Assistant Dean for Advising and Student Support, College of Natural Sciences

Job description

Job Posting Title: Assistant Dean for Advising and Student Support, College of Natural Sciences ---- Hiring Department: College of Natural Sciences ---- Position Open To: All Applicants ---- Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40 ---- FLSA Status: Exempt from FLSA ---- Earliest Start Date: Immediately ---- Position Duration: Expected to Continue ---- Location: UT MAIN CAMPUS ---- Job Details: General Notes About the College of Natural Sciences Discovery starts here in the College of Natural Sciences , where we are changing the world through transformative experiences, education, and research. We are the largest college at UT Austin, home to top-ranked academic specialties, a dozen departments, and award-winning student programs and faculty. Join us and help pave the way for the next generation of leaders and breakthroughs in science, technology, and mathematics. The Office of Undergraduate Education supports the educational mission of the college through faculty instruction support, advising, student success programming, curriculum planning with departments, recognition programs, study abroad, and more. About The University of Texas at Austin Founded in 1883, The University of Texas at Austin ranks among the top 40 universities globally, with nationally recognized programs across 19 colleges and schools. By creating educational opportunities for all and leading cutting-edge research at scale, the university fosters positive social change, technological advancement, and economic progress - proving that change really does start here. UT Austin offers outstanding employee benefits and total rewards packages. For more details, please see: Benefits | Human Resources . Purpose The Assistant Dean is the key management leader for the Advising and Student Support area of the College of Natural Sciences' (CNS) Undergraduate Education and serves as a member of Undergraduate Education's core leadership team. The Assistant Dean oversees the administration, programs, and strategic direction of the organization, including designing a coherent, data-informed advising continuum for CNS undergraduate students across academic, non-academic, and professional advising, as well as student records. The Assistant Dean fosters a culture of student-centered service excellence, operational consistency, and continuous improvement across all advising functions. Responsibilities Advising Continuum: Set priorities and provide leadership for the advising experience of CNS undergraduate students. Identify and implement improved ways to support both thriving and struggling students, including cross-functional collaboration with other units in Undergraduate Education and other colleges. Oversee planning, implementation, and assessment of advising programs, orientation, internal transfer, and college-readiness initiatives, and use retention and persistence data to guide strategy. Coordinate and supervise student services administration for Natural Sciences majors. Advise College leadership on trends and emerging needs affecting students inside and outside the classroom. Oversee college-level academic processes such as academic warning, dismissal, and re-entry. Personnel and Budget Management: Provide leadership, supervision, and direction for the Advising and Student Support area, including budget and staff. Establish budget priorities and maintain data on advising initiatives and outcomes. Hire, train, and develop staff; set goals and conduct performance evaluations; manage disciplinary matters up to and including dismissal; address grievances and corrective action plans. Actively invest in staff development, cross-training, and succession planning. Cultivate a culture of excellent, consistent service to students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Non-Academic Advising and Student Wellness: Administer and supervise non-academic advising policies and procedures. Build support structures for students whose personal circumstances affect their ability to engage fully with academics, and coordinate with campus wellness and mental health resources. Partner with non-academic coordinators on decisions such as retroactive withdrawal and course withdrawal. Manage emergency fund to support student financial needs. Chair the non-academic appeals committee. Ensure adherence to college and university policy. Student Records: Supervise the Student Records office, including courses and curriculum, graduation, petitions, catalogs, certificates, and minors. Support the Associate Dean on academic matters and student concerns, and serve as liaison to CNS faculty and Student Conduct and Academic Integrity on student matters, grievances, grade appeals, and conduct issues. Technology and Data Strategy: Oversee the advising unit's use of student success and CRM/case-management platforms (e.g., EAB Navigate or comparable systems) to track caseloads, flag students in need of intervention, and measure advising impact. Partner with Undergraduate Education and university IT on data governance, reporting, and adoption of new advising technologies, including responsible use of AI-enabled advising tools. Collaboration Across Campus: Represent the Associate Dean and/or College of Natural Sciences on university-wide committees, including the Assistant Deans' Council and Orientation. Build and sustain partnerships with units across campus and other college advising centers. Collaborate across Undergraduate Education to identify areas for improvement and lead implementation of solutions. Trusted Advisor to the Associate Dean: Serve as a trusted advisor to the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, providing candid counsel on sensitive student, personnel, and policy matters. Act as a sounding board on emerging issues before they reach a decision point and help shape the Associate Dean's approach to complex or high-visibility situations. Exercise sound, independent judgment and discretion when representing the Associate Dean's perspective to faculty, staff, and students. Maintain the confidentiality and trust necessary to be brought into high-level conversations early and consistently. Support the Associate Dean on a range of high-level issues and serve as their designee on student-related matters such as course/term drops and appeals when the Associate Dean is unavailable. Delegated Signature Authority: Serve as the College’s designated decision-maker on a defined set of student petitions and appeals, including admissions exceptions, grade changes and grade appeals, course/term drop and withdrawal requests, graduation certifications, and other academic petitions not otherwise assigned to a faculty committee. Exercise independent judgment to render final decisions within college and university policy, escalating novel, high-risk, or precedent-setting cases to the Associate Dean as appropriate. Other duties as assigned, including supporting special projects and staffing events within CNS. Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 6 years of progressive experience managing programs or developing initiatives. Demonstrated success in academic advising, personnel management, and budget management. Demonstrated record of successful program development and assessment. Effective leadership experience with students, staff, faculty, and external stakeholders. Professional demeanor and excellent written and verbal communication skills. Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate. Preferred Qualifications Graduate degree. Experience directing an advising unit in higher education, ideally at a large public research university. Extensive experience partnering with faculty and academic leadership. Experience with student success/CRM case-management platforms and using data to drive advising strategy. Demonstrated creative and analytical thinking. Experience working with STEM students. Experience developing and implementing new programs at scale. Familiarity with UT undergraduate student success programs. Strong research and data management skills. Salary Range $145,000 + depending on qualifications Work Conditions This position is based on the UT Austin campus. Required Materials Resume/CV 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor Letter of interest Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes. Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above. ---- Employment Eligibility: Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval. ---- Retirement Plan Eligibility: The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. ---- Background Checks: A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position. ---- Equal Opportunity Employer: The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer , complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. ---- Pay Transparency: The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. ---- Employment Eligibility Verification: If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university. ---- E-Verify: The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following: E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF] Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF] Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF] ---- Compliance: Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031 . The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.