

Required Qualifications

Education:

• High school diploma or GED

Experience:

• Minimum of four (4) years of administrative, financial, or accounting experience required (Retail managerial, supervisory, including key holder experience is acceptable)
• Excellent Communication skills (written and verbal) required
• Works well with diverse organizations and individuals is essential
• Strong organizational skills, including being dependable, reliable, and adaptable in a fast-paced environment is important

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Knowledge and experience using financial management principles is mission essential
• Expert knowledge of developing, creating, and using Excel to track, manage, and report financial expenditures is required
• Excellent Communication skills (written and verbal) required
• Ability to contribute and support working with diverse individuals and organizations is important
Strong organizational skills, including being dependable, reliable, and adaptable in a fast-paced, diverse work environment is critical

Preferred Qualifications

Education :

• Bachelor's degree

Experience:

• Three (3) or more years of financial tracking and reporting experience within government, higher education, or defense industry preferred

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

• Excellent Word and PowerPoint skills are preferred
Superb problem solving and critical thinking skills are preferred

Work Location

• Location: Knoxville, TN
• Onsite

Compensation and Benefits

• UT market range: MR06

Application Instructions

To express interest, please submit an application with the noted below attachments.

• Resume
• Cover Letter

About The College

The Tickle College of Engineering is in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth and success including adding over 30 new faculty as part of ambitious cluster hiring campaigns led by Chancellor Donde Plowman and Dean Matthew Mench. Since 2021, the college has set records in research expenditures, enrollment, incoming student GPA, intellectual property development, and USNWR rank. New facilities include the state-of-the art Zeanah Engineering Complex, the University of Tennessee Manufacturing and Design Enterprise (TN-MADE) facility, and the Innovation South building which houses UTK’s Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF).

TCE currently has 208 Tenure/Tenure Track and 65 Non-Tenure Track faculty in its nine academic departments and offers 13 undergraduate, 16 MS, and 15 PhD degree programs. Affiliated with TCE and located in Tullahoma, Tennessee, the UT Space Institute is a hub of aerospace and defense research. The college is also home to eight research centers and three interdisciplinary institutes. With approximately 4,300 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students, the college sits 29th among public universities in the most recent U.S. News and World Report graduate rankings. Faculty in the college have won 29 early career awards (NSF, DoE, DARPA, AFOSR, and ARO) since 2016. In FY24, the college had NSF HERD research expenditures of $121 million.