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Job Description
The College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia seeks its next Senior Associate Dean for Strategy, Finance, and Planning. The Senior Associate Dean will serve as a primary thought partner for the Dean and a key member of the Deanxe2x80x99s Senior Leadership team. The new leader will have primary responsibility for oversight of the schoolxe2x80x99s finances and will manage planning processes for the nearly $500M annual budget. Key priorities for the College and Graduate School include realizing a transformational vision for undergraduate education, recruiting and re-recruiting extraordinary faculty and staff, fueling a strategic plan for research and academic innovation, and building endowments to support graduate excellence. The next Senior Associate Dean will bring to this work a highly collaborative spirit, building strong relationships and inspiring the confidence of stakeholders within Arts and Sciences, the larger university, and the extended alumni network. This is an opportunity to contribute to transformational change among multiple important dimensions of Arts and Sciences and the larger university.
THE POSITION
Reporting directly to the Dean, the Senior Associate Dean serves as a key advisor and partner to the Dean and is responsible for providing strategic direction in resource management, allocation, and administration; advancing priorities in operational areas; and developing and executing a mission for the administrative operations and financial future of The College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Specifically, the Senior Associate Dean has direct oversight of the Finance and Budget team, the Information Technology and Data Analytics team, and the Space Planning team, with experienced directors of each area as direct reports. The Senior Associate Dean will design, implement, execute, assess, and drive continuous improvement for these administrative activities within the College.
KEY OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
The successful Senior Associate Dean will join the College at an important time of growth, and they will be tasked with creating a strategy for longer-term financial planning in a dynamic budgetary environment. They will contribute to attaining the Collegexe2x80x99s strategic goals by encouraging and ensuring sound stewardship of its financial resources. Graduate excellence will be a key point of focus and will require experienced leadership to ensure the development of a sustainable budget model and create new growth opportunities for the Graduate School. Additionally, undergraduate education at the College will need resources to sustain an ambitious curriculum and an expected new advising model. The successful candidate will oversee a highly talented team and provide leadership and development to ensure maximal performance. The College looks to build on its tremendous success in recruiting faculty and will rely on the Senior Associate Dean role to continue and sustain this growth.
LEADERSHIP AND EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE
Visionary Thinking Combined with Creative Strategic Planning
The Senior Associate Dean will understand the vision of the Dean and translate that vision into a comprehensive, long-term strategic plan that includes relevant and achievable goals supported by sustainable resources. They will contribute to identifying and synthesizing creative opportunities across all areas of the schoolxe2x80x99s operations and initiatives to advance the plan and will have the ability to adapt as needs and circumstances evolve. The next leader should be forward-thinking and able to anticipate changes in the educational landscape, including technological advancements, shifts in academic demands, and evolving societal needs.
Highly Credible
The Senior Associate Dean will bring stature, knowledge, and skills that inspire the confidence of faculty, staff, students, and other external constituencies and garner their respect and support. They will be an excellent steward of resources and manage with transparency, humility, creativity, and good humor. Ethical considerations should guide decisions and set a positive example for all members of the institution. Trust is crucial, and will be built upon consistency, honesty, and acting with integrity.
Collaborative with Excellent Communication and Relationship Skills
The Senior Associate Dean will build relationships and teams through trust and cultivate engagement beyond the immediate team of direct reports. They will be an effective collaborator and communicator with individuals across the school and larger university xe2x80x94including faculty, staff, students, and alumnixe2x80x94and with stakeholders both internal and external to UVA. Clear communication is vital, both in terms of conveying decisions and explaining the rationale behind them. It is equally important for the Senior Associate Dean to listen and gather feedback from faculty, students, and staff. The next leader should be adept at fostering a sense of community, mediating conflicts, and promoting collaboration among various stakeholders.
Mission-Driven
The Senior Associate Dean will be passionate about higher education and about supporting a student experience that prepares students for lives of meaning and purpose long after graduation.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
The successful candidate will be a seasoned financial leader with a track record of success in complex environments and a talent for communication and collaboration with diverse constituencies. The Senior Associate Dean will be proven to lead and develop staff in different environments and settings, preferably including a major research university. They will be responsible for ensuring the highest standards of fiscal integrity and stewardship of the Universityxe2x80x99s financial resources. They will be an analytical, creative leader familiar with public research universities’ challenges and ready to address these in new and innovative ways. The successful candidate must demonstrate the ability to run a large, complex organization within higher education or a similarly complex environment where shared governance is honored and valued. Prior experience of special interest includes the following:
- Multiple types of budgeting approaches and processes
- Strategic planning, benchmarking, and assessment
- The development of longer-range financial planning
- Graduate education in AAU/R1 context
- Philanthropy and stewardship
- Federal research environment, including research administration
- Capital planning, facilities management, and construction
- The oversight of data and information systems, institutional research
Minimum Requirements
Bachelors degree and a minimum of 10 years of experience with progressive responsibility.
Preferred
Masters degree and additional experiences, including demonstrated success in multiple institutional settings.
To apply or Nominate
The Executive Search Group, an internal executive search firm in the Office of the University of Virginia President, is assisting in the recruitment of the next Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer. The search will be carried out with full confidentiality. Confidential inquiries and nominations should be directed to Nalini Turner, Managing Director of UVA Executive Search, at .
The University of Virginia is fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. We believe diversity is excellence, expressing itself through every person’s perspectives and lived experiences. We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.
The University of Virginia, including the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physicianxe2x80x99s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person’s perspectives and lived experiences. We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.
