Southwest Tennessee Community College is a comprehensive, multicultural, public, open—access college. Southwest has four campuses/centers from which it offers over 100 programs and over 20 technical certificate programs.

We foster student success, transform lives, and increase the educational level of a growing community in Shelby County. Southwest is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution, accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Title: Dean - Allied Health and Natural Sciences

Employee Classification: Faculty

Institution: Southwest Tennessee Community College

Department: Allied Health and Natural Sciences

Campus Location: SWTCC - Multiple Campus Locations

Job Summary

The Dean of Health and Natural Sciences provides strategic, academic, and operational leadership for a multi-disciplinary division that includes allied health, nursing, biological sciences, physical sciences, and related STEM programs. The Dean ensures program quality, compliance with accreditation standards, faculty excellence, and student success across all departments.

This role advances workforce aligned health programs, transfer pathways in natural sciences, and partnerships with clinical, industry, and community stakeholders. The Dean manages budgets, personnel, facilities, and operations while fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Job Duties

• Strategic Leadership and Planning
  • Serve as a member of the Academic Affairs and Instruction Leadership team.
  • Represent the College with the Tennessee Board of Regents, external agencies, and legislative partners.
  • Provide vision and direction for health and natural sciences programs, aligning divisional goals with institutional mission, workforce needs, and strategic priorities.
  • Lead long range planning, program expansion, and innovation in instructional delivery, clinical education, and STEM learning environments.
  • Promote a collaborative and student centered culture across departments.
• Faculty and Staff Leadership
  • Recruit, hire, onboard, and retain qualified faculty and staff across health and natural sciences disciplines.
  • Provide mentoring, coaching, and professional development that supports instructional excellence, clinical competence, and scholarly engagement.
  • Conduct evaluations, manage workload assignments, and ensure transparent personnel practices.
  • Support faculty engagement in research, clinical practice, STEM initiatives, and community partnerships.
• Department Chair Leadership
  • Supervises, mentors, coaches, and evaluates department chairs to strengthen their effectiveness as academic leaders.
  • Develops chairs’ leadership capacity and builds a sustainable succession pipeline within the division.
  • Ensures consistency across departments in scheduling, faculty workload, hiring, evaluation, and academic operations.
  • Provides guidance and accountability for departmental planning, budgeting, enrollment management, and student success initiatives.
  • Aligns departmental leadership with institutional priorities through clear expectations, data informed decision making, and coordinated collaboration.
• Academic Program Oversight
  • Oversee curriculum development, program review, and assessment to ensure academic rigor, relevance, and alignment with accreditation and licensure standards.
  • Ensure high quality instruction across lecture, lab, simulation, and clinical settings.
  • Support the development of new programs, certificates, and pathways responsive to regional workforce demands.
• Enrollment Management
  • Provides strategic oversight for divisional enrollment planning, growth strategies, and program viability, ensuring accountability for enrollment outcomes.
  • Partners with Admissions, Advising, Marketing, Workforce Development, and Enrollment Management to support coordinated recruitment, retention, and student success initiatives.
  • Ensures schedules are developed to optimize enrollment, student access, and alignment with Guided Pathways, and holds department chairs accountable for schedule quality and productivity.
  • Guides and monitors departmental recruitment, marketing, and outreach efforts while clarifying roles so day to day operations remain with the Enrollment Management unit.
  • Evaluates program productivity and makes evidence based recommendations for expansion, redesign, consolidation, or discontinuation to strengthen divisional performance.
• Accreditation, Compliance, and Institutional Effectiveness
  • Ensure compliance with regional accreditation (e.g., SACSCOC) and specialized accreditors for health programs (e.g., ACEN, CoARC, NAACLS, JRCERT).
  • Maintain audit ready documentation, assessment systems, and continuous improvement processes.
  • Oversee clinical affiliation agreements, regulatory reporting, and licensure related requirements.
  • Developing annual divisional performance metrics.
  • Using institutional dashboards to guide resource allocation.
  • Leading continuous quality improvement initiatives.
  • Monitoring key performance indicators.
• Student Success and Clinical/Scientific Learning Support
  • Strengthen advising, retention, and completion strategies for health and STEM students.
  • Ensure high quality learning environments, including laboratories, simulation centers, and clinical placements.
  • Support student progression through selective admissions, licensure preparation, and transfer pathways.
• Budget, Resource, and Facilities Management
  • Develop and manage divisional budgets, ensuring responsible stewardship of financial, human, and physical resources.
  • Oversee procurement and maintenance of specialized equipment, laboratory supplies, simulation technology, and clinical instructional resources.
  • Coordinate facilities planning for labs, classrooms, simulation centers, and clinical education spaces.
  • Pursue grants, partnerships, and external funding opportunities.
• Partnerships and Community Engagement
  • Build and sustain relationships with hospitals, clinics, laboratories, research institutions, and industry partners.
  • Lead advisory board engagement to ensure programs meet workforce needs and licensure expectations.
  • Represent the division on institutional committees and in community, workforce, and educational collaborations.
  • Collaborating with Workforce Development to align academic programs with regional workforce needs.
  • Working with employers and advisory committees to ensure the curriculum remains current and responsive to industry demands.
  • Supporting industry-recognized credentials, work-based learning, and transfer/workforce pathways where appropriate.
  • Using labor market and workforce data to inform program planning, review, and expansion.
• Operational Management and Communication
  • Lead divisional meetings, maintain clear communication channels, and ensure timely dissemination of policies and decisions.
  • Oversee scheduling, staffing, and operational processes across departments.
  • Ensure compliance with institutional policies, safety protocols, and regulatory standards.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s in a health sciences or natural sciences discipline.
  
