Human Resources Business Partner

By Denise McKinney on July 7, 2025

Tusculum University is seeking applicants for our Human Resources department. Building on a rich Presbyterian heritage and a pioneering spirit, Tusculum University provides an active and experiential education within a caring Christian environment to inspire civic engagement, enrich personal lives, and equip career-ready professionals.

MISSION EXPECTATION

Tusculum takes pride in creating a mission-focused culture. We expect our talented and diverse faculty, staff, and business partners to uphold the spirit of our mission’s values every day to further support the University’s image, reputation, brand, and goals. We are Pioneers, forging pathways to do well and good in the pursuit of delivering an extraordinary student experience, academic excellence and advancing community relations.

POSITION SCOPE

The Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) serves as the primary HR contact for the institution, collaborating with leaders and clients to proactively identify HR needs and serves as a resource on HR policies, procedures and practices.  The HRBP formulates business partnerships with client departments; consulting, advising, and providing leadership and subject matter expertise on a variety of essential HR and institutional enterprise-wide actions.  May specialize and navigate multiple HR disciplines in areas such as employee relations, compensation, benefits, recruitment, HRIS/payroll, analytics/reporting, compliance, talent/performance management, organizational development, training and change management.  Routinely uses discretion and independent judgement in the application, direction, nature and course of work used to impact organizational (micro and macro) outcomes and results.  Scope of work impacts individual contributors, managers, departments and institutional-wide operations.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

  • Strategic & Operational Business Partner: Act as a partner with business units; diagnosing challenges and developing effective strategies to help resolve them. Recommend solutions aligned with business objectives. Coordinates with vice presidents, deans, chairs, directors and other appropriate University officials concerning human resource matters.  Ability to work effectively with persons of varying cultures and diversity.
  • Employee Relations: Foster positive relationships between employees and management. Consults with departmental leadership regarding complex and/or highly sensitive employee relations matters in the use of performance management and corrective action plans.  Resolve complex employee relations issues fairly and objectively using appropriate techniques.  Ability to facilitate problem-solving and approach client issues from a solution-oriented stance. Analyzes and evaluates the impact of proposed legislation and rule changes; assists in the establishment of HR policies, rules and procedures; conducts research, analysis, and studies to address issues and problems related to HR.  May be engaged in Title IX matters and/or coordinate actions with legal counsel.
  • Talent, Engagement & Performance Management: Ability to manage complex relational dynamics and influence change in talent management strategies.  Drive talent initiatives focusing on recruitment, onboarding, retention, development, and training. Serves as an internal recruiter and talent/skill development agent.  Manages recruitment cycle for a full range of staff or academic positions.  Emphasize building future leaders and developing talent within the organization.  Manages effective performance and employee engagement initiatives to ensure consistent and holistically calibrated evaluation and reward measures.  Partner with hiring managers to enhance recruiting processes. Engage effectively with all organizational levels, contributing as a strong team member.
  • Training, Education & Development: Helps design, develop, facilitate and deliver educational activities designed to improve job performance for individuals and groups.  Ability to perform stand-up training on a variety of work/life matters.  Works with business partners to customize skill-based actions within their areas. May represent HR and/or university in off-site professional or community affairs.
  • Analytics, Compensation, Benefits & Labor Management:  Helps develop, asses, devise and maintain strategy-based compensation and reward programs that best fit the university and its employees.  Consults with management on issues of position reclassification, promotions, demotions, transfers, and position descriptions.  Ability to analyze trends and forecasts to model effective programs in pay and benefits with a core emphasis on fairness and equity.    Focuses actions on financial and nonmonetary elements to attract recruits, reduce turnover, spur performance and boost employee engagement.  Develops and monitors key performance indicators (KPI’s), metrics and dashboard tracking for HR and client departments.
  • HRIS & Payroll: Act as a gatekeeper for the integrity of employee, institution, and payroll data; ensuring quality and accuracy of information through the in/output and maintenance of payrolls, employee records, reporting and compliance standards.  Utilizes various HR systems and records to retrieve information on individual employees, histories and situations.  Navigates and manages supporting middleware to optimize internal and enterprise-wide efficiency and effectiveness.  Manages complex features to ensure delivery, quality, reporting and compliance.
  • Culture & Work Environment: Ability to collaborate, develop and maintain effective working relationships with associates, supervisors, job contacts, supporting TPA’s, vendors and general public.  Develops creative programs to add value to workers’ job experience and connection to the university’s mission.
  • Compliance, Documentation & Policies: Ensure adherence to policies and procedures. Stay updated on employment laws, HR trends, and best practices, recommending improvements to HR policies and processes.  Serves as a gatekeeper and liaison with outside enforcement agencies. Ensure source data is secure and memorialized.  Strong emphasis performance management practices are consistent, conduct coaching sessions, and maintain accurate records.
  • Confidentiality: Maintain a high level of confidentiality in handling HR matters and employee information.
  • Availability & Effectiveness:  Ability to work both collaboratively and independently demonstrating initiative and exhibit flexibility in work schedule, job tasks, functions, projects and initiatives.  Ability to influence without undue authority.  Ability to create depth of understanding for both HR-related disciplines and institutional processes.
  • Special Projects: Participate in and facilitate activities and projects as assigned. Represent the company positively in various settings.

