Director of Student Equity and Community Development

Position description

This is an exciting new position in Mount Allison Student Affairs, with a focus on student community education and development around equity, mutual respect and support, conflict resolution, and preventive and restorative student conduct management. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to shape sector-leading approaches, grounded in educational values, with a focus on reducing systemic and personal barriers to student success.

This position will report to the Vice President Student Affairs, and will provide oversight, championship and strategic direction for equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and anti-racism work in the portfolio and with students. This will include coordinating campus-wide education in areas focusing on equity and inclusion, antiracism, decolonization, bystander intervention, dis / ability support, conflict and alternative dispute resolution, sexual violence prevention, hazing prevention, and other programs to raise campus capacity for inclusion and student support.

The position will also oversee fulltime and part-time positions providing specific student support for equity-deserving student populations, including multifaith and Indigenous, and developing and maintaining a roster of contract equity advisors to meet equity-deserving students’ needs. Taking an equity-focused, preventive and restorative lens to student behaviour, the position will also oversee student conduct and sexualized violence support and response.

This position is an opportunity to work in a highly collaborative environment with students, student groups, faculty and staff, to develop highly innovative and supportive practices for student success.

About Mount Allison

Mount Allison University is located within the territory of Mi’kma’ki, the unceded, ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq. Our relationship and our privilege to live on this territory was agreed upon in the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1752. Because of this treaty relationship it is to be acknowledged that we are all Treaty people and have a responsibility to respect this territory.

The University has been recognized by Maclean's annual university rankings as the top primarily undergraduate university in Canada 26 times in the past 33 years—a record unmatched by any other institution. The University has a history of top-quality scholarship, with 58 graduates having been awarded Rhodes Scholarships, the highest per capita of any university in the Commonwealth of Nations. Mount Allison offers more than 50 programs to choose from so students can create their own unique bachelor's degree. Mount Allison prides itself on providing a high-quality academic experience, combined with a variety of hands-on learning opportunities in a closeknit community.

Mount Allison has a long history of firsts, including our legacy as the first institution across the British empire to award a Bachelor’s degree to a woman, Grace Annie Lockhart, in 1875.

The university has recently completed its new strategic plan (available January 19) which has a transformative student experience as its first priority.

At Mount Allison, student engagement, both academic and co-curricular, is vibrant and high, and is rebounding post-COVID. The focus is now to help our students to develop lifelong skills that will enable them to be resilient in weathering change in times of disruption, and to contribute to making positive change. The new Director position is integral to this work.

About Sackville, New Brunswick

New Brunswick is an area where the arts and history of cultures – Indigenous, Acadian and English – intermingle. Museums, art galleries, provincial and national parks, unique rock formations and scenic attractions, and being the only officially bilingual province in Canada make New Brunswick highly attractive.

Sackville / Tantramar itself is located at the tip of the Bay of Fundy, with the highest tidal surge in the world, and is a small community, notably artistic with numerous art galleries. Sackville is a central point in the Maritimes : an easy drive to Moncton (30 minutes), Halifax, Nova Scotia (2.5 hours), Prince Edward Island (45 minutes) or the New Brunswick capital, Saint John (2 hours).

Real estate is still very affordable in this area, and relocation assistance is available. Please see Realtor.ca under “Tantramar” for listings.

Check out and for more information.

Candidate profile

The successful candidate will be a strategic and innovative leader, whose practice is deeply rooted in equity practices – both support for individuals and addressing systemic barriers. You are familiar with navigating complex issues and problems, and you embrace innovation and change. You deeply value student access and success and building an inclusive and supportive campus community.

You are excited about an opportunity to do things differently, with a passionately committed team of student affairs staff, and a campus that is uniquely positioned to continue to elevate the student experience. Faculty, staff and students are all highly engaged and are strong partners in this work.

Key qualifications include :

• Graduate degree in a discipline relevant to higher education administration, counselling psychology, equity, social justice or related field.
• 5-10 years of experience in progressively senior student affairs administration / post-secondary equity work, with demonstrated experience in managing professional and student staff, preferably within a university environment.
• Lived experience as a member of equity-deserving group(s), with extensive experience in equity education, social justice and social change work, and in successfully applying EDI approaches to working with individuals.
• Strong commitment to student success, including demonstrated experience addressing factors affecting belonging and inclusion of students.
• Extensive experience and deep understanding of conduct approaches, restorative justice, conflict mediation, alternative dispute resolution, de-escalation and formal judicial processes.
• Experience managing multiple priorities, and diverse viewpoints and needs.
• Demonstrated experience in working collaboratively with diverse communities.
• Extensive experience / skills in negotiation, complex problem solving, strategic planning and delivery, project and program development, change management, coaching, mentoring and project management. Demonstrated consultive and responsive approach to issues.

Please see job description below for more details.

Position Description

Reporting to the Vice-President, Student Affairs (VPSA) and as a senior member of an integrated Student Affairs team, the Director of Student Equity and Community Development will provide effective vision, leadership, management, administration and coordination of a broad-based student affairs portfolio. The Director shall provide strategic direction and operational leadership that promotes student engagement, retention, and diversity, and an inclusive, collaborative, supportive and empowered student community. The primary focus of this position is community education and development, including ensuring that any student behavioural issues are managed in an equitable, preventive and restorative manner.

The Director of Student Equity and Community Development will :

Qualifications / skills

Additional preferred skills / qualifications

Applying for this position :

If you are interested in the challenges and opportunities this position has to offer, we want to hear from you! Please submit a cover letter and resume by uploading them using the submission link provided below. Documents should be submitted in PDF format and clearly labeled with your full name.

Only those already eligible to work in Canada need apply. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Application materials will be collected for recruitment purposes only and handled in accordance with the University’s privacy and records-management practices. If you experience any difficulty accessing the link, please contact hr@mta.ca for assistance.

Submit Résumé and Cover Letter

Mount Allison is committed to diversity and inclusiveness. We encourage applications from members of racialized communities, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons of all sexual and gender identities. We seek candidates with qualifications and knowledge to contribute specifically to the further diversification of our campus.