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Dean of the College Search Profile

Employer
Wabash College
Location
Montgomery County, IN
Closing date
Nov 30, 2021

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Sector
Other
Organization Type
Corporate
Wabash College
Dean of the College Search Profile
President
Scott Feller has announced a search for the next Dean of the
College at Wabash in a process that will invite both internal and
external candidates. As the chief academic officer, the Dean
reports directly to President Feller and exercises oversight of the
academic program, which includes 93 FTE faculty and about 60 staff,
through a robust tradition of shared governance. The Dean is
responsible for all faculty personnel matters, provides leadership
on issues of faculty development and program support, and manages
all elements of the academic administration. The new Dean will be
strategically positioned to build on the faculty's collective good
will and mission-driven approach to engaged teaching and
learning.
Working with the faculty, President Feller has appointed a
cross-constituent search committee that will be involved at each
stage of the process. In the final stage, the committee will
discuss with the President their evaluations of each finalist and
the President will make the final decision. The application,
interview, and selection process has been designed to maintain the
confidentiality of all interested parties to the extent
possible.
The Opportunities and Challenges for the New Wabash
Dean
The Wabash faculty, staff, and administration are united in
identifying a person who will provide leadership for the faculty
and the curriculum, offer a contemporary understanding of programs
and pedagogies in the liberal arts, and integrate new and engaging
programs into the existing curriculum and governance structure. The
new Dean will be a true partner in executing President Feller's
agenda, and will be expected to operate with transparency while
providing leadership across the institution.
In accepting his/her responsibilities, the Dean will engage an
agenda that includes:
Uncompromising Leadership - The Dean
must lead in understanding the ways in which Wabash can leverage
its strengths, including a $400 million endowment, to address the
numerous challenges facing residential liberal arts colleges. In
addition to basic issues of assessment, compensation, personnel,
curricular review, and faculty development, the Dean will be asked
to lead in areas of high impact programs such as domestic and
international faculty-led course-embedded travel ("Immersion
Learning"), student/faculty research, internships, and "Wabash X" initiatives.
Enhancing and integrating these programs within the curriculum and
academic framework, as well as continued emphasis on
interdisciplinary offerings will require the Dean's confident
attention. The Dean is bolstered in this work by significant
endowed funds for course-embedded travel and well-established
advisory committees for the Wabash X initiatives.
On a campus where faculty are encouraged to voice a diversity of
viewpoints, the Dean must be confident dealing with disagreement
and channeling it as civil discourse. Whether working on specific
planning objectives or addressing general issues of academic
business, the Dean must understand how to lead in a culture where
spirited discussion is a strength. A renewed understanding among
and between all constituencies about effective shared governance
will be helpful as a new Dean begins his/her tenure at Wabash.
Evaluating and Integrating Programs into Existing
Curriculum and Governance - The Dean must bring skills
as a listener, communicator, and facilitator of constructive
discussion to create coherence around the College's academic
priorities. Under the last President and Dean, Wabash aggressively
pursued the creation of new interdisciplinary majors and minors, as
well as co-curricular Wabash X initiatives to expand the College's
academic footprint.
New majors in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and
Computer Science have doubled enrollments in each year since they
were established, and about 20% of Wabash students participate in
Wabash X initiatives in Global Health, Business and
Entrepreneurship, and Democracy and Public Discourse. A new Dean
will step into a role of underscoring the College's fundamental
strengths in the liberal arts, articulating the contemporary needs
of 21st century learners, and integrating these new and emerging
programs into the College's timeless curriculum and governance
structure. The Dean is supported by strong Division Chairs, who are
both active teaching faculty and committed administrative
colleagues.
At a time of increased scrutiny and challenges to the traditions
of liberal learning, the Dean has an opportunity to improve on the
College's excellent reputation in the current national dialogue
around these issues, while emphasizing the exceptional outcomes
that emerge from a Wabash education.
Whole-Hearted Support for Diversity and Sense of
Belonging - In a campus environment where diversity
has become an increasingly important benchmark, intercultural
competence is highly valued across the faculty, staff, and student
body. Since its founding, Wabash has been committed to providing a
liberal arts education to all qualified students, regardless of
their financial circumstances. Typically, roughly 30% of each
incoming class come from low-income (Pell Grant-eligible)
households and a similar percentage of new students are the first
in their families to attend college. About 20% of first-time
freshmen are domestic students of color.
The new Dean will be a leader in the College's efforts for
diversity, equity, and inclusion - far beyond monitoring the
gender, racial, and ethnic profile of the College's constituencies.
In cooperation with the Special Assistant to the President for
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - and with the backing of the $4.5
million "Restoring
Hope, Restoring Trust" grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., the
Dean will be asked to model and build the elements of an inclusive
community in which Wabash students, faculty, and staff feel a
genuine sense of belonging and are fully invested in all aspects of