CUSTOMER CARE

This is an active and experiential service and consulting role; designed to be front-facing and available.  It is the responsibility of every employee to make our students, colleagues, and guests feel special upon every reasonable encounter and/or through the delivery of friendly and helpful service.   Serves as an ambassador for the university and HR department.

PEOPLE LEADERSHIP

This is a position which primarily influences others in the course and direction/navigation of policy, practice and work design.  Internally, this position may provide leadership and guidance to others within the nature and flow of assignments; such as student workers or other staff.  Position is part of traditional cross-training design; actively working to fulfil objectives where needed.  Position serves as an active role-model supporting policy, practices, and initiatives undertaken by the university and department.  May train the broader campus community on HR actions and/or initiatives.

STUDENT EXPERIENCE & ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

Primary student interaction is supporting Federal Work Study, Graduate Assistants, Research Assistants.  Position indirectly impacts student experience through a variety of general service interactions.  May help guide broader university and/or department internship experiences.  

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

This position assists internally with the HR department’s budget; may assist in analytical work impacting institutional labor and overhead budgets along with special project research, forecasting and analysis.  Has impact and responsibility over certain budget and billing integrity along with playing a critical role in financial audits, compliance and reporting.  Makes recommendations and may control certain larger-scale internal budgets and purchases. 

RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS

This is a position where the output of work and service details impact:

  • Information and data as it is further used for critical compliance, reporting, forecasting, budgeting, planning, and strategic development internally and throughout the institution.
  • Internal and external community’s perceptions and reputation as an employer of choice.
  • Personal details (demographic, financial, etc.) at the individual and group level requiring upmost discretion and confidentiality to secure and use data according to laws, policy, and practice.
  • Actions are typically time-sensitive requiring prioritization for responsive action.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.
  • Knowledge of HR concepts, practices, policies, and procedures.
  • Strong understanding of multiple HR disciplines.
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive information.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively at all organizational levels.
  • Proficiency in HRIS, cloud based systems and/or middleware, MS Office Suite (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
  • Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to manage competing demands in a busy environment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Two or more years of dedicated HR experience in a diverse
  • Professional certification (SPHR/PHR or SHRM-SCP/CP).
  • Specialty discipline certification
  • HRIS database management

WORK ENVIRONMENT

See ADA Inventory for a detailed description of physical and mental job requirements essential to this job’s performance.

OTHER

As listed, this job’s essential duties are not intended to be all inclusive; other functions may be changed with or without notice.  Employees may be asked to perform other assigned tasks as necessary which may additionally include both within their department and or for the campus at large.

The HR business partner (HRBP) is a subject matter expert providing professional HR-related guidance to campus clients.  HRBP’s serve as both a trusted advisor and practitioner supporting tactical and strategic needs and initiatives important for internal HR program development and university support functions impacting workforce matters.  The position may operate over widespread and varied disciplines but may also generally focus on a specific track or skillsets.  The position is a solution-maker navigating a complex internal and external policy, compliance, workforce development, and organizational design landscape.  Having a Bachelor’s degree with preferred 2 years of dedicated HR experience in an influence capacity, the ideal candidate is a curious and resourceful self-starter who enjoys delivering results using a can-do, service-oriented, client-based attitude.  Knowledge and familiarity of HR laws and applications.  Excellent organization, problem-solving, and communication skills.

 

Tusculum University is an Equal Opportunity Employer.  Interested candidates should submit resume, cover letter, and Tusculum Application (found here:https://tuemail.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/TU+Employment+Application.pdf  )to turesume@tusculum.edu.