Director, Student Belonging and Engagement

Director, Student Belonging and Engagement

Student Life connects life to learning. We believe every student should have the opportunity to participate in university life actively and find connection and community while discovering new ways of thinking and being in the world. We provide resources, support and engagement opportunities that are inclusive and accessible, ensuring every student can build experiences that set them up for a lifetime of success.

Within Student Life, the cluster of Student Life Programs and Services supports students as they achieve personal, academic, career and civic goals. We engage students throughout their learning and development with the following units:
Academic Success, Accessibility Services, Career Exploration & Education, Centre for Community Partnerships, Clubs & Leadership Development, Indigenous Student Services, Mentorship & Peer Programs, Multi-faith Centre, Orientation, Student Success, Transition & Engagement and T-Card Services. Together with staff, faculty, students, alumni, employers and community partners, we provide an integrated and coherent path to success that reflects our students' diversity.

In support of U of T’s vision, Student Life Programs and Services is committed to creating diverse, accessible, inclusive and welcoming spaces of opportunity that foster deepened engagement, learning, personal growth, and identity development for all students. We are committed to embedding these principles into all the work we do, reducing barriers so that students from all backgrounds and lived experiences can feel a sense of belonging in the communities they find here.

We strive to hire and invest in candidates that reflect and support the diverse perspectives, experiences and identities of our students and our communities.

Reporting to the Executive Director, Student Life Programs & Services, the Director provides strategic, relational and operational leadership for a broad portfolio that advances student belonging, engagement, community connection, and co‑curricular learning at the University of Toronto. This role works across a highly decentralized institutional environment to strengthen student participation, equity, access, and connection, while ensuring programs, partnerships, policies, and practices are responsive to changing student needs.

The Director is expected to model visible, accessible, and relational leadership by maintaining a meaningful presence across student‑facing spaces, programs, and community contexts. Through active listening, consistent follow‑through, and direct engagement with students, student staff, professional staff, student organizations, and campus partners, the Director strengthens trust, surfaces emerging needs, informs strategic priorities, and ensures the portfolio remains grounded in the lived realities of students.

The Director provides direction, leadership, guidance and management to a team of professional staff specializing in enhancing student and community development through orientation and transition, graduate student life, campus organizations, mentorship, leadership development, student recognition, student programming, peer engagement, multi‑faith/interfaith engagement, and co‑curricular community‑engaged learning. They will also determine new programming initiatives, initiate and implement organizational changes as required, and prepare and manage the overall budget across the portfolio.

Working closely with leadership within Student Life, the Director ensures programs and projects are well‑coordinated, responsive to diverse students’ needs, and delivered in ways that support holistic student success. In collaboration with colleges, faculties, academic departments, other student life departments, UTM and UTSC, student organizations, equity and well‑being partners, and community organizations, the Director advances integrated and cohesive co‑curricular and community‑engaged learning experiences for undergraduate, professional and graduate students.

This requires the ability to influence without direct authority, clarify roles and decision pathways, respect local context, and build…