a life-changing liberal arts education.
Encouraging and Developing Faculty Over the Arc of
Their Careers - One tenured faculty member confidently
said, "The new Dean will be lucky to find such a collegial,
hard-working, student-centered faculty." Indeed, Wabash's faculty
play an out-sized role in the overall development of Wabash men,
are active participants in all aspects of their students' lives,
and are genuine in their affection and support for their faculty
colleagues. A growing number of endowed professorships, faculty
development funds, and the Byron K. Trippet Professorships provide
significant resources for the recruitment and development of
faculty at Wabash.
The Dean is responsible for strengthening the teaching and
scholarship activity of all Wabash faculty through ongoing support
of faculty development. While the majority of Wabash faculty are
tenured, a cadre of early-career tenure-track faculty will need
support and encouragement as scholars and teachers. Opportunities
also exist to encourage and challenge tenured faculty to remain
fully engaged in the academic life of the College and to identify
programs to leverage the expertise of mid-career faculty throughout
their teaching careers.
As a member of the Personnel Committee, the Dean is intimately
involved in coordinating many aspects of hiring, review, tenure,
and promotion of faculty and academic administration, and will
effectively facilitate efforts among the parties involved. The Dean
will actively support faculty and staff who hold leadership
positions and will encourage and develop others to seek important
leadership roles at the College.
A Collaborative Partner - While
advocating for the academic program is a fundamental aspect of
administrative leadership, the Dean must also be a gracefully
assertive leader in collaboration with members of the Senior Staff on
College-wide issues. Positive relationships within the leadership
team will be built on candor, authenticity, mutual respect, and a
clear understanding of the entire Wabash College living and
learning program. In particular, the new Dean must actively
collaborate with staff in Advancement and Admissions.
Wabash has a long and storied culture of philanthropy, and the
current Giant Steps
Capital Campaign - designed to provide significant support for
scholarships and faculty development - has exceeded all of its
benchmarks since the public launch in November 2018. While
President Feller serves as the College's chief fund-raiser with
Advancement staff support, the Dean will play a central role in
developing the Wabash narrative that helps define donor priorities.
The Dean will be active in developing proposals from corporations
and foundations, and will be supported in these efforts by
Advancement staff and the College's partnership with McAllister and Quinn, a nationally
recognized federal grant consulting firm. The new Dean will develop
a keen understanding of the College's endowed funds and how to
leverage them to support the academic program.
Similarly, the Dean will work with colleagues in the Admissions
Office to define and articulate the value of a residential liberal
arts experience for young men. The new Dean must believe in this
mission and help create an academic narrative to share with
prospective students. As one of the Colleges That Change Lives, Wabash
is committed to providing an elite liberal arts education to
qualified young men regardless of their financial circumstances.
Typically, over 30% of the entering freshman class receive federal
Pell Grants and a similar percentage are first generation college
students.
Managing with Strength - The Dean
currently has supervisory responsibility for the three academic
divisions that encompass all departments and majors, the Senior
Associate Dean of the College, three Division Chairs, and 12 direct
reports that manage a wide range of curricular and co-curricular
activities, including Information Technology
Services and Institutional
Research.
The Dean also manages four grant-funded programs and centers:
The Wabash Center
for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, the
Center of Inquiry in the
Liberal Arts, Higher
Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium, and the Wabash Pastoral Leadership
Program. These centers bring in substantial grant funding and
provide significant resources for pedagogy, assessment, and data
sharing.
Attention to detail and strong organization and management
skills will be essential, as the successful Dean delegates
effectively, evaluates fairly, holds others accountable, empowers
an effective academic administrative team, and provides support for
staff development.
Partnering with President Feller will also be a key ingredient
in a successful leadership arrangement at Wabash. The Dean will
provide the essential conduit between the President and the faculty
and academic program.
Maintaining Visibility and Accessibility
- The intimate and engaging nature of the Wabash community calls
for the Dean to be comfortable dealing on a personal level with
faculty and administrative colleagues, staff, and the student body.
The Dean's effort to nurture face-to-face conversations and
communication will underscore his/her accessibility while also
improving the quality of the dialogue. Everyone at Wabash will
value the Dean's visible, accessible, and participative place as a
part of the Wabash community.
Desired Attributes of the Dean of the
College
The next Dean should embody many of the attributes developed
through liberal arts education, including intellectual curiosity,
creative acumen, and an active life of the mind. The Dean should
also possess skills that will meet the expectations discussed in
the Opportunities and Challenges section of this position
description. High energy, deep integrity, a sense of humor, warmth,
commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and authenticity
are important personal qualities. In addition, the Dean of the
College will be:

Collegial: The new Dean of the
College will inherit a faculty with enormous good will directed
toward the College, colleagues, and the administration, and will
receive significant support from academic administrative staff. The
new Dean will have high energy and a collegial spirit.

