MGR,ASSESSMT & EDU INITIATIVES

Department Description:

Housing and Conference Services (HCS) directly supports the University’s goal of advancing human and societal wellbeing and McMaster’s overriding vision of ‘educating for capability’. We provide a distinctive living and learning experience for students focused on key educational priorities including community development, personal growth and wellness, academic excellence, and inclusion.
HCS concurrently drives a positive McMaster experience for guests, alumni, staff, faculty and student by providing accommodation and event coordination, which meet the highest standards of service excellence. HCS is a proud and significant ancillary contributor to the financial health of the University and the core academic and research mission of McMaster.
HCS is poised to expand our capacity by 66% over the next 5 years. Moving from 4000 to 6500 bed spaces across 15 buildings. This expansion will diversify the housing operation dramatically, from a traditional focus on the housing needs of first year undergraduate students, to the introduction of upper year, graduate, and family housing, in addition to a constantly diversifying internal and external client base.
The annual budget for HCS is currently (pre-expansion) approximately $31 million and we employ 125 full-time and 250 part-time staff. HCS reports directly to both the divisions of Student Affairs and Administration.

Housing and Conference Services supports the University’s goal to inspire personal growth by giving students a positive residential experience. The Residence Life unit has lead role responsibility for creating, promoting, and protecting a community experience for more than 4,000 students in 13 residence buildings which supports the academic mission of the University, facilitates the development of the student, both professionally and personally, and addresses first through upper year transition issues. This unit is responsible for educating the character of our students through the development of community standards, fair and efficient judicial processes, which include opportunities for peer involvement. Residence Life is responsible for creating and maintaining an environment for students that is safe mentally, emotionally and physically, celebrates diversity and promotes good citizenship.  The unit is responsible for regularly reviewing departmental programs, policies and procedures to ensure that they are educative and effective in meeting the changing needs of McMaster’s residence students, and that the residence experience will attract excellent students to McMaster.

Job Description

Reporting to the Director, Housing & Conference Services, the Manager, Assessment and Educational Initiatives works cooperatively with and coordinates the liaison between Living Learning Coordinators and several operational units within Housing and Conference Services to ensure seamless program delivery to 136 student staff and over 4000 residence students. The position is responsible for driving strategic progress in the areas of student development, academic success, orientation, student leadership, and departmental assessment - ensuring that regular reviews of departmental processes are conducted and improvements are made. This position is responsible for overseeing all transition, education, learning, leadership, and community building initiatives. The position initiates and oversees residence involvement in university-wide programs and activities in these priority areas. This position will participate with other senior leaders in the residence life unit in a 24/7 Senior Level On-call rotation to provide after-hours support to front line staff.

This position supervises a team of five staff that work collectively to create an atmosphere in residence that supports community, enhances student learning, and drives student success.

Reporting to the Manager, Assessment and Educational Initiatives are:

• Living Learning Coordinators (2)
• Orientation and Assessment Coordinator (1)
• Post Doctoral Research Associate (1)

Accountabilities:

1. Departmental Assessment and Research
   1. Develop and review an annual assessment plan for the department
   2. Direct the design, implementation, & analysis of large-scale departmental assessments strategies
   3. Facilitate consultation processes with residence students, the McMaster Students Union, and student staff in order to foster collaborative, effective and synergistic programmatic & operational improvements.
   4. Consult with all HCS operational units on assessment and evaluation techniques and analysis
   5. Advise all HCS operational units to implement data-informed improvements based on assessment, evaluation and feedback results.
   6. Support Lean Six Sigma-related initiatives for continuous improvement within department
   7. Cultivate research partnership to rigorously assess departmental initiatives while contributing to the academic mission of the institution
2.  Educational Initiatives
   1. Identify, cultivate, maintain, & assess strategic partnerships with faculties, university & student affairs partners, & Hamilton community agencies to improve interdisciplinary learning, involvement in research, first year transition, student leadership development & the quality of the living-learning experience.
   2. Direct the design, execution & assessment of the first-year curriculum in partnership with the Student Success Centre
      1. Ensure purposeful construction of the curriculum to effectively address social, emotional, & cognitive needs of students in residence with a focus on community engagement, student success, student learning, & alignment with university priorities.
   3. Connect residence community to programs and services provided by campus and community partners
   4. Direct the design, execution & assessment of Living Learning Communities, ensuring alignment and integration with the first-year curriculum
   5. Direct the design, implementation, & assessment of strategic academic success initiatives to engage residents in opportunities that support scholastic achievement outside the classroom.
   6. Oversee design, execution & assessment of orientation-related programs/events for students in residence including (but not limited to) Welcome Week programs and festivities, ensuring linkages to first-year curriculum and Living Learning Communities
3. Special Projects
   1. Collaborate with all HCS operational units within the larger department to ensure effective marketing strategies, building improvements, administrative synergies, consistent policy interpretation, & seamless program delivery. 
   2. Represent office & department to external groups including parents, campus organizations, local community partners, and university committees as requested by the Director, Housing & Conference Services.
   3. Other related duties as required.

Qualifications:

Education: University degree, Master's degree desired, preferably with a specialization in higher education, student affairs or equivalent.

Experience: 4-7 years management experience at a senior or progressive level in a university residence environment or similar related role in student affairs; supervision/managerial experience in a unionized environment is an asset; demonstrated experience and success collaborating across divisional units and pan-university; knowledge of student development and learning outcomes.

Knowledge/ Skills:

• strong leadership, team-building and employee engagement skills
• demonstrated effectiveness as a leader in positions of responsibility and complexity
• demonstrated practice of promoting collaboration with students and colleagues
• superior written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrated experience with conducting the research process
• exceptional listening skills and demonstrated capacity for exercising sound judgment
• superior initiative, resourcefulness and creative problem-solving skills
• strong organization and project management skills including work process review and leveraging technology to improve student experience
• demonstrated financial management skills
• proven ability to adapt and work under pressure at a high level of effectiveness in a fast paced, multi-tasked environment with high volume of work and tight deadlines
• professional attitude, demonstration of integrity, confidentiality and excellent work ethic