Date Posted: 11/27/2023
Req ID: 35119
Faculty/Division: UofT Mississauga
Department: UTM: Biology
Campus: University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM)
Position Number: 00009217

Description:

About us:

U of T Mississauga—the second largest campus of Canada’s top-ranked university and the only research university in Ontario’s booming Peel Region—is one of the world’s great catalysts of humanpotential.

Our employee community hums with the energy of 3,400 faculty, librarians and staff, who power our campus with curiosity, connection and care. We work together to spark life-changing research and innovation, make an indelible mark on the world by building equitable cities and societies, enable healthy lives, create a sustainable future and ignite entrepreneurship. Above all, we prioritize student success, and seek to give our 16,500 students the lift of a lifetime through learning and discovery. We love to open opportunities available nowhere else for our community to achieve their ambitions and make their unique contributions to Canada and the world.

This work all comes together on a spectacularly green campus, alongside the Missinihe-ziibi (Trusting Creek or Credit River), where we seek to honour truth, reciprocity and reconciliation on the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, Seneca and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. We’re thrilled to welcome those who want to learn more about us and to be part of what we do.

The Department of Biology is one of the largest departments within the University of Toronto Mississauga, with an internationally renowned and award-winning faculty. We are committed to inspire student success by supporting a rigorous and innovative teaching and research environment. Offering 10 undergraduate programs (Specialists, Majors, and Minors), Biology is home to 41 faculty members, 19 staff members, 18 postdoctoral fellows and research associates, over 100 graduate students and more than 10,000 undergraduate students. The department operates large teaching laboratories and complex Growth Facilities which include a teaching greenhouse, a research greenhouse, and outside garden plots and installations.

Your opportunity:

The incumbent works under general direction of the Chair of the Department of Biology, reports directly to the Manager of the Department of Biology and works collaboratively with stakeholders from the UTM Office of the VP Research, the Biology Teaching Labs, and researchers from various UTM departments.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Serving as horticultural resource person for plant science activities in the Department of Biology, the incumbent is responsible for managing and operating the departmental Growth Facilities and their contents. This includes the teaching and research greenhouses, service rooms, outdoor plots, headhouses, potting rooms, soil facilities, cold frames, storage areas, and other equipment/instruments.
• Curates and maintains a teaching plant collection in the teaching greenhouse that is utilized for undergraduate teaching exercises and tours and demonstrations for campus groups, elementary and high school classes and others
• Responsible for planning, scheduling, and applying established plant propagation techniques (media preparation, irrigation, fertilization) to ensure sufficient teaching materials are available. Communicate and coordinate teaching needs with faculty and technical staff.
• Provides technical support to researchers and communicate policies and procedures. Advises researchers in plant care techniques and equipment use. Adapts methods to accommodate research requirements and collaborates with researchers to develop new strategies.
• Supervises and trains users ensuring the implementation of the integrated pest management program, oversees pest scouting and determines appropriate pest control measures, including biocontrols.
• Supervises and trains users with programming computerized environmental conditions, including heating, cooling, ventilation, humidification, dehumidification, irrigation, growth lighting, etc
• Maintains facilities, equipment and instruments in proper working order. Schedules and supervises equipment maintenance and repairs. Recommends the purchase of equipment and supplies and makes minor purchases.
• Directs a small group in a limited area, including responsibility for scheduling and/or workflow

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Biology or relevant field or equivalent combination of education and experience
• Minimum of three years of recent and related practical experience managing growth facilities in a post-secondary environment, including experience in supporting teaching, research and administrative functions
• Working experience with computerized environmental control and alarm systems used to program and monitor the growth conditions.
• Experience with operating and maintenance of horticulture machinery, equipment, instruments, moisture sensors, pH meters, fertilizer/irrigation systems
• Demonstrated experience with horticultural techniques and technology, planting and caring for plants for teaching and research
• Experience with implementing integrated pest management practices, assessing plant health and responding to pest and disease outbreaks
• Excellent interpersonal skills. Ability to foster positive relationships with various stakeholders (e.g. students, administrators, facility managers, contractors)
• Excellent record-keeping, organizational, and verbal and written communication skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office 360 (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook, SharePoint, etc) and/or similar computer applications

Assets (Nonessential):

• Experience supervising staff in a unionized environment is an asset
• Possession of a valid Pest Control Exterminator License
• Understanding of plumbing, HVAC systems, and electrical systems relevant to greenhouse operations

To be successful in this role you will be:

• Adaptable
• Multi-tasker
• Organized
• Proactive
• Problem solver
• Self-directed
• Team player

Closing Date: 12/06/2023, 11:59PM ET
Employee Group: USW
Appointment Type: Budget - Continuing
Schedule: Full-Time
Pay Scale Group & Hiring Zone:
USW Pay Band 12 -- $78,308 with an annual step progression to a maximum of $100,144. Pay scale and job class assignment is subject to determination pursuant to the Job Evaluation/Pay Equity Maintenance Protocol.
Job Category: Administrative / Managerial

Lived Experience Statement
Candidates who are members of Indigenous, Black, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, persons with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups are encouraged to apply, and their lived experience shall be taken into consideration as applicable to the posted position.