Director, Upper School And Boarding Admission

Employment Terms: F/T, Permanent

Start Date: June 2023

Position Overview

The primary role of the Admission Office is to recruit, assess, enroll, and retain mission-appropriate students and families who will thrive as part of the UCC community. Reporting to the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management, the Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission is responsible for leading all aspects of the Upper School (Years 8 to 12) day and boarding recruitment and admission process, ensuring a positive applicant experience and sound decision-making. This role acts as an important ambassador for UCC, locally, nationally, and globally.

Responsibilities

Recruitment, Event Management, Outreach and Marketing

• Builds and maintains relationships with sending schools, partnership programs, associations, and international agents;
• Investigates and identifies potential athletic and other program partnerships for domestic boarding recruitment;
• Gathers and leverages data to understand where day and boarding applicants are coming from and how to target existing, new, and emerging boarding markets;
• Builds partnerships with local, national, and international organizations to help attract qualified and diverse applicants and proactively cultivates these leads and partnerships with care;
• Develops innovative ways to identify and recruit mission-aligned applicants, in collaboration with the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management.
• Organizes and attends recruitment events (in person and online) in the Greater Toronto Area, at other locations in Ontario and Canada, and internationally;
• Supports organization, planning, and delivery of on-campus events;
• Assists in the development and maintenance of admission print and electronic material, in collaboration with the Marketing and Communications department;
• Actively collaborates with the Director of Upper School Athletics and the Director of Residential Life;

Admission Process

• Collaborates with the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management and the Director, Prep School Admission to identify and apply the latest admission evidence and best practices, ensuring appropriate alignment across the department;
• Designs and leads the end-to-end admission process (cultivation, assessment, decision, feedback, and transition) for Upper School day and boarding applicants (Years 8 to 12) based on the latest evidence and best practices;
• Participates as a member of the Financial Assistance Committee and collaborates on financial assistance strategy as needed.
• Participates in the admission database set-up and organization, and uses the admission database effectively to ensure clean, usable data is available to support decision-making and an optimal user experience;
• Collaborates with the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management to set target enrolment projections based on applicant data;
• Selects and administers standardized testing, conducts candidate interviews, and evaluates reports in collaboration with the Admission Team;
• Contributes, as requested, to the development of departmental enrolment, marketing, and financial assistance plans and strategy;

New Student and Family Onboarding

• Serves as a main point of contact for new Upper School day and boarding families;
• Brings forward new initiatives to aid in the successful onboarding and transition of new students and families.
• Meets and collaborates with teachers, counsellors, Wernham West Centre for Learning staff, the Director of Residential Life, and the Head and Assistant Heads of the Upper School to participate fully in the onboarding meetings for new students;

Retention

• Collaborates with the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management and the Director, Prep School Admission to enhance the approach to student retention through data gathering, analysis, and action planning.

Program Development and Operations

• Develops and supports implementation of programming across multiple departments to ensure the success and flourishing of these students, including developing ways to meet the needs of high performing athletes in adolescence.
• Liaises with parents, coaches, community partners, and learning services, both within and outside UCC, in support of these students.
• Actively recruits boarding candidates from across Canada for the program who are showing unique potential in areas of both athletics and academics.
• Participates in development of community partnerships to support character development efforts and create opportunities for further academic and athletic development.
• Collaborates with the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management to design and implement an approach to attracting and supporting outstanding Canadian students of character who are achieving at the highest levels of academics and athletics.

Customer Service

• Delivers outstanding customer service, ensuring that all prospective applicants and families feel welcome and supported in their interactions with UCC;
• Maintains the highest level of professional integrity;
• Advances UCC’s value of pluralism by ensuring a fair, equitable, and unbiased process and engaging in innovative community outreach;
• Manages post-offer transitions for all applicants and their families with empathy and with an emphasis on relationship development.

Teamwork and Leadership

• Builds community through team trust and shared purpose;
• Offers and receives feedback to continuously improve the process and team culture;
• Maintains effective and collaborative relationships with other roles and departments, including the Wernham West Centre for Learning, International Baccalaureate Coordinators, the Director of Residential Life, the Director of Upper School Athletics, and the Head and Assistant Heads of the Upper School;
• Leads the Associate Director, Upper School and Boarding Admission and any teachers involved in admission with enthusiasm and reflection, including providing training and professional development;
• Takes on other duties as needed, at the direction of the Vice-Principal, Enrolment Management.

Vision, Mission, Values Alignment

• Actively advances and upholds the vision, mission, and values of the College in all aspects of the work;
• Understands the complexity of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its history, values, politics, communication styles, economy, or beliefs and practices.

Experience and Knowledge

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant field;
• Experience with, and knowledge of, boarding programs and boarding school admission;
• Knowledge of high-performance secondary and post-secondary athletic programs;
• Expertise and training in adolescent development and secondary education;
• Knowledge of independent school admission functions, processes, and policies;
• Marketing and communications experience and knowledge is an asset;
• Extensive experience and knowledge of effective use of Blackbaud OnBoard platform or other similar admission database;
• Five years of experience in admission or related function(s);
• Understanding of various cultures and identities, particularly with respect to anti-bias efforts in education and assessment;
• Team leadership experience is an asset.

Skills and Competencies

• Ability to develop and execute a plan, while remaining flexible and creative;
• Demonstrated ability to maintain integrity beyond reproach and to uphold confidentiality;
• Ability to collaborate across the College and lead or participate in cross-functional initiatives;
• Ability to conduct in-depth and detailed data analysis to inform nuanced decision-making in a competitive admission environment;
• Strong work ethic with the proven ability to meet deadlines and take initiative;
• English proficiency (written and spoken) is required and additional language(s) is an asset.
• Ability to build relationships and trust quickly and authentically;
• Ability to apply admission processes and policies as well as identify and propose improvements to admission processes and policies;
• Ability to travel both domestically and internationally, as required;
• Outstanding customer service skills, including the ability to remain diplomatic and calm through a range of circumstances, particularly with external audiences;
• Excellent communications, relationship management, and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to develop solutions to problems and consider implications of different options;
• Strong leadership and organizational skills;

What We Offer

• Opportunity for casual dress days.
• Paid volunteer time off to become involved in your communities, lending voluntary support to programs;
• Fabulous collaborative team members and colleagues;
• Ongoing community events and employee social events throughout the academic year;
• Opportunities for professional development to support life-long learning of skills and knowledge;
• Floating holidays that recognizes our employees diverse religious and cultural practices; offers three paid floating holidays per year instead of three statutory public holidays of their choosing.
• Generous pension / retirement plan (Ontario Teacher Plan and/or UCC) and paid time off plans: vacation / holidays, personal emergency leave, personal leave, parental leave top-up and flexible self-funded leaves;
• Free on campus parking;
• Excellent mental health, medical and dental benefit plans (including Health Care and Lifestyle Spending Accounts, Employee Assistance program and onsite wellbeing programming);

UCC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and values diversity, encouraging applications from all qualified individuals and welcoming applications from women, visible minorities, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, and LGBTQ2S+ persons. UCC embraces pluralism – celebrating differences, cherishing similarities, and giving voice to multiple perspectives. If you are contacted regarding a UCC opportunity, please advise if you require any accommodations.