Graduate Program Coordinator

Job Summary

Provides administrative assistance to graduate students and the Graduate Chair for the Department of Mathematics.


The incumbent must have a thorough working knowledge of the Policies and Procedures set out by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS). Major duties include: evaluating both domestic and international transcripts; processing applications for admission, graduation and fellowships/awards; supporting the graduate program in the Mathematics Department and the Graduate Chair; minute taking in meetings of admissions and awards committees; registering students in courses; and maintaining the Program s database. The incumbent will also process GRA and GTA appointments in Workday.

Organizational Status
Reports to the Executive Coordinator. Works collaboratively with faculty members, graduate students and other staff.
Work Performed

Admissions

- Provides information to prospective MATH graduate students on UBC and MATH program policies and procedures, including deadlines and documents for admission.

- Corresponds with prospective graduate students; provides information on UBC and MATH program requirements for admission, immigration documentation, employment authorization; answers case-specific inquiries.

- Evaluates North American and International academic transcripts based on G+PS admission requirements and assesses eligibility for admission.

- Keeps track of the status of applications, liaises with applicants over missing document and ensures that all timelines for process applications are met.

- Prepares complete applications files and makes available to the Admission Committee for review.

- Attends Committee meeting and records decisions on the admission of prospective students by Committee members.

- Drafts rejection and unofficial acceptance letter for review by the Grad Chair.

Program Administration

- Provides administrative support to the Grad Chair.

- Maintains student files (paper and electronic) with respect to program requirements, progress, leaves, extensions scholarships and funding.

- Reviews students academic progress and ensures that there is a written assessment of each student’s progress annually along with collecting and ensuring student-supervisor agreements for any incoming students..

- Monitors students’ milestones and progress towards degree completion, liaising with the Grad Chair and G+PS if issues arise.

- Organizes MATH course and seminar scheduling on the UBC system, including course availability, times, locations and other details including room booking.

- Registers students into MATH courses.

- Uses Faculty Service Centre and (Student Information Systems Centre) Workday to generate class lists, enter grades and maintain a current record of student awards, biographical and financial data.

- Maintains a filing system and database of current, graduated, withdrawn students, incomplete and rejected applications. Ensures files and database entries are kept up to date and provides statistical information as requested.

- Liaises with the Graduate Chair, graduate students and their supervisors on student program requirements, registration status, graduation and fellowship deadlines and policy and procedures set out by G+PS.

- Primary source of interpretation of policies and procedures on all graduate matters. This involves a thorough working knowledge of the Faculty of G+PS and MATH Program Policies and Procedures.

- Liaising with G+PS regarding new applications, current and graduating students; interacting with Admissions and Records (G+PS) on student documentation and for troubleshooting student problems; maintaining records of awards made through the Graduate Student Initiative and Four Year Doctoral Fellowship programs.

- Attending meetings at G+PS as required.

- Maintaining accuracy of program on website.

- Taking minutes of meetings of the program s Advisory, Admission and Awards committees and ensuring that decision and recommendation at such meeting are accurately recorded.

- Liaises with other Graduate Program Coordinators across the Faculty and University and maintains best practices in the MATH.

Communication

- Responsible for maintaining MATH faculty and graduate student e-mail lists.

- Regularly keeps students and faculty informed of significant graduate student issues, event and funding opportunities.

- Disseminates relevant information from G+PS, UBC Student Services and other University sources.

- Communicates and advises students through contact during office hours, email and website.

Graduation

- Processes the necessary paperwork for student graduation.

- Liaises with Records for any problem situations leading up to graduation deadlines.

- Confirms completion of graduation requirements for MATH MSC and PhD students.

Awards

- Responsible for organizing Tri-Agency/Affiliated Fellowships M.Sc. and Ph.D. scholarship competitions. Inform students and faculty of MATH and G+PS deadlines; distributes application instruction materials to students; assists students in filling out the necessary paperwork; ensures student applications are complete; evaluates transcripts; compiles complete applications for distribution to the MATH Awards Committee for review and ranking. Prepares program recommendations for forwarding to G+PS.

Other duties

- May occasionally have to deal with students in distress

- Drafting letters and handling official documents

- Completing Research Assistantship and Teaching Assistantship appointments

- Making adjustments to salaries and positions on Workday

- Completing requisitions for payment, reimbursement, and travel

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Determines eligibility of applications for the MATH program based on transcripts, both domestic and international, and on the TOEFL/GRE/etc. scores if required. New or unusual problems are referred to the Graduate Chair.
Supervision Received
Work is done under general supervision of the Executive Coordinator and Graduate Chair. Most duties are performed independently in accordance with established procedures; occasional consultation with G+PS and/or Director with reference to new or complex problems.
Supervision Given
None

Minimum Qualifications
High School graduation, plus two year post secondary diploma, plus four years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

- 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

High School graduation and two year post-secondary diploma and 4 years related experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience.- Proficiency in the use of English grammar; spelling; and punctuation; proficiency with professional terminology; technical or scientific vocabulary as required for the job.

- Ability to compose routine correspondence and reports.

- Ability to communicate effectively and tactfully with faculty; staff; students and the public in disseminating and obtaining information; in explaining practices and procedures; ability to coordinate and direct the work of others.

- Thorough knowledge of the policies and procedures set out by the Faculty of G+PS. Knowledge of the Graduate Admissions Streamlining Project (GRASP) on-line application an advantage.

- Word-processing and computer skills to include: Word for Windows- basic formatting of characters and paragraphs; structure of sections and documents: page setup; numbering; margins; headers; and footers; inserting special and accented characters; making tables; spelling checks.

- Outlook: creating, sending and forwarding messages; attaching documents and retrieving attached documents.

- Access: knowledge for database entry and maintenance, queries for data acquired from database reports.

- Excel: knowledge of spreadsheets and basic functions.

- Workspace: knowledge of UBC cloud-based file sharing system.