Academic Programs Manager

University of British Columbia • Vancouver, BC

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Academic Programs Manager is a strategic and operational role, responsible for developing, delivering, and evaluating several research-based graduate programs at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH). These programs include the Master of Health Science (MHSc), the Master of Science in Population and Public Health (MSc PPH) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The incumbent is responsible for overseeing the entire program cycle, including recruitment, admissions, retention and ensuring overall academic success of students. The Manager is expected to develop strategies and systems designed to attract applicants, yield high-calibre students, and optimize the student experience within SPPH. The research-based graduate programs are critical to the School’s reputation and success, and the Manager is expected to provide high-levels of support and advice to prospective and current students, upholding and enhancing the School’s reputation for high-quality program offerings. In addition to graduate program duties, the Manager is also responsible for coordinating the SPPH participation in the Vancouver Summer Program, as well as managing undergraduate programming at the School. The position is also responsible for strategic initiatives and coordinated activities that span all SPPH programs, such as the admissions process, financial awards, education events and programming. The Manager supports ongoing curriculum change and program growth, operating effectively in an evolving environment. The incumbent also contributes to the implementation of the strategic direction and priorities of the school as they relate to research programming.

Requirements

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline.
• Minimum of three to four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own.
• Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Education, Health Sciences, Health Administration, Health Services, or Communication preferred.
• Experience in post-secondary advising or counselling and administration.
• UBC experience preferred.
• Previous work in the area of graduate education and familiarity with UBC internal systems e.g., SISC, FSC, eVision, Connect, Canvas.
• Ability to quickly learn and master institutional software, including educational software platforms and online survey tools e.g. Qualtrics.
• Ability to use Microsoft Suite at an intermediate level.
• Excellent communications skills, including fluent oral and written English.
• Excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills, including the ability to bring together diverse faculty and staff in a constructive, calm and courteous manner.
• Empathetic and open demeanour to facilitate trusting relationships with students.
• Cross-cultural experience is considered an asset.
• Ability to exercise confidentiality, diplomacy and good judgement under stressful situations and when interpreting policies or making decisions.
• Strong organizational and administrative skills to effectively manage complex workloads and work under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Previous project coordination or management experience and the ability to manage multiple projects is considered a strong asset.
• Excellent analytical and decision-making skills.
• Complex problem-solving skills.
• Ability to initiate improvements to program operations, policies and procedures.
• Experience developing and monitoring program evaluation methods and metrics.
• Ability to work effectively independently and in a team.
• Supervisory experience and the ability to recruit, train, supervise and motivate employees, including assigning and monitoring work and providing constructive feedback.

