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Position: Academic Associate
Land Acknowledgement
McGill University is on land which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst Indigenous peoples, including the Haudenosaunee and Anishinabeg nations. We acknowledge and thank the diverse Indigenous peoples whose presence marks this territory on which peoples of the world now gather. To learn more about the land and peoples of Tiohtià:ke/ Montreal, please follow this link.
Position: Academic Associate
The Faculty of Education at McGill University invites applications for the position of Academic Associate, Graduate Student Initiatives, Partnerships, and Academic Quality. This is an unranked Contract Academic Staff (CAS) appointment in the classification of Academic Associate.
The Faculty seeks a highly organized, intellectually engaged, and collaborative academic professional with a PhD in Education or a closely related field. The successful candidate will support Faculty priorities at the intersection of graduate student development, public-facing educational programming, knowledge mobilization, school-university partnership work, and academic quality coordination.
The primary emphasis of the position is on Loop Lab and CoLab, two initiatives that require creativity, strong coordination, graduate student mentorship, public engagement, partnership-building, communications, events, evaluation, and documentation. The position also includes accreditation and academic quality coordination responsibilities focused on timelines, evidence organization, process documentation, records management, reporting readiness, and continuity planning.
Position Summary
The Academic Associate will support three major areas of work in the Faculty of Education:
1. Loop Lab: a graduate-student apprenticeship, Faculty scholarship, and knowledge-mobilization initiative that supports graduate students in translating their research and expertise into workshops, course-linked offerings, public-facing educational programming with schoolboards, and community-engaged learning opportunities.
2. CoLab: a partnership-based initiative requiring coordination of governance, steering committee work, documentation, partnership engagement, knowledge mobilization, events, and stewardship materials.
3. Accreditation and academic quality support: a Faculty-level coordination function that supports accreditation readiness, evidence gathering, documentation, process mapping, reporting timelines, self-study preparation, site-visit preparation, and business-continuity planning.
This position is central to the Faculty’s strategic direction. It supports graduate student experience and growth, academic programming, partnership development, public engagement, and sustainable organization of academic quality processes.
Reporting Structure
The Academic Associate will report to the Associate Dean, Graduate Student Support & Development for responsibilities related to Loop Lab, CoLab, graduate student development, knowledge mobilization, student-facing programming, and partnership-based initiatives.
The Academic Associate will report functionally to the Associate Dean, Academic Programs for responsibilities related to accreditation coordination, academic quality support, internal process mapping, evidence management, and accreditation readiness.
The Academic Associate will also work with Department Chairs, Graduate Program Directors, Directors of Clinical Training, program directors, faculty members, administrative staff, Communications, Advancement, Finance, Human Resources, Internships and Student Affairs, and other University offices as required.
Main Responsibilities
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Coordinate and support Loop Lab as a flagship graduate student development and knowledge-mobilization initiative.
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Support graduate student participants in developing workshops, public-facing educational offerings, course-linked activities, community-engaged programming, and knowledge-mobilization outputs.
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Help design and implement participant selection processes, mentoring structures, workshop planning cycles, event logistics, evaluation tools, and program-continuity documentation for Loop Lab.
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Work with Faculty Communications and coordinate Loop Lab promotion, including website content, promotional materials, registration pages, internal announcements, stories, and public-facing descriptions of the initiative.
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Support CoLab governance, including meeting coordination, agendas, minutes, action tracking, steering committee support, records management, documentation, and annual planning.
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Support CoLab partnership-building, internal promotion, showcase events, conference and knowledge-mobilization activity, and stewardship materials.
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Work with Advancement, Finance, Communications, partner representatives, and Dean’s Office colleagues on proposals, budget summaries, public updates, and donor/foundation-facing materials connected to CoLab and related initiatives.
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Support the Associate Dean, Academic Programs in building Faculty capacity for accreditation readiness and academic quality processes.
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Maintain accreditation calendars, timelines, workflow maps, checklists, evidence trackers, document inventories, and continuity guides.
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Coordinate with academic leaders, departmental staff, Faculty staff, and central offices to gather, organize, and format materials required for accreditation reports, self-studies, site visits, and follow-up reports.
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Support the secure handling of sensitive student-level and program-level information used in accreditation and academic quality processes.
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Prepare briefing notes, workplans, reports, public-facing text, internal documentation, evidence summaries, meeting records, and decision-tracking materials.
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Identify process gaps, documentation risks, timeline pressures, or coordination issues and bring these forward to the appropriate Associate Dean.
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Contribute to a collaborative, student-centred, inclusive, and strategically aligned Faculty culture.
Required Qualifications
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PhD in Education or a closely related field.
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Demonstrated experience working in or with higher education, educational organizations, school-university partnerships, public-facing educational programming, graduate student initiatives, or comparable academic environments.
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Strong writing, editing, synthesis, and documentation skills, including the ability to prepare briefing notes, reports, public-facing materials, process documents, agendas, minutes, and evidence summaries.
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Strong project-management skills, including the ability to manage timelines, records, meetings, action items, deliverables, documentation systems, and competing priorities.
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Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with academic leaders, faculty members, staff, graduate students, partners, and external stakeholders.
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Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion, judgment, and professionalism.
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Capacity to translate complex academic, partnership, student-facing, or institutional processes into clear workflows, documentation, and actionable plans.
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Excellent interpersonal judgment, initiative, reliability, follow-through, and problem-solving ability.