Focused on the Liberal Arts: The new
Dean must be unwavering in his/her advocacy of residential liberal
arts education.

Trusting: Wabash faculty and staff
excel at their jobs and do not need to be micromanaged. The Dean
should trust them and focus on overarching priorities.

Candid: The Dean should be willing to
have difficult conversations with faculty colleagues, Trustees, the
President, as well as with all members of the community.

Respectful: The Dean should respect
that which is in place and understand the culture before advocating
wholesale change. Further integration and assessment of new and
emerging programs is critical.

Mission-Driven: Given scarce
resources and challenging times, the Dean should be focused on the
College's timeless mission: "Wabash educates young men to think
critically, act responsibly, lead effectively, and live
humanely."

Committed: The new Dean must embrace
Wabash as a College for men, and understand the emerging narrative
about the importance of educating young men in the liberal
arts.

Understanding: As with any faculty
that includes educators at various points in their personal and
professional lives, the new Dean must be understanding and active
in promoting a healthy work-life balance, while at the same time
holding all faculty and staff to high standards of excellence for
which the College is known.

Relaxed: The Dean should let faculty
be faculty. There will always be a good bit of collegial debate.
Not everything that creates controversy needs intervention.
Inquiries and Applications
Wabash College, a liberal arts college for men, seeks faculty
and staff who are committed to providing quality engagement with
students, high levels of academic challenge and support, and
meaningful experiences that prepare students for life and
leadership among diverse populations around the globe. Wabash is an
equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from persons
of all backgrounds.
Questions and inquiries from prospects, as well as nominations,
should be directed to Dr. Mauri
Ditzler, who is assisting with the search. Candidates should
submit a full CV, letter of intent, and responses to the
Opportunities and Challenges and the Desired
Attributes to the Wabash Employment website
no later than December 31, 2021. All inquiries, nominations,
applications, and future interviews will be treated with utmost
confidentiality.
About Wabash College
Wabash College is a private liberal arts college for men located
in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832, its mission is to
"educate men to think critically, act responsibly, lead
effectively, and live humanely," and it accomplishes its mission in
a residential community in which faculty are highly engaged with
their students, in and out of the classroom.
Wabash's 840 students come from over 30 states and about a dozen
foreign countries. Wabash is featured in Loren Pope's bestselling
book, Colleges That Change Lives; its professors have
received national rankings for quality and accessibility; and
Wabash boasts the nation's top-ranked Alumni Network and
third-ranked Internship Program.
President Scott E. Feller: The Wabash College
Board of Trustees elected Scott Feller, Ph.D.,
to serve as the 17th President of Wabash College by unanimous
vote during the Trustees' meeting May 16, 2020. Dr. Feller served
as Dean of the College at Wabash from 2014-2020 and as Professor of
Chemistry since 1998.
Senior Staff: The Dean of the College serves as
a member of the President's Senior Staff, which includes:

Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Dean of the College
Dean of Students
Dean of Enrollment Management
Dean for Professional Development
Dean for College Advancement
Director of Athletics and Campus Wellness
President's Chief of Staff and Director of Strategic
Communications
Special Assistant to the President for Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion
Board of Trustees: The Dean of the College
serves as the administration liaison to the Board of Trustees'
Academic Affairs Committee and staffs the Executive Committee.
Wabash
College Board of Trustees.
Academic Leadership: The Dean of the College
works directly with three Division Chairs, and also provides
leadership and support for the following direct reports:

