| Job Description: |
The Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering seeks accomplished, collaborative, and visionary academic leaders to serve on the Dean's leadership team as Associate Deans for Academic Affairs, Research, and Student Affairs. Reporting directly to the Dean, these executive leadership roles are responsible for advancing the College's strategic priorities by strengthening academic excellence, faculty success, research growth, innovation, and student achievement. Working closely with the Dean, department chairs, faculty, university leadership, and external partners, the Associate Deans provide leadership for faculty development, graduate education, curriculum and academic policy, sponsored research, research infrastructure, compliance, student services, advising, recruitment, retention, experiential learning, and operational excellence. Successful candidates will possess distinguished records of academic and scholarly achievement, demonstrated leadership experience, exceptional communication and organizational skills, and the ability to build collaborative partnerships that enhance the College's national reputation, foster innovation, and support continuous improvement across its academic, research, and student success missions.
1. Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Full Professor
The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs serves as a member of the dean’s leadership team and is the College’s senior leader responsible for advancing academic excellence, faculty success, graduate education, academic policy, and faculty affairs. Reporting directly to the Dean, this position provides executive leadership for faculty development, academic programs, curriculum oversight, faculty evaluation processes, graduate education, and academic governance that support the College’s mission of excellence in education, research, and service.
The successful candidate will be a collaborative, innovative, and student- and faculty-centered academic leader with demonstrated success in faculty leadership, academic administration, graduate education, and instructional excellence. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional leadership, sound judgment, outstanding communication skills, organizational effectiveness, and the ability to build collaborative relationships across departments, colleges, and university administrative units.
Working closely with the Dean, Dean’s leadership team, faculty, the Graduate School, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the Office of the Provost, Engineering Student Services, and university leadership, the Associate Dean will strengthen the College’s academic enterprise by enhancing faculty success, promoting excellence in teaching, advancing graduate education, supporting academic innovation, and ensuring consistent implementation of university academic policies. This position works collaboratively with the Senior Associate Dean, the Associate Dean for Research, and the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives to align the College’s academic mission with its research, strategic, and operational priorities.
- Faculty Affairs and Faculty Success: Develop and implement comprehensive faculty development programs that support faculty success throughout all stages of the academic career, including onboarding, mentoring, leadership development, promotion, honorifics, and professional growth.
- Faculty Evaluation and Advancement: Provide executive oversight of faculty evaluation processes, including tenure and promotion, mid-tenure reviews, promotion reviews for non-tenure-track faculty, annual faculty evaluation policies, and faculty grievance processes.
- Teaching Excellence: Lead College initiatives that promote excellence in teaching, instructional innovation, faculty development, and student learning outcomes. Serve as the College’s liaison to the Center for Teaching Excellence and related university instructional initiatives.
- Graduate Education: Provide strategic leadership for graduate academic programs, graduate curriculum, graduate student quality initiatives, graduate fellowships, interdisciplinary graduate programs, and graduate academic policy in collaboration with the Graduate School.
- Academic Programs and Curriculum: Oversee the review, development, approval, and continuous improvement of graduate academic programs, interdisciplinary degree programs, graduate certificates, and academic policies that support educational excellence.
- Faculty Leadership Development: Develop leadership programs for faculty and department chairs that strengthen academic leadership, succession planning, and organizational effectiveness.
- Faculty Governance: Serve as the College’s liaison to faculty governance organizations and provide administrative leadership for College-level faculty committees, including the Engineering Faculty Council, Tenure and Promotion Committee, Curriculum Committee, Honors and Awards Committee, and Sabbatical Committee.
- Academic Policy and University Partnerships: Represent the College in university academic leadership organizations and collaborate with the Office of the Provost, Graduate School, Center for Teaching Excellence, and other academic units on institutional initiatives, academic policies, accreditation, and compliance.
- Collaboration: Partner closely with the Senior Associate Dean and other Associate Deans to ensure that academic excellence, faculty success, graduate education, and curriculum initiatives support the College’s strategic vision and operational priorities.