Preferred Qualifications and Assets
The Faculty will give particular weight to experience and skills related to graduate student development, public-facing educational programming, partnership coordination, knowledge mobilization, event/program coordination, and the ability to build sustainable systems for emerging initiatives.
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Experience designing, coordinating, or evaluating graduate student development initiatives, mentorship programs, public scholarship activities, knowledge-mobilization projects, educational workshops, or student-facing academic programming.
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Experience supporting school-university partnerships, research-practice partnerships, community-engaged educational initiatives, public-facing events, donor/stewardship materials, or partner-facing communications.
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Experience mentoring students or emerging scholars in workshop design, educational facilitation, public communication, research-practice translation, or knowledge mobilization.
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Experience coordinating events, showcases, workshops, conferences, public programming, websites, registration processes, communications campaigns, or promotional materials.
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Experience building systems from emerging, fragmented, or evolving initiatives, including templates, shared records, workplans, process guides, calendars, handover materials, and continuity documentation.
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Experience managing documentation-heavy review, reporting, accreditation, quality assurance, internal audit, or external evaluation processes.
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Experience organizing evidence across multiple systems, managing sensitive records, supporting confidential reporting, or coordinating complex data requests with multiple stakeholders.
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Familiarity with Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Teams, Forms, web-content workflows, student-information systems, project trackers, and collaborative document environments.
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Experience preparing written materials for senior academic leaders, committees, partners, donors, external reviewers, or public audiences.
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Understanding of equity, inclusion, accessibility, and student-centred approaches to program design, mentoring, public engagement, and academic support.
Desired Profile
The ideal candidate will be a strong writer, organizer, mentor, and institutional navigator who can work across academic and administrative settings with tact, independence, and sound judgment. They will be able to support graduate student-facing initiatives with creativity and care; coordinate partnership-based programming with professionalism; and build clear systems, records, calendars, and documentation for complex Faculty processes.
Appointment Information
This is an unranked Contract Academic Staff appointment in the classification of Academic Associate. The appointment is expected to be full-time and definite-term, renewable subject to Faculty needs, funding, performance, and applicable University policies and procedures. Final appointment details will be determined in accordance with McGill University policies and procedures governing Contract Academic Staff.
Application Materials
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A cover letter describing qualifications and interest in the position.
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A curriculum vitae.
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One writing sample relevant to academic administration, program coordination, knowledge mobilization, reporting, accreditation, partnership work, or public-facing educational communication.
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Names and contact information of three referees.
Application Process
Applications should be submitted through the official McGill recruitment process once the position is posted. The final advertisement should include the current McGill employment equity, immigration, and recruitment statements required by the University at the time of posting.
Review of applications will commence immediately four weeks after the start date of the posting and will continue until the position is filled.
Faculty/Department/Unit:
Faculty of Education
Job Type:
Unranked Contract Academic Staff
Rank:
Academic Associate
Salary:
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and consistent with university guidelines.
Position Start Date
September 1, 2026; this is a 1-year term with the possibility of renewal.
Inquiries concerning this position can be made to [email protected]
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply; however, in accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
For more information regarding the position or to learn more about McGill University, the Faculty of Education, please visit www.mcgill.ca/education.
The University
Founded in 1821, McGill University is one of Canada's leading research-intensive universities, with students from over 160 countries. Located centrally in the vibrant city of Montreal, an exceptionally multicultural and multilingual city widely recognized as a socially diverse, cosmopolitan, and bilingual (French/English) metropolis.
McGill University is world-renowned for research excellence, consistently ranking among the world’s top Universities. With half of its students originating from outside Quebec, including from more than 150 countries, and a faculty representing a similar diversity of origin and experience, McGill is committed to the core principles of academic freedom, integrity, responsibility, equity, and inclusiveness. Montreal (Tiohtiá:ke) is a major, multicultural city with a four-season climate that is host to several international festivals and events. Previously called Ville-Marie, or “City of Mary”, it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill centered on the Island of Montreal, which drapes over McGill’s downtown campus. More about living in Montreal can be found here.
Before applying, please note that to work at McGill University, you must be both authorized to work in Canada and willing to work in the province of Québec at the campus where the position is based/located.
McGill University is an English-language university where most teaching and research activities are conducted in the English language, thereby requiring English communication both verbally and inwriting.
McGill University is committed to equity and diversity within its community and values academic rigour and excellence. We welcome and encourage applications from racialized persons/visible minorities, women, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as from all qualified candidates with the skills and knowledge to engage productively with diverse communities.
At McGill, research that reflects diverse intellectual traditions, methodologies, and modes of dissemination and translation is valued and encouraged. Candidates are invited to demonstrate their research impact both within and across academic disciplines and in other sectors, such as government, communities, or industry.
McGill further recognizes and fairly considers the impact of leaves (e.g., family care or health-related) that may contribute to career interruptions or slowdowns. Candidates are encouraged to signal any leave that affected productivity, or that may have had an effect on their career path. This information will be considered to ensure the equitable assessment of the candidate’s record.
McGill implements an employment equity program and encourages members of designated equity groups to self-identify. It further seeks to ensure the equitable treatment and full inclusion of persons with disabilities by striving for the implementation of universal design principles transversally, across all facets of the University community, and through accommodation policies and procedures. Persons with disabilities who anticipate needing accommodations for any part of the application process may contact, in confidence, [email protected].
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply; however, in accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.
