Department: |
Civil Engineering |
Effective Date: |
January 2011 |
Grade: |
USG 7 |
Reports to: |
Dr. Susan Tighe |
General Accountability
The Research Financial Administrative Officer is directly responsible for all administrative activities associated with the Endowed Norman W. McLeod Chair in Sustainable Pavement Engineering under the direction of Professor Susan Tighe, within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The scope of the position encompasses three main functions: the incumbent manages the administrative and financial operations of the Endowed Chair, acts as a liaison with the granting agency, industry, Office of Research, Finance, and the Department, and supervises the administrative requirements of research staff (including technical staff, visitors, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students) involved with the various projects.
The Research Financial Administrative Officer is responsible for the financial and operational administration and personnel management for the Chair. The incumbent requires an exceptional financial background within an academic environment. The incumbent must have superior computer skills, including proficiency with the latest word-processing and spreadsheet software. The incumbent must be knowledgeable of federal and provincial funding sources and related guidelines. Extensive experience using FORE (Financial Online Reporting Environment) is imperative. The Research Financial Administrative Officer must possess excellent organizational, communication and analytical skills.
This position is for 35 hours a week. This position is contingent upon the availability of funding.
Nature and Scope
The Endowed Chair program led by Professor Tighe is jointly funded by several industry partners. The partners are interested in pavement engineering research and education. Professor Tighe leads research on pavement and infrastructure design, materials engineering and management. The program budget is in excess of $500,000 annually.
The Research Financial Administrative Officer will be a key member of this research program and will support, develop and manage the project from the administrative and financial perspective.
Significant Internal Relationships:
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Office of Research
- Finance
- Procurement Services
- Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology
Significant External Relationships:
- Capital Paving Limited
- CFI/OIT
- DBA Engineering
- Golder Associates
- Holcim Canada
- LVM-Jegel
- McAsphalt Industries
- Miller Paving Limited
- Ministry of Transportation Ontario
- NSERC
- Ontario Good Roads Association
- Ontario Hot Mix Producers Association
- Other Partner Universities (Toronto, Laval, Saskatchewan, Calgary)
- Ready Mixed Concrete Association of Ontario
- Roto-Mill Inc.
- Shiloh CanConstruct
- Stantec Consulting Limited
- Steed and Evans Limited
Statistical Data
The Research Financial Administrative Officer will manage the Research Chair program. The incumbent will report directly to Professor Susan Tighe in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The program budget is in excess of $500,000 annually. The incumbent will have signing authority on all research accounts.
Specific Accountabilities
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer will be responsible for the Financial and Operational administration of the Research Chair program, which is in excess of $500,000 annually. The annual specific responsibilities include financial forecasting, monitoring of accounts, and authorization of expenditures.
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer will be responsible for financial reporting as required by funding agencies and the Office of Research. The Research Administrative Officer works with the investigators and Office of Research to ensure that industry and in-kind contributions are in place. Reporting will require identification of the necessary data, procurement of such data as necessary, analysis of the data, and production of the detailed and summary reports as are appropriate to the funding agency or company.
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer will act as a liaison with industry sponsors, for the planning and organization of research workshops, seminars, and short courses, and for the coordination of activities related to the delivery of these events.
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer is responsible for purchasing equipment and supplies for the Research Chair program, including sourcing and procurement of major equipment. The incumbent is responsible for maintaining records of all purchases and for ensuring that budget allocations are adequate and appropriate. The Research Administrative Officer is responsible for fixed asset inventory and control of research equipment and furnishings associated with all operating and research activities of the Research Chair program. This includes liaising with the University Investment and Risk Manager concerning inventory and insurance claims.
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer will coordinate the payroll for research staff (including technical staff, visitors, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students). The incumbent acts as a liaison in this capacity with Human Resources, Finance, the Office of Research, and the Graduate Office. The incumbent is expected to manage a research staff including 3 Post-Doctoral Fellows, and approximately 10 graduate students.
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer will prepare the grant submissions and reports under the general supervision of Professor Tighe.
- The Research Financial Administrative Officer will organize site visits and all other events related to the research activities of the group.
- All other duties as assigned.
Working Conditions