- Ranking: Work closely with the Dean and Associate Deans to help improve college’s ranking.
The successful candidate will demonstrate a commitment to collaborative leadership, faculty excellence, student success, continuous improvement, and academic innovation while helping position the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering among the nation’s premier engineering colleges through exceptional academic programs, outstanding faculty support, and a culture of educational excellence.
2. Associate Dean for Research and Full Professor
The Associate Dean serves as a member of the Dean's leadership team and is the College's chief academic administrator responsible for advancing the College's research enterprise and overseeing the management of research facilities and infrastructure. Reporting directly to the Dean, this position provides executive leadership for faculty research development, sponsored research growth, research operations, innovation, research compliance, laboratory safety, engineering information technology, research facilities, research lab modernization, and shared research infrastructure.
The successful candidate will be a collaborative, innovative, and results-oriented academic leader with demonstrated success leading major research enterprises and supporting faculty excellence. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional leadership, strategic vision, organizational effectiveness, sound judgment, outstanding communication skills, and the ability to build collaborative partnerships across departments, colleges, university administrative units, industry, and government agencies.
Working closely with the Dean, Dean’s leadership team, department chairs, faculty, Engineering Business Services, the Division of Sponsored Programs, the Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development, UF Innovate, Facilities Services, and university leadership, the Associate Dean for Research will strengthen the College's research enterprise by enhancing faculty success, expanding sponsored research, modernizing research facilities and infrastructure, improving operational effectiveness, and advancing innovation and technology commercialization. This position works collaboratively with the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives to translate transformational opportunities into sustainable research programs and long-term institutional success.
- Research Enterprise Leadership: Provide strategic and operational leadership for the College's research enterprise while developing and implementing initiatives that strengthen faculty success, sponsored research performance, research competitiveness, and institutional impact.
- Faculty Research Development: Lead comprehensive faculty research development initiatives, including mentoring, proposal development, grant competitiveness, strategic research planning, and faculty advancement across all career stages.
- Sponsored Research Growth: Increase proposal quality, funding competitiveness, award success rates, interdisciplinary collaborations, and sponsored research expenditures through effective faculty support and research development programs.
- Innovation and Technology Commercialization: Advance entrepreneurship, intellectual property development, technology commercialization, startup creation, industry engagement, and partnerships with UF Innovate to maximize the societal and economic impact of faculty discoveries.
- Research Facilities and Infrastructure: Provide executive leadership for the planning, operation, maintenance, modernization, and strategic utilization of the College's research facilities, laboratories, specialized instrumentation, shared-use facilities, research computing resources, secure research environments, and technical infrastructure.
- Research Operations: Oversee research support operations that enable faculty productivity, improve operational efficiency, optimize research workflows, and ensure effective stewardship of research resources.
- Research Compliance and Integrity: Provide executive oversight for research compliance, including research security, export controls, conflict of interest, responsible conduct of research, laboratory safety, and coordination with university compliance offices.
- Centers and Institutes: Provide strategic leadership and oversight for the College's research centers and institutes through annual reviews, operational assessments, performance metrics, strategic planning, and director development to ensure alignment with college priorities.
- Facilities, Laboratory Safety, and Engineering Information Technology: Provide executive oversight of the Office of Laboratory Safety, Engineering Information Technology, research facilities operations, and technical support services that enable world-class teaching and research environments.
- Research Administration Partnership: Partner with the Executive Director for Finance & Administration to strengthen research administration, improve business processes, optimize research operations, and enhance faculty support throughout the research lifecycle.
- Strategic Collaboration: Collaborate with all Associate Deans, particularly the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, to ensure the research enterprise, facilities, infrastructure, and operational support effectively advance the College's strategic priorities.
- Research Growth and National Prominence: Lead initiatives that significantly expand the College's research portfolio, increase sponsored research expenditures, strengthen national competitiveness, and improve the College's national and international reputation consistent with the Dean's strategic vision.