• Minimum of three (3) years of academic leadership experience (chair, program director, associate dean, or similar).
  
• Minimum five (5) years full-time teaching experience
  
• Strong organizational, communication, and administrative skills.
  
• Ability to work collaboratively with an ever-growing college population of faculty, staff, students, and external partners.

Preferred Qualifications

• Relevant doctoral degree
  
• Three (3) years of experience in administration, with higher education administration preferred.
  
• Demonstrated experience with regional or specialized accreditation processes
  
• Experience managing budgets, grants, or clinical partnerships

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of health sciences education, clinical practice standards, natural sciences pedagogy, accreditation requirements, and regulatory expectations.
  
• Strong leadership, communication, strategic planning, analytical, and project management skills for managing complex academic and clinical/scientific operations.
  
• Ability to mentor faculty, support instructional, clinical, and foster professional growth.
  
• Ability to cultivate partnerships with healthcare providers, laboratories, research institutions, and STEM industry stakeholders.
  
• Ability to manage budgets, prioritize resources, supervise faculty and staff, and uphold institutional policies and ethical standards.
  
• Ability to adapt to evolving technologies, scientific advancements, and healthcare industry trends while maintaining high quality learning environments.

The intent of this job description is to provide a representation of the types of duties and responsibilities that will be required of positions given this title and shall not be construed as a declaration of the total specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.

Candidates who are called for an interview must notify Human Resources in writing at least five (5) days in advance of any reasonable accommodation needed prior to the date of the interview.

First consideration will be given to current Southwest Tennessee Community College employees who meet the minimum qualifications for the position.

In order to be considered for the position, the following items must be uploaded:

• Resume
• Cover letter
• Unofficial Transcripts

A summary of our benefits can be found below: 

https://www.southwest.tn.edu/hr/benefits-overview.php

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The TBR does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, or national origin, sex, disability, age, status as a protected veteran or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulations and by Tennessee Board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities. 

The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies:  LeVetta Hudson, Vice President of People & Culture, myhr@southwest.tn.edu, 737 Union Ave, Memphis, TN 38103, 901-333-5000. See the full non-discrimination policy.