Program Specialist

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 n