- Ranking: It is of utmost importance to significantly grow the college’s research portfolio to help improve ranking per the Dean’s vision.
3. Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Associate/Full Professor
The Associate Dean for Student Affairs serves as a member of the Dean's leadership team and is the College's senior leader responsible for advancing student success, student engagement, undergraduate student services, advising, experiential learning, recruitment, retention, and student development. Reporting directly to the Dean, this position provides executive leadership for Engineering Student Affairs, ensuring the delivery of high-quality student support services that promote academic achievement, student well-being, leadership development, career readiness, and timely graduation.
The successful candidate will be a collaborative, innovative, and student-centered academic leader with demonstrated success in student affairs, enrollment management, advising, and higher education administration. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional leadership, sound judgment, outstanding communication skills, organizational effectiveness, and the ability to build collaborative relationships across departments, colleges, university administrative units, and external partners.
Working closely with the Dean, Dean’s leadership team, department chairs, faculty, Engineering Student Services staff, the Office of Admissions, the Office of Student Financial Affairs, the Office of the Provost, the Dean of Students Office, Career Connections Center, university leadership, and external partners, the Associate Dean will strengthen the College's student success enterprise by enhancing recruitment, retention, advising, experiential learning, student engagement, and academic support services. This position works collaboratively with the Senior Associate Dean, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean for Research, and Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives to align student success initiatives with the College's academic, research, and strategic priorities.
- Student Success and Student Affairs Leadership: Develop and implement comprehensive strategies that promote student success, retention, graduation, engagement, and overall student well-being across the undergraduate student lifecycle.
- Pre-College Outreach and Transition Programs: Provide executive leadership for K-12 outreach initiatives, first-year transition programs, STEPUP, the Freshman Leadership Engineering Program, Introduction to Engineering, and other initiatives that strengthen recruitment, college readiness, and successful transition into engineering.
- Academic Advising and Student Success: Provide leadership for undergraduate academic advising, engineering orientation programs, transfer admissions, academic petitions, advising policy, student retention initiatives, and the Center for Student Excellence while promoting best practices in student advising and academic support.
- Student Engagement and Student Development: Oversee programs that promote student leadership, student organizations, design teams, Engineering Ambassadors, student recognition, scholarships, wellness initiatives, mentoring programs, tutoring services, and student success workshops that foster an engaged and inclusive engineering community.
- Experiential Learning and Career Development: Expand opportunities for undergraduate research, internships, cooperative education, study abroad, global engineering experiences, undergraduate research programs, career readiness, and partnerships that prepare students for successful professional careers.
- Enrollment Management and Recruitment: Provide leadership for undergraduate recruitment, transfer partnerships, enrollment management initiatives, admissions collaboration, student recruitment events, engineering tours, and partnerships that strengthen access to engineering education.
- Assessment, Accreditation, and Student Analytics: Lead assessment of student success initiatives, enrollment trends, retention and graduation metrics, career placement outcomes, student learning outcomes, and continuous improvement efforts while supporting accreditation activities, including ABET and SACSCOC.
- Student Advocacy and University Partnerships: Represent the College on university committees and serve as liaison to university administrative offices supporting student affairs, student conduct, grievances, wellness, academic policy, and undergraduate education.
- Student Events and Recognition: Provide executive leadership for commencement ceremonies, student recognition programs, scholarship administration, honors programs, awards events, and activities that celebrate student achievement and foster community.
- Entrepreneurship: Working closely with the Dean and the Innovation Institute and per the Dean’s vision, enable a platform for significant increase in student participation in entrepreneurial activities.
- Collaboration: Partner closely with the Senior Associate Dean and other Associate Deans to ensure that student success initiatives support the College's academic mission, research enterprise, strategic priorities, enrollment goals, and operational excellence.
The successful candidate will demonstrate a commitment to collaborative leadership, student success, educational excellence, continuous improvement, and innovation while helping position the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering among the nation's premier engineering colleges through outstanding student support, exceptional educational experiences, and a culture that empowers students to succeed academically and professionally.
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