Assistant Dean for Pre-Major Advising

University of Wisconsin-Madison; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 102,000 - 124,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO

Insurance

Retirement plan

Job summary

University of Wisconsin–Madison seeks an Assistant Dean for Pre-Major Advising to lead CAI admissions strategy and undergraduate student experience. You will oversee advising teams, collaborate with campus partners, and shape recruitment for CAI before declaring a major.

You will join Academic Affairs and work with the Dean, Associate Deans, and external partners. In the first year, design and lead admissions strategy, supervising academic advisors serving prospective and current undergraduates,

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5-7 years of progressively responsible experience in student affairs, academic administration, or a related area.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience leading and supervising staff, including managing multiple teams or functional units.
• Proven experience advancing student success initiatives that support individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, with measurable impact (e.g., retention, engagement, satisfaction).
• Experience implementing academic or student affairs policy and procedures.
• Experience working collaboratively across departments and administrative units in a complex organizational setting.
• Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships across diverse stakeholders.
• Experience using data and assessment to inform decision making, program improvement, and strategic planning.

Responsibilities

• Establishes priorities aligning with strategic directives and supervises staff to support academic mission.
• Fosters collegial relationships with stakeholders across departments to support initiatives and gather input.
• Supports grant-funded programs requiring senior leadership coordination and external engagement.
• Monitors ongoing assessment and continuous improvement with annual goals and outcomes reporting.
• Serves on university committees, collaborating with faculty, deans, and leadership on key issues.
• Advises and collaborates with the Dean and Provost on critical issues within supervision scope.
• May supervise at least 2.0 FTE employees and manage performance.

Skills

Student affairs experience

Staff supervision

Student success initiatives

Policy implementation

Cross-department collaboration

Organizational skills

Data-driven decision making

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Student information systems

Job description

Current Employees

If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.

Job Category

Limited

Employment Type

Regular

Job Profile

Assistant Dean (B)

Job Summary

The Assistant Dean for Pre-Major advising will oversee the College of Computing & Artificial Intelligence’s (CAI) support for students starting with high school recruitment, through admissions until they declare a major. This role will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight in support of students in or interested in CAI before they declare a major, including students in other colleges and other majors considering a CAI major. The role is responsible for developing and implementing the CAI admissions strategy and advancing the undergraduate experience.

The Assistant Dean for Pre-Major Advising serves as a key member of the Academic Affairs leadership team and will work closely with the Associate Dean, other Assistant Deans, departments, and external partners.

The Assistant Dean will supervise