Head and Heart Program Coordinator

**About Western**: Since 1878, Western University has been committed to serving our communities through the pursuit of academic excellence and by providing students, faculty, and community members with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social, and cultural growth. We seek excellent students, faculty, and staff to join us in what has become known as the "Western Experience" - an opportunity to contribute to a better world through the development of new knowledge, new abilities, new connections, and new ways to make a difference. **About Us**: Western’s Office of Indigenous Initiatives will lead system-wide change required to advance truth and reconciliation efforts, achieve equitable outcomes for Indigenous peoples, and implement Western’s Indigenous Strategic Plan. The Office will be committed to building and strengthening relationships with Indigenous communities locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, and fostering an academic environment, where all students, staff, faculty and community members experience the university as a welcoming, supportive, culturally-safe environment in which Indigenous languages, ways of knowing, being and doing are respected and supported. **Responsibilities**: The **_Head and Heart Program Coordinator (2)_** will work in close collaboration with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII) and Western Research (WR) to lead the facilitation and delivery of Western’s ground-breaking Head and Heart Indigenous Research Fellowship by supporting Indigenous undergraduate student participants enrolled in the program through continuous engagement and complimentary co-curricular/curricular programming. The Head and Heart Indigenous Research Fellowship program is a two-year summer research programme (May to July in each of two years) geared toward Indigenous upper year undergraduate students at Western who are interested in research. This Fellowship will prepare students to undertake research at the graduate level and/or in an applied community-based research context. During the first year, Fellows undertake in-person coursework in research fundamentals, participate in experiential learning, network, and learn about research opportunities at Western. In year two, Fellows are paired with Western faculty supervisors from across different disciplines to work on new or existing research projects. To support Indigenous student learning while increasing their participation in graduate studies, Fellows come together to learn in a non-hierarchal community-setting guided by experts towards specific learning activities and objectives. Fellows will connect with Faculty members, staff, and Indigenous graduate students as mentors on research topics such as Indigenous research ethics (e.g. TCPS2), Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights, Indigenous research methodologies, community-based research practices, and a wide range of skills linked to academic research and Indigenous scholarship. **Responsibilities**: - Liaise regularly with OII and WR staff pertaining to Fellow experiences and issues as they arise. - With support from the Indigenous Advisory Council (IAC), OII, and WR, facilitate the research fundamentals curriculum for year 1 of the program. - Organize in-person meetings, networking events, and community visits. - In collaboration with WR, maintain regular communication with Head and Heart Fellows, including regular check-ins and connections, meeting with and aiding Fellows in their research through one-on-one engagement, as well as guided group activities that support them to think through and navigate their research projects. - Organize and facilitate a weekly connection circle for the year 2 cohort of Fellows. - Communicate with year 2 cohort and their supervisors. - Create and maintain Head and Heart programme channel via Microsoft Teams where all participants may access programme related information (e.g., weekly calendar of activities, key contact information, assignments, resources, guided activities, evaluation/feedback forms, and more). - Maintain Head and Heart program digital filing system including tracking student participation, gathering formal and informal feedback from participants (including an end of placement evaluation for both fellows and supervisors), faculty mentors, guest speakers, and key partners. - Organize an end of summer research symposium. - In collaboration with OII, WR and the IAC, prepare final, concise, and comprehensive evaluation and report on all programme activities and learning outcomes for all participants, and recommendations for program development and process improvement. **Supervisor**: - The Head and Heart Program Coordinator will report to the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Indigenous Initiatives) to establish strategic priorities and work assignments. Informal development, coaching, and supervision will be provided by the Indigenous Research Officer (Western Research) who will meet reg