Senior Academic Advisor

• Providing students with individualized academic advising support throughout their academic journey. This includes (but is not limited to) degree progression, program/course choices, academic goals, academic difficulty, and any external factors impacting academics
• Assists students in developing knowledge, capability and self-reliance related to their educational pathways and choices
• Assist students in navigating the academic environment, including registration, academic policies/procedures and regulations, and available supports services
• Assist students with academic appeals, perform degree audits, confirm graduation
• Recognizes situations when students are experiencing significant personal or academic issues and provides appropriate advice and referrals as necessary
• Advising may be accomplished through virtual and in-person services such as one-on-one appointments, drop-ins, group sessions/seminars, chat, and other online web-based communication

• Academic Advisors are responsible for understanding key transition points throughout the student life cycle and creating opportunities for strategic outreach via central multi-faceted advising initiatives, as well as individualized support
• Personalized and strategic academic advising initiated outreach with identified at-risk and special populations
• Development and implementation of campaigns to engage and support students
• Develop and present seminars and informational sessions for students and faculty/staff

• Liaise and consult with faculty on student cases
• Assist faculty, staff and students with interpretation of policies and procedures
• Collaborate with other departments/student support areas including but not limited to student life, registrar's office

• Create, maintain, monitor accurate and confidential student records, and documentation
• Maintain student contact tracking and documentation system for data collection and case management purposes

• Actively engage and participate in recruitment and related institutional events, such as the Ontario Universities' Fair, open house, orientation
• Participate in department and faculty specific engagement events
• Design and implement student engagement programming and presentations for events

• Well-developed written and oral communication skills, and strong presentation, organizational and time management skills
• A high level of proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google applications, and possess some experience in database maintenance and report writing
• Working knowledge of web applications and previous experience with Banner would be considered an asset
• Ability to foster and contribute to a positive, supportive, productive, respectful and inclusive team environment of high-performance, with proven teamwork and relationship building skills
• Project planning, coordination and implementation

• Ability to manage many tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment
• Demonstrated ability to exercise a high degree of professionalism, good judgment, initiative, tact, and discretion
• Willing and able to work flexible hours including regular evening work and occasional weekends to hold evening advising hours, meet specific deadlines and to attend special events and activities

• The ability to work effectively both virtually and in-person in multiple and/or shared office spaces

• Knowledge of conflict and crisis management approaches, de-escalation techniques and general case management concepts

• Completion of a university program consisting of four academic years or equivalent
• A Master's degree in Education, Adult Education, Counselling, Psychology or another related field is an asset
• An equivalent combination of education and related experience may be considered

• Verification of Academic credentials may be required

• A minimum of three years related experience in an advising/counselling setting with a strong preference for this experience to be student-facing within a post-secondary institution
• Experience working with at-risk students is an asset

Ontario Tech University