Administrative Assistant to the Chair

Department: Plant Agriculture
This position is covered by the Collective Agreement with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation District 35 - Technician/Administrative/Research/Agricultural

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General Purpose

The Administrative Assistant to the Chair provides broad administrative support to one of Canada’s largest, research-intensive and most diverse applied plant biology departments. The Department of Plant Agriculture currently has 30 faculty members and employs approximately 30 regular full-time staff and over 200 contract and student employees. The department is home to a vibrant graduate community of more than 80 M.Sc., M.PAg. and Ph.D. students.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Administrative Assistant to the Chair reports to and works closely with the Department Chair on all day-to-day administrative matters and has specific responsibility for:

• Actively managing a busy and complex executive-level calendar, incoming and outgoing correspondence, and numerous departmental communications
• Coordinating all aspects of the Faculty Tenure and Promotion (T&P) process at the department level
• Organizing monthly faculty meetings, preparing minutes, and tracking action items
• Working with the Chair and other admin team members to establish faculty teaching assignments and draft faculty Distribution of Effort (DOE) agreements, prepare annual teaching plans (100+ courses), resolve teaching gaps, and review post-cycle teaching verification reports
• Leading the faculty recruitment and hiring process (end-to-end process)
• Managing all HR administration for faculty, regular full-time staff and sessional lecturers, in alignment with applicable collective agreements and University policies and procedures, and serving as the subject-matter expert on institutional HR processes and their interpretation for these employee groups
• Coordinating and monitoring membership composition for various department committees
• Official communication and coordination with visitors to the department, such as international visiting scholars and students
• Monitoring and managing the Chair’s organizational signatory e-mail inbox
• Space allocation in the Crop Science Building, including key distribution and e-access management
• Ownership of 10+ departmental e-mail listservs and faculty, staff and affiliate directory website listings
• Other duties, as assigned, in support of department operations, projects and/or events and to provide back-up administrative support

Requirements

Position requirements include:

• Completion of a one-year Community College Diploma program in office/business administration, communications, or related field, and a minimum of two years of relevant experience (with a preference for three or more years of experience).
• Experience in an office environment, preferably in an academic setting, with exposure to a wide variety of policies, procedures and systems, as well as interacting with and serving diverse groups.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
• Above average computer skills (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Teams, Adobe).
• Proven ability to exercise diplomacy and maintain a high degree of confidentiality.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and as a member of a service-oriented admin team, taking on leadership roles within that team.
• Dependability and ability to work effectively in a busy office environment with frequent interruptions.
• Established record of independent judgment in decision making, task prioritization and time management while dealing with conflicting priorities and deadlines.
• Practical experience with University of Guelph systems (e.g. HR, finance) is considered an asset.

Employee Type: Regular  
Position Number: 10128070   
Classification: OSSTF/TARA, District 35 Salary: Band 4      
OSSTF/TARA Wage Grid

*Tentative evaluation; subject to committee review.

At the University of Guelph, fostering a culture of inclusion is an institutional imperative. The University invites and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in employment, who may contribute to further diversification of our Institution.

Posting Date: 04/01/2026 
Close Date: 04/16/2026