Senior Associate Dean of the College
Registrar
Information Technology
Institutional Research
Lilly Library
Academic Centers for Excellence
Pre-Medicine Advisor
Fellowship Advisor
International Students and Off-Campus Studies
Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts
Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium
Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and
Religion
Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program
Foundation Support and Philanthropy - Wabash
receives national recognition and significant investment from
foundations such as Lilly Endowment Inc., the National Science
Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Arthur Vining Davis
Foundations, and the Henry Luce Foundation, among others. The
College has raised in excess of $20 million in each of the last
three years, including a $3.5+ million annual fund. Each year,
approximately 44% of alumni give to the College.
Wabash Graduates - Nearly 40% of Wabash's
10,000 living graduates possess advanced degrees (27% boast
terminal degrees). One in ten alumni holds a leadership position in
his firm (director, owner, vice president, president, chairman, or
CEO). The College's placement rates to medical schools (94%) and
law schools (88%) are nearly double the national averages, and
Wabash's first destination rate for the Class of 2021 was 99.4%
within six months of graduation.
National Centers of Distinction - The College
is home to the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology
and Religion and the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Program, which are
wholly funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. Wabash also hosts the Center
of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, which was founded by a grant from
the Lilly Endowment, and the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS)
Consortium. The Dean of the College oversees these programs.
Wabash's Financial Position - Wabash College
boasts an endowment of approximately $400 million ($475,000
per-student) and has an annual operating budget of approximately
$43 million.
Faculty - In 2021-22, 99 percent of the
faculty members at Wabash hold a Ph.D. or equivalent terminal
degree. Wabash's special strength lies with a faculty dedicated to
teaching undergraduate students.
Student-to-Faculty Ratio - Wabash maintains a
student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1, and 75 percent of all course
sections have fewer than 20 students. Other figures: 94% of courses
are taught by full-time faculty; 38% of full-time faculty are women
and 13% are faculty of color; and 37% have at least 15 years of
service at Wabash.
Majors and Minors - Wabash offers 39 majors and
minors, two dual degree programs, and pre-professional programs in
law and medicine. See the College's website for a
complete listing of majors, minors, and associated programs.
Library Collections and Services - Lilly Library, built in 1959,
was renovated and expanded in 1992. Lilly Library is a founding
member of PALNI, ALI,
and The Oberlin
Group. Both in the library and on the campus network students
have access to periodical indexes and the online catalog of the 2.7
million volumes of Wabash and the 24 other private colleges and
seminaries that are part of PALNI. Additional off-campus resources
available electronically from the Library web site encompass a wide
range of specialized subject indexes and abstracts, full-text
journal and information databases, and the OCLC international
database of 37.5 million volumes in over 30,000 libraries around
the world.
Lilly Library also features the Goodrich Seminar
Room on its second floor, which was funded by Pierre Goodrich.
This grand gathering place provides Wabash students with a
practical tool for understanding and interpreting the historical
evolution of the idea of individual liberty. The Robert T. Ramsay, Jr.
Archival Center, located on the library's lower level, contains
the records of the College, including catalogs and yearbooks,
student publications, fraternity files, and other related materials
that document Wabash's history, along with several special
collections.
Athletics - Wabash's athletic teams played and
won the first collegiate football, basketball, and baseball games
in Indiana. About half of all Wabash students participate in one of
13 intercollegiate sports.
Wabash has produced more than 450 All-Americans, 33 Academic
All-Americans, and 22 recipients of the prestigious NCAA
Postgraduate Scholarship. Wabash is a member of the North Coast Athletic
Conference. All faculty and staff have full access to the
College's recreation
and fitness facilities.
Crawfordsville and Montgomery County - Crawfordsville, Indiana,
population 16,000, is the county seat of Montgomery County
(38,000). Third-term Mayor Todd Barton is a Wabash College
graduate, and successfully secured "Stellar Communities"
designation from the State of Indiana, which allowed Crawfordsville
to fast-track a series of transformational projects including
construction of "Fusion 54," a
co-working space that brings together the city and county's
economic development and growth entities, with entrepreneurs and
students in Wabash's Center for Innovation, Business, and
Entrepreneurship. Other Stellar projects include a downtown park;
rehabilitation of a former insurance building, which will become a
mixed-used space with restaurant/bar and boutique hotel; and a
downtown cultural trail linking Wabash to the town.
Montgomery County is
home to three school corporations and six museums. The
Crawfordsville Community School Corporation has strong programs for
gifted and talented students, as well as students with
disabilities. Recent graduates have gone on to colleges that
include Harvard, Princeton, and Northwestern, to name a few. The
small business community is gaining strength, and there is an
emerging "buy and eat local" movement that has grown from
Crawfordsville's very popular farmer's market.
Crawfordsville is served by AMTRAK with service to Indianapolis
and Chicago. The top-rated Indianapolis International Airport is a
50-minute drive from campus and Chicago's Loop is less than a
three-hour drive.
Employment opportunities for spouses and partners abound in the
area. While the vast majority of Wabash faculty live in Montgomery
County, thriving suburban communities northwest of Indianapolis
include Zionsville and Brownsburg, which are each about a 40-minute
drive to campus. West Lafayette, home to Purdue University, is just
30 minutes to the north. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Keywords: Dean, Location: Crawfordsville, IN - 47933

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