The posting
Job Description
The Director of Institutional Event Project Management serves as Trinity College's centralized project management leader for assigned institutional events. The Director provides strategic planning, project management, operational coordination, and continuous improvement for the College's highest-profile academic, ceremonial, presidential, and institutional events.
Working collaboratively with faculty, staff, administrators, and campus partners, the Director leads a standardized planning methodology that strengthens collaboration, promotes operational excellence, preserves institutional knowledge, and creates exceptional institutional experiences aligned with the College's mission and strategic priorities.
Responsibilities
Institutional Project Management
- Lead comprehensive project management for assigned institutional events.
- Develop and maintain master project plans and implementation schedules.
- Coordinate planning timelines, milestones, and deliverables.
- Monitor project progress and facilitate timely decision-making.
- Identify project risks and develop mitigation strategies.
- Ensure alignment with institutional priorities and strategic objectives.
Cross-Functional Planning & Coordination
- Coordinate planning across multiple College divisions and departments.
- Facilitate Institutional Events Team meetings.
- Build collaborative relationships among campus partners.
- Coordinate planning activities across all Institutional Planning Areas.
- Ensure effective communication among stakeholders.
- Support Executive Sponsors throughout the planning process.
Operational Readiness
- Lead Operational Readiness Reviews for institutional events.
- Coordinate venue readiness, logistics, technology, hospitality, safety, and campus presentation.
- Monitor event readiness and resolve operational issues.
- Coordinate event-day operations and decision support.
- Ensure contingency and emergency plans are in place.
Planning Methodology & Standards
- Implement and maintain Trinity College's Institutional Experiences and Event Management Framework.
- Develop and continuously improve planning templates, project documentation, and operational standards.
- Maintain planning calendars and project management tools.
- Promote consistent planning practices across institutional events.
- Support organizational learning and planning excellence
Assessment & Continuous Improvement
- Lead structured post-event assessments.
- Measure operational performance and institutional outcomes.
- Capture lessons learned and best practices.
- Maintain institutional planning documentation.
- Recommend improvements to planning processes and participant experiences.
- Prepare executive reports and recommendations.
Executive Support
- Prepare planning briefings and executive updates.
- Support senior leadership with planning analysis and recommendations.
- Coordinate materials for Executive Sponsors and College leadership.
- Assist with strategic decision-making throughout the planning process.
Institutional Planning Areas Coordinate planning across the College's Institutional Planning Areas, including:
- Academic & Ceremony Operations
- Student Experience & Engagement
- Operations & Logistics
- Facilities & Infrastructure
Safety & Emergency Management
- Communications & Marketing
- Information Technology & Event Production
- Hospitality & Guest Experience
- Advancement & Constituent Engagement
- Trinity Traditions & Institutional Heritage
- Presidential & Executive Engagement
Perform other related duties as assigned and based on departmental need.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's Degree, required
- Five to seven years of progressively responsible experience in project management, institutional operations, higher education administration, event management, or related fields.
- Demonstrated success managing complex, cross-functional projects.
- Excellent organizational and project management skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
- Experience facilitating collaborative planning processes.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to exercise sound judgment and maintain confidentiality.
Preferred
- Master's Degree, preferred
- Experience in higher education.
- Experience managing major institutional events, commencements, convocations, or presidential events.
- Knowledge of project management methodologies.
- Experience with enterprise scheduling or event management systems (EMS or similar).
- Familiarity with higher education governance and academic protocol.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Strategic planning
- Project management
- Operational integration
- Facilitation and consensus building
- Organizational leadership
- Executive communication
- Risk management
- Budget awareness
- Process improvement
- Data analysis and reporting
- Customer service and hospitality
- Continuous improvement
About Us
Trinity is a highly selective, independent, nonsectarian liberal arts institution located in the capital city of Hartford, Connecticut. The college maintains a rigorous academic profile complemented by a vibrant co-curricular program. With more than 2,100 full-time undergraduate students, representing forty-three states and ninety-one countries, we consider our location in a culturally and socioeconomically diverse capital city to be among Trinity’s most distinctive assets; and we cultivate strong connections with our surrounding neighbors and with institutions and organizations throughout Hartford and the region. As a preeminent liberal arts college in an urban setting, Trinity College prepares students to be bold, independent thinkers who lead transformative lives.
