Director, Academic Affairs

Job Summary:

The Director, Academic Affairs will advance Ontario Tech University as one of Canada's top-ranked universities and nurture the academic, graduate, research and postdoctoral fellow employment experience and workplace. The Director will be responsible for developing academic administrator strategy in support of a variety of university strategic and operational plans and of evolving workforce interests, trends, and requirements.

Reporting to the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, the Director, Academic Affairs, will have accountability for development and implementation of policies, programs, and services that are responsive to operational plans and roadmaps established through collaboration and consultation with university partners. This position works closely with the Vice-President, People and Transformation, Director, Human Resources, Director, Employee and Labour Relations, and the General Counsel.

Responsibilities/accountabilities:

Strategic Leadership and Academic Workforce Planning

* Develop an academic administrator strategy aligned with university strategic and operational plans and evolving workforce trends.

* Develop and implement policies, programs, services, and operational roadmaps to support the academic administrator strategy.

* Lead policy development and initiatives to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and service quality for academic employees.

* Foster a collaborative, innovative, and results-driven team environment.

Labour Relations and Collective Bargaining

* Serve as co-chair of the University administration's Joint Committee team, identifying areas of common interest or concern under the UOIT Faculty Association Collective Agreement.

* Participate in academic-related collective bargaining and support Vice President, People and Transformation and Director, Employee and Labour Relations, on matters including research, issue identification, mandate development, and coordination of strategies.

* Represent the University externally in third-party dispute resolution and legal proceedings, in collaboration with Legal Counsel.

* Work with Human Resources on the implementation of academic collective agreements, including training, compliance auditing, and process review.

Academic Employee Lifecycle Management

* Manage coordinated approaches to academic employee issues such as recruitment, immigration, leaves, workload adjustments, onboarding, compensation, and other employment-related processes across academic faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and research employees.

* Provide advice and support for performance reviews, administrative faculty appointments, probationary and renewal processes, tenure, promotion, and continuing appointment procedures.

* Manage the development and upkeep of resource documentation and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for academic and research employee programs.

Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship Building

* Build strong, productive working relationships with senior administrators, managers, faculty supervisors, academic employees, and union representatives.

* Work with internal stakeholders to identify unique service needs for academic employees and ensure responsive service models.

Equity, Inclusion, and Wellbeing

* Serve as the University lead on the Committee for Employment Equity with the Faculty Association.

* Collaborate with the Vice-President, People and Transformation, and the HR team to integrate equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and decolonization into strategies and programs for academic employees.

* Work with Employee Health and Wellness leadership to embed workplace wellbeing principles and Mental Health Strategy components into academic employee programs and services.

Data, Reporting, and Institutional Support

* Collaborate with the Associate Vice-President, Planning and Analysis, to develop metrics, analyze data, and prepare reports for the Board of Governors, Senior Leadership Team, Government, and senior leaders.

* Design and deliver leadership training and professional development programs on academic affairs topics, including labour relations and workplace matters.