Staff - Union
Job Category
BCGEU Okanagan Support Staff
Job Profile
BCGEU OK Salaried - Support Services Assistant II
Job Title
Senior Department Assistant
Department
UBCO | Administrative Support | Departments of CMPS & EEGS | Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science
Compensation Range
$4,695.00 - $5,385.00 CAD Monthly
Posting End Date
April 14, 2025
Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.
Job End Date
Nov 30, 2025
This is a term position ending November 30, 2025.
At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.
Job Summary
This position will provide student, faculty and financial related administrative support to the Department Head, faculty and staff in the Department of Computer Sciences, Physics, Mathematics and Statistics. This includes assisting with the education plan and timetabling; student registration and hiring, and assisting with departmental financial processes. This position exercises initiative and judgment to assess and respond to issues and to resolve administrative problems, works effectively using database and web-based programs and performs general routine office procedures.
Organizational Status
This position reports to the Department Manager, with a dotted-line report to the Head of Department. This position interacts with students, staff, faculty members, Enrolment Services, Student Development and Advising, Human Resources, Finance Operations, Facilities Management and other faculties and schools administration.
Work Performed
Education Plan, Course Scheduling and Registration
- Assists with the Department’s Education Plan, timetabling, and scheduling processes.
- Maintains the Department Education Plan by performing data entry at Department Head’s direction.
- Drafts the Summer timetable for the Department Head’s review/approval.
- Inputs the Education Plan (exclusive of Professional Programs) into the Web Data Collector (WDC) for the Winter and Summer sessions.
- Collects and inputs instructor availabilities in WDC.
- Programs course Modes of Delivery (MOD) and subsequent changes in Workday; communicates changes to students and Faculty contacts as applicable; requests room removals.
- Works directly with the Lab Manager (Physics/Astronomy) to determine lab schedules in Department restricted space for WDC entry.
- Assists the Department Head with annual Degree Pathway reviews; communicates Degree Pathway changes to Academic Scheduling/Enrolment Services.
- Collects feedback from the Associate Heads, Program Advisors, and Faculty for the Department Head’s review/approval regarding course scheduling rules, course conflicts/issues, and instructor availabilities during the scheduling process; submits and tracks required changes to Enrolment Services.
- Attends meetings with Enrolment Services and impacted discipline Associate Heads for course conflict resolution and scheduling of unscheduled sections.
- Manages course scheduling by adding and removing course sections (lectures, labs, tutorials and/or seminars) as required in accordance with established guidelines. This involves close monitoring of enrolment and waitlists of courses, reporting course demands to the Department Head, and rescheduling sections into appropriate rooms while minimizing student registration impact (due to size, facilities and timetable conflict).
- Submits scheduling requests pre- and post-schedule as approved by the Department Head (course addition, course cancellation, section addition, room change, time change, instructor addition/removal).
- Assists with student registration; records and communicates appropriate changes to student records in the Workday.
- Notifies students of course expansions or cancellations inclusive of new lectures, labs, tutorials and/or seminars as applicable.
- Assists with prerequisite and corequisite course checks; reviews and sends missing activity notices in accordance with established guidelines; reviews conflicted registrations and contacts applicable Faculty administration in accordance with Department and Faculty policy; notifies students as required before the add/drop date each term based on established guidelines.
- Assists with processing prerequisite waiver and corequisite waiver requests; registers approved students to appropriate sections; updates student records with applicable approval or denial notations.
- Assists with processing XMT approvals and registers students to appropriate XMT sections.
Administrative and Department Financial Process Support- Assists with Sessional recruitment and hire processes; creates and communicates sessional advertisements to Faculty administrator for posting at the Department Head’s direction; collects applications for review and appointment; ensures instructor course Canvas access and attachment in Workday.
- Manages the administration and hiring processes of all undergraduate student hires inclusive of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTA), Undergraduate Academic Assistants (UAA), Markers, and Work Study/Work Learn students.
- Collects, records, uploads, files and/or appropriately disposes of all confidential documents required for student hires (personal data, study permits, SIN numbers).
- Provides Workday set-up information to student employees (IDs).
- Prepares and posts Qualtrics Teaching Assistant applications for the Department Head’s approval; tracks undergraduate appointments and hire processes in coordination with the TA Coordinator and Associate Head Undergraduate.
- Responds to inquiries from students, faculty members, staff, other UBC departments and the general public.
- Initiates and processes requisitions for payment/expenses.
- Reconciles a department VISA card.
- Reconciles financial expenses for Department staff or faculty, if delegated by that individual.
Performs other related duties as required, including assisting the other Department Assistants as needed and provides coverage while the other Department Assistants are away.
Consequence of Error/Judgement
This position has access to confidential correspondence, final exams, financial and academic records, and personal information for students, staff and faculty. Poor judgement or errors in processing confidential materials and correspondences could have an adverse effect on the work of the Department Head. Access to this wide range of information requires the employee to exercise judgment in maintaining the confidentiality of the information. A breach of privacy and policy may have serious financial implications to the University. Must be able to exercise a great deal of judgment and initiative in dealing with administrative matters where there are no established policies, procedures or guidelines.
Supervision Received
This position works under the direct supervision of the Department Manager, with a dotted-line report to the Head of Department. This position carries out familiar phases of work independently and in accordance with established procedures; however, is expected to be able to take initiated, problem-solve, determine course of action and then follow through independently without supervision.
Supervision Given
The position is not responsible for the supervision of others.
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 in a relevant discipline.
- Over three years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Experience in a university setting providing administrative assistance to executives is preferred.
- Intermediate proficiency in MS Office software which includes Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, Outlook and PowerPoint. Must have knowledge of Adobe PDF.
- Knowledge of University policies and procedures is an asset.
- Able to maintain accuracy and attention to detail.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Able to effectively manage multiple tasks and priorities.
- Excellent organizational skills are required.
- Able to ensure efficient records management procedures and practices required.
- Able to take and transcribe accurate minutes and able to perform word processing at 60 words per minute.
- Able to prioritize work, multi-task and work under pressure to meet deadlines in a hectic environment.
- Able to deal with a diversity of people in a calm, courteous, and effective manner.
- Able to exercise confidentiality, sensitivity, tact, and discretion.
- Able to work both independently and within a team environment.