Administrative Assistant, Political Science, Faculty of Arts

Description
The  Department of Political Science  in the  Faculty of Arts  invites applications for an  Administrative Assistant position . This Part-time Fixed Term position is for approximately 1 year (based on length of grant funding), with the possibility of extension.

This 0.5 FTE part-time term position reports to Dr. Jennifer Leason, PHD, Professor and CIHR Canada Research Chair Tier II in Indigenous Maternal Child Wellness. For more about Dr. Leason, please visit:

The administrative support staff will be responsible for assisting with the administration of Indigenous health research projects, including (but not limited to) organizing meetings, agendas, and travel; email and communications; budgets and account reconciliation; and contributing to transcription, references/resources support, interviews, field notes, and related data storage.

Primary Purpose of the Position: (Key purpose, functions, roles):
The incumbent will work out of the Indigenous Maternal Child Wellness (IMCW) office located at the University of Calgary, 2.5 days per week, while supporting Dr. Jennifer Leason and her research teams, and will report directly to Dr. Jennifer Leason. To learn more about the research, please visit:

Summary of

Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):
Workflow Management

Prioritizes and schedules appointments, meetings, seminars, and conferences, balancing the director's diverse responsibilities: leadership on local, community, national, university and international levels, including research management, Indigenous community commitments and Institute leadership accountabilities.

Ensures Dr. Leason has all necessary information for each meeting, including minutes and action items from previous meetings. Ensures the team is duly informed of scheduled meetings, appointments, and travel itineraries, and works ahead to assemble the required documentation and briefing notes.

Manages, organizes and follows up on monthly full-team meetings, meetings as requested, and any ad hoc committees or meetings called.

Documents minutes and action items. Provides regular communications via email, telephone, virtual platforms and in person with administrative, students, faculty, contractors, community members (Elders/ Knowledge Keepers) and staff.

Maintains and updates all contact lists, organization and project chart, project mapping, and timelines. Organizes, tracks, and compiles documents in the shared file system.

Books travel and processes expense reports.

Purchases and reconciles expenses and accounts.

Project Support

Facilitates project management support, including project setup, extensions, changes, and closures.

Facilitates communication with the central legal unit and VPR Research One Child Every Child administration regarding research agreements and contracts.

Facilitates processes for payments to research participants and partner organizations and liaises with finance and HR to navigate appropriate hiring and payment protocols.

Conducts timely, efficient and accurate processing of honorarium and other non-employee payments, contractors and Elders, as well as student scholarships and awards, as required.

Liaises with the Arts Business Operations Centre and UService to facilitate administrative processes related to grant administration and management.

Research Management

Supports the team and plans and executes events with collaborators, including meetings, research/writing retreats, symposia, community events, and special events.

Drafts invitations to speakers, liaises with invited speakers and partners, creates itineraries, and makes travel arrangements and processes expense reimbursements.

Supports and tracks the status of research knowledge dissemination, publication, and implementation of research projects.

Supports and works with a communications advisor, web developer and animator to support communications.

Occasional on-site attendance to facilitate national or international child health-related events hosted by the Director and/or research teams and partners.

Documents meeting minutes and action items from research meetings and organizes information packages for dissemination to key internal and external stakeholders.

Manages minutes and supports reporting on activities from One Child Every Child, CIHR, and funding agencies.

Responsible for processing payments to speakers and convenors of events led by the research team.

Assists with project budget management by processing research financial requisitions,…