Responsibilities

• Develops robust recruitment strategies for the research programs, relying on industry best practices and developing metrics to measure the success of each recruitment tactic.
• Leads implementation of recruitment activities to attract and retain excellent candidates for research programs, including: Developing, implementing and assessing effective marketing and recruitment plans for the research programs, in consultation with Program Directors and Education team leadership; Overseeing the development of print and electronic recruitment materials and developing a strategy to represent SPPH at job fairs and other recruitment events; Creating student and alumni profiles to promote the research programs; Designing, marketing and delivering program info sessions to prospective students, both in-person and via webinar; Providing advice to prospective students on issues that require clarification or interpretation, including: application procedures, eligibility, program requirements, deadlines, etc.
• Develops strategies to lead clerical staff and ensure effective, accurate and efficient responses are provided to prospective students.
• Leads admissions activities for the research programs, including: Organizing the MSc, PhD, and MHSc admissions committees (in collaboration with the Program Directors); Gathering and analysing required data and information for the committee and Program Directors, providing recommendations based on the analysis; Leading clerical staff to process applications, from receipt of application through to release of offer letter, and guiding support staff to identify situations that might require special adjudication or consideration; Evaluating and interpreting unique and non-standard applications, including interpreting applicant eligibility; Assessing and awarding entrance scholarships.
• Leads a variety of activities with the aim of ensuring successful student progression through academic programs, providing proactive advice and support through activities such as: Monitoring student performance and progression, following up with students proactively to ensure appropriate registration and progression through to program completion and graduation; Leading clerical staff to develop strategies to ensure efficient processing of requests such as: leaves of absence, appeals, exemptions, advancement to candidacy, etc.; Investigating and evaluating discrepancies in student records (i.e. missing grades) and authorizing changes where appropriate; Advising students on programmatic questions that require clarification and interpretation, including: transfer credits, program requirements, deadlines, etc.; Leading the resolution of student challenges and directing students to appropriate campus resources; Creating and maintaining materials to support student requests such as letters of completion, scholarship applications, etc.; Managing resolution of complex questions or sensitive issues; with the Program Directors, facilitates the resolution of conflicts between students and faculty supervisors; Designing strategies s to ensure that students are connected to relevant support and advice at the appropriate time; providing advice to students on how to most effectively make use of faculty expertise and advising.
• Organizes and coordinates events to support thesis-based program completion, such as: Thesis Screening panels, Comprehensive exams, Masters exams, Dissertation defenses.
• Manages operational activities related to the research programs, balancing operational requirements and strategic considerations.
• Manages student database and program metrics, developing processes and workflows that ensure the integrity and accuracy of data.
• Leads creation of the program evaluation and quality assurance strategy.
• Regularly analyzes program metrics, providing guidance to the management team and Program Directors, including analysis and recommendations based on findings.
• Develops and implements strategies to monitor and evaluate the success of research programs in areas such as: effectiveness of recruitment strategies, admissions processing, retention, academic success, student experience.
• Develops financial strategies for the research programs to ensure responsible and effective use of the research program budget to support program and SPPH-wide goals.
• Maintains shadow ledges to inform program budgets, providing regular analysis (including identification of potential risks).
• Collaborates with Senior Education Manager and other Program Managers to design and implement a financial strategy for operations affecting multiple programs.
• Creates policies and processes to ensure smooth and effective program delivery.
• Ensures accurate and consistent implementation of policies, regularly evaluating them to recommend improvements.
• Develops and implements strategies to create and maintain a high-quality student experience.
• Communicates clearly with students through various forms (such as advising appointments, emails, newsletters, websites) and creates strategies to encourage open lines of communication with students.
• Develops and implements strategies to actively engage with students and ensures that student concerns are heard and addressed in a timely manner.
• Creates tools to collect student feedback and perspectives and analyses results regularly to monitor student experience.
• Identifies opportunities for improvements in curricular and extra-curricular activities to positively impact the overall student experience.
• Proactively identifies threats to a positive student experience and implements mitigation strategies.
• Organizes activities to increase quality of faculty supervision, in collaboration with the Program Directors.
• Designs and delivers programs to support career development and professional placements for research students.
• Researches and seeks out opportunities to support students to undertake professional experiences throughout their degree.
• Where applicable, liaises with community partners or organizations to formalize these opportunities.
• Recruits, leads and coaches two student facilitators in the design and delivery of peer programs and services, such as mentorship programs and student engagement activities.
• Working with student facilitators, organizes and facilitates social events to create a strong sense of community among students.
• Creates and maintains student documentation and materials to guide students through their program.
• Leads the creation and curation of Canvas course sites to support research students.
• Conducts research and analysis, using tools such as surveys or focus groups, to assess student needs for services that aren’t currently available.
• Designs strategies to address student needs and leads the projects or initiatives to implement the strategies.
• Fosters linkages and strengthens relationships with key supports and networks in the School and across the university, including: SPPH administrative team, Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, the Centre for Accessibility, and the Wellness Centre.
• Proactively identifies opportunities for collaboration or sharing best practices between SPPH programs.
• Oversees the implementation of strategies to advance change and optimization of programming at the graduate and undergraduate level.
• With the Program Directors, supports the exploration of opportunities for advancing programming through activities such as: Providing advice and input into curriculum change discussions; Conducting research and analysis as required (e.g. researching background information or creating position papers); Facilitating category 1 and category 2 curriculum changes through administrative processes and authorizations within the Faculty of Medicine and UBC Senate, including: Overseeing requirements for curriculum change and preparing required information; Submitting curriculum change proposals.
• Manages awards and financial support for all SPPH programs.
• Serves as SPPH team lead for admissions.
• Leads SPPH-wide graduation activities.
• Takes on special projects, as assigned from time to time by the Senior Education Manager.

Benefits

• Employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level