Program Specialist

University of British Columbia - Staff; Vancouver; On-site; CAD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Program Specialist to enhance sustainability initiatives within a vibrant academic environment. This role involves coordinating innovative programs that engage students and faculty in sustainability research and education. The successful candidate will play a crucial part in fostering collaboration, conducting impactful research, and developing outreach activities that resonate across the university community. If you are passionate about sustainability and eager to make a difference, this is an exciting opportunity to contribute to meaningful change in a dynamic setting.

Qualifications

• Minimum of two years of related experience or equivalent education.
• Demonstrated interest in sustainability and climate change.

Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities for coordination and collaboration between programs.
• Conduct research to inform strategic decision-making on program directions.

Skills

Program Management

Research Skills

Communication Skills

Analytical Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Project Management

Education

Undergraduate Degree

Tools

MS Office Suite

Drupal

Adobe Creative Suite

Job description

Staff - Non Union

Job Category M&P - AAPS Job Profile AAPS Salaried - Research and Facilitation, Level A Job Title Program Specialist Department Urban Innovation Research | UBC Sustainability Initiative Compensation Range $5,365.42 - $7,709.92 CAD Monthly

The Compensation Range is the span between the minimum and maximum base salary for a position. The midpoint of the range is approximately halfway between the minimum and the maximum and represents an employee that possesses full job knowledge, qualifications and experience for the position. In the normal course, employees will be hired, transferred or promoted between the minimum and midpoint of the salary range for a job.

Posting End Date May 12, 2025

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

This position is expected to be filled by promotion/reassignment and is included here to inform you of its vacancy at the University.

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

The Sustainability Hub builds on UBC’s position as a leader in sustainability and works to reinforce the University’s goal of providing an exceptional learning and research-rich environment that advances global citizenship and a sustainable society. A cross-cutting unit within the VP Academic portfolio, the Sustainability Hub works with both academic and administrative functions across UBC to advance sustainability and climate emergency priorities in teaching, research, student and community engagement.

The Sustainability Hub programs are growing and expanding, responding to increased interest from the UBC community and regional partners. The Program Specialist supports strategic growth and coordination between key programs focused on advancing sustainability and climate priorities across the academic experience at UBC. These programs include:

• Campus as a Living Lab, a collaborative framework for researchers, students, staff and partners to engage in applied research and innovation projects that address urgent global sustainability challenges.

• Sustainability Scholars Program, an innovative paid internship program that matches UBC graduate students with partner organizations to work on research projects that advance sustainability in the region.

• Sustainability and Climate Education Grants, and the Sustainability Fellows program, which are funding and interdisciplinary engagement initiatives to help faculty develop curriculum and diversify sustainability, climate and wellbeing education opportunities in their departments.

• The Climate Emergency program, which engages faculty, staff, students and community in UBC’s climate emergency response, including integrating climate justice throughout educational and operational activities.

The Program Specialist will work to improve coordination, collaboration and connection among these growing programs and with other Sustainability Hub programs and specialized units at UBC. The role will also identify and develop opportunities to expand the programs to improve sustainability research and teaching practices at UBC, engage a broader range of faculty, staff and students, strengthen intersections with other strategic priorities and initiatives, improve processes, and advance knowledge mobilization to increase on- and off-campus impacts. Primarily focused on the Vancouver campus, the position will also assist with cross-campus collaboration with staff and faculty at UBC Okanagan and will help inform the development of new faculty and student-facing programs and activities.

Organizational Status
The Program Specialist reports to the Director, Urban Innovation Research and the Manager of the Sustainability Scholars program, and will work closely with the Manager, Teaching and Learning.

Work Performed

• Identify opportunities and develop proposals for coordination and collaboration between the different programs, activities and cohorts, with the aim of improving collective impacts on sustainability research, teaching and learning.

• Conduct background research, literature and peer reviews of similar programs and sustainability topics and develop reports to inform strategic decision-making on program directions and long-term goals.

• Work with program cohorts to improve participation and strengthen benefits, including communication throughout the life cycle of recruitment, program participation and post-completion follow-up.

• Support day-to-day program operations and record keeping.

• Develop and implement outreach activities to increase engagement with a broader range of UBC faculty, staff and students.

• Identify opportunities and support the development of new partnerships and collaborations on and off-campus.

• Manage, with the direction of the program managers, existing partner relationships and communications.

• Plan and facilitate meetings, workshops and other interactive sessions with program cohorts and a variety of on and off-campus audiences.

• Develop knowledge mobilization plans to channel outcomes and learnings from the programs into policy and practices within UBC, and to partner organizations and governments.

• Manage the creation of knowledge mobilization materials and information, either directly and with student assistants, or through co-development with faculty, staff and students in the program cohorts.

• Develop reports and presentations summarizing proposals and opportunities for program growth and integration, and documenting program status and activities.

• Coordinate program assessment and evaluation, in alignment with Sustainability Hub metrics and evaluation requirements, and identify areas for improvement in line with best practices.

• Develop approaches and procedures to track benefits, challenges and impacts beyond program completion, including qualitative assessment strategies.

• Engage with UBC academic departments to assess impacts of program on teaching and student learning practices, including identifying transferable knowledge and synergies between research and teaching activities.

• Draft funding applications and support other actions to secure resources for program growth and new initiatives.

• Design, develop and manage special projects and strategic initiatives as needed.

• Other duties as assigned.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
The position supports a broad range of programs that contribute to the public image and profile of the university on a provincial, national and international level, and is expected to exercise good judgment, tact and discretion. Consequences of error and poor decisions could result in lost opportunities, damaged relationships, and loss of credibility for UBC and the Sustainability Hub.

Supervision Received
The position reports to the Director, Urban Innovation Research and Senior Manager, Sustainability Scholars & Strategic Implementation, but works with considerable independence. Work is reviewed against the achievement of specific goals and objectives.

Supervision Given
May manage student research and program assistants. Provides advice and recommendations to program managers and other unit staff.

Minimum Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of two 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

• Demonstrated interest and knowledge of sustainability, climate change, and related challenges and solutions.

• Experience or training in program and/or project management is an asset.

• Experience with applied research projects and funding applications is an asset.

• Experience or training in measurement, evaluation and learning techniques and tools is an asset.

• Excellent oral and written communication, interpersonal and organizational skills.

• Self-sufficient and self-motivated, ability to exercise initiative, resourcefulness and judgement.

• Strong analytical skills and background in both qualitative and quantitative analysis preferred.

• Ability to be thorough, accurate, and have a high level of attention to detail.

• Ability to understand complex information, synthesize key learnings, and communicate with diverse audiences.

• Ability to analyze problems, identify key information and issues, and effectively resolve them.

• Ability to scope, plan, organize, manage, monitor, complete and evaluate projects and tasks within constrained time and resources.

• Ability to work effectively, independently and collaboratively within a team environment.

• Ability to develop and maintain cooperative and productive working relationships with variety of stakeholders and collaborators.

• Ability to obtain and disseminate information effectively and tactfully with individuals from all levels of the University and external partners.

• Ability to effectively use MS Office Suite at an intermediate level.

• Ability to use Drupal, Workday, Adobe Creative Suite or web design and development software is an asset