UBCO | Administrative Support | Departments of Biology & Chemistry | Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
Job Description Summary
This position provides a wide range of confidential administrative support to the Graduate
Program Coordinators in the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science (FoS). This position supports multiple key university graduate administrative services in FoS including: development of processes, application and admissions, student registration, records and progress tracking, degree completion and data reporting. This position works in conjunction with the College of Graduate Studies, Enrollment Services and the departments within FoS.
Organizational Status
This position works closely with Graduate Program Coordinators but reports directly to the Director, Administration, Operations and Strategic Partnerships (Director). The incumbent works as a first-line resource person for all graduate programs within FoS. This position acts as liaison to various areas and departments including the AVP Academic and Research Office, the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) and Principal, Development and Alumni Engagement, University Relations, College of Graduate Studies, Centre for Scholarly Communication, Centre for Teaching & Learning, Library, IT, Media and Classroom Services and Facilities Management. The role responds to inquiries from faculty, staff, students and the general public.
Work Performed
1. Assist Program Coordinators by:
- Providing general information to current and pre-admission FoS graduate students with academic
program options, transfer credit, course selection and registration.
- Assessing graduate applications and admissions, including calculating grade point average (GPA) and
cross-referencing international qualifications.
- Prioritizing and directing incoming tasks for timely and appropriate actions and responses.
- Providing support for recruitment through assessment of International students and institutions.
- Monitoring changes to university academic and administrative policies; assisting with development and
review of policies and procedures relating to graduate programs in FoS.
- Performing degree audits to ensure students have completed degree requirements.
- Assisting students with course selection and registration for FoS graduate programs.
- Working with the Student Information Services Centre (SISC) program to access student information
when required.
- Drafting agendas, recording and transcribing meeting minutes and ensuring the progress of action
items.
- Consulting with the College of Graduate Studies to resolve problems and/or discrepancies in
academic records.
- Assisting with assignment and monitoring of graduate awards and scholarships as recommended by
the Faculty.
- Overseeing tracking of student performance and notifying Graduate Program Coordinators regarding
withdrawals, provisional/probationary standings.
- Ensuring proper submission of student and faculty administrative forms.
- Coordinating with the College of Graduate Studies and external institutions.
2. Assists with communication by:
- Maintaining information flow to students regarding notification of critical dates and deadlines (i.e.
annual progress reports, graduate supervision, course registration and graduation deadlines).
- Ensuring that the graduate website content is accurate, clear, updated in a timely manner and
consistent across all FoS sites as required.
- Working with the Faculty Service Centre (FSC) to send out class notices and verify grade
submissions.
- Preparing and updating promotional materials for ongoing recruitment programs.
- Updating program related documents such as Graduate Program regulations and related
information such as handouts, forms and web entries.
- Processing and maintaining student records and databases.
- Assisting graduate and programs with schedules and timetables.
- Revising and maintaining course timetabling in response to program policy changes.
- Coordinating and publicizing graduate student research seminars
- Announcing thesis defenses and processing related tasks
3. Performs general office duties by:
- Collecting course outlines and assuring quality control.
- Assisting with faculty evaluations and final exam coordination.
- Archiving of FoS graduate student records and files.
- Serving as a liaison to the College of Graduate Studies and providing coordination services as
necessary.
- Coordinating and acting as liaison to IT, Media and Classroom Services.
- Coordinating graduate student office allocations
- Assist the Departmental Administrative Assistants with the administration of Graduate Student hires
and onboarding
4. Performs other related duties as required.
Consequence of Error/Judgement
Judgment requires knowledge of University, FoS and the College of Graduate Studies admission requirements, policies and procedures. Providing incomplete or inaccurate information or advice to students can adversely impact the FoS s ability to recruit students and can impact students ability to achieve their academic and professional goals and could result in academic appeals or lawsuits. Inability to work cooperatively with students, faculty and staff may jeopardize the effective provision of services to students. This position has access to confidential student records and materials and processes information into student records in an online system; accuracy and confidentiality are crucial. Errors have a direct impact on student academic records. The accurate and timely processing of curriculum and related proposals ensures efficient implementations. Delays in timing or errors in processing curriculum items could impact the implementation of proposals. Accuracy and speed and the ability to meet deadlines are critical. Errors could result in unnecessary expenditures, which could lead to financial hardship or missed opportunities for effective delivery of services to students, faculty and staff.
Supervision Received
This position reports directly to the Director, Administration, Operations and Strategic Partnerships but works independently on a day to day basis with minimal supervision. Overall objectives are determined in consultation with the Graduate Coordinators within the departments. Within those guidelines, this position works independently, determining priorities as necessary. Guidance is received in matters of strategic significance.
Supervision Given
This position does not supervise any other employees.
Minimum Qualifications
- 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
Preferred Qualifications
Undergraduate degree over three years of related administration experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required Ability to effectively use MS Office software at an intermediate level. (e.g., Outlook, MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe products)Ability to perform word processing at 60 words per minute. Familiarity with Web-development software required. Ability to be thorough, accurate, and have a high level of attention to detail and presentation of information. Excellent customer service skills are essential. Effective oral and written communication. Effective problem solving skills. Effective interpersonal skills. Effective multitasking skills. Effective organization skills. Knowledge of university policies and procedures an asset. Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines while being courteous and helpful. Ability to exercise tact and discretion. Ability to work effectively independently and in a team environment.
