Academic Development Officer

The University of Alberta's Department of Medicine (DoM) is a recognized leader in innovative education, world-class research and outstanding patient care. The DoM is the largest department in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (FoMD) and the biggest at the University of Alberta. More than 800 academic and clinical faculty, students, residents and fellows help achieve our goal of improving health and healthcare locally and globally. These efforts are supported by more than 300 health, technical and support staff. 

Reporting to the Assistant Chair, Administration (ACA), and working closely with the Associate Chair, Faculty Affairs and the Assistant Chair, Clinical Faculty, the Academic Development Officer is responsible for developing and managing all Department of Medicine programs related to the academic development of faculty members - specifically Assistant Professors through the two probation terms to tenure hearing and promotion, including celebration events related to faculty successes; including lifelong learning opportunities for all faculty. 

As the first point of contact for new faculty, this position is responsible for providing sound career advice and will provide leadership and be directly responsible for the management and support of the following areas: orientation; mentorship program; faculty development curricula (course); third year review and tenure/promotion processes for academic and clinical faculty; Academic Evaluation Committee and its review processes; Clinical Faculty Promotion Committee and its review processes.

This role requires a professional individual with strong verbal and written communication skills who is highly organized, pays meticulous attention to detail and follows up on all activities to ensure a successful completion. A high degree of initiative and personal motivation are required for an individual to be successful in this role.  

Specific duties include but are not limited to: 

• Develops and maintains orientation material to support new faculty, mentors, Division Directors and existing faculty and staff throughout the department, ensuring consistency of information without duplication of university information
• Creates content, distributes and statistically analyzes surveys to identify faculty needs for career development and success of the program, etc.
• Organizes and leads orientation education events 
• Develops and maintains a process/database to identify new mentees and mentors in the department and facilitate the matching of mentor/mentee dyads
• Oversees the recruitment, selection and training of mentors who will be receiving new junior faculty members 
• Plans and revises curriculum content through the application of sound instructional design principles
• Creates, develops and manages the department’s faculty development curriculum
• Provides strategic leadership with the goal of enhancing the quality of opportunities and resources available to faculty
• Researches means of improving program, including semi-annual survey of mentees regarding their satisfaction with current mentoring situation and conducting a major program evaluation every 2-3 years
• Develops and provides mentoring resource materials to mentors; maintains program statistics
• Provides support to Mentorship Council
• Prepares communications/mentorship article for each issue of PULSE and other avenues as required
• Organizes, identifies and coordinates facilitators and technical support for each session; identifies topics for which experts are needed
• Establishes and communicates department deadlines for promotion-related materials to be submitted to the Chair’s office ensuring alignment with Faculty deadlines
• Develops and presents training sessions for both support staff and faculty members related to the promotion process
• Provides support for the Academic Evaluation Committee
• Supports the Clinical Faculty Promotion Committee chaired by the Assistant Chair, Clinical Faculty
• Develops the annual review process by Division Directors for all clinical faculty for merit assessment, trains Division Directors on process, and ensures all are completed.
• Develops communications related to DoM clinical promotions deadlines, as well as, maintaining the content of the promotion section of the DoM website
• Maintains the clinical colleague promotion guidelines ensuring alignment with Faculty criteria
• Initiates request for nominations (along with terms of reference) to all faculty for the Clinical Innovation Awards, Mentorship Award and Cooperation, Collaboration and Teamwork Award; conducts voting for the awards
• Formulates evaluation methods and implements and monitors evaluations on an ongoing basis

Qualifications

• Post-secondary degree
• 5 years of experience in a post-secondary education institution administrative role 
• A strong working knowledge of the Faculty Evaluation Committee (FEC) guidelines and the Faculty Agreement would be an asset
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills
• Ability to work independently and be expected to provide leadership in educational programming related to the development and implementation of curriculum and assessment strategies 
• Demonstrated ability to lead an organization and has a solid understanding of how to work effectively with people and other organizations as a whole
• Ability to perform in-depth problem solving and possesses critical thinking skills
• Knowledge and leadership skills to deal with the complexities and varying needs of many different groups and individuals
• Ability to bring people with various perspectives and responsibilities together in creating a common understanding and direction
• Excellent presentation skills and ability to relate comfortably with diverse individuals
• Strong organizational awareness; awareness of goals and objectives of the DoM and FoMD willing to work to build a common purpose across all groups; understands the policies and procedures environment of the University and the Department/Faculty
• Strong computer skills: Microsoft Office, Gmail, Google Calendars; survey software experience is a requirement; PeopleSoft experience is an asset 

In accordance with the Trust/Research Academic Staff Agreement, this position has an appointment of one year, with the possibility for renewal, and offers a comprehensive benefits package found at www.hrs.ualberta.ca and annual salary range of $71,198 - $97,922.

Interested applicants should submit a curriculum vitae, with a detailed cover letter describing their interest in the position and be prepared to bring examples of any educational processes built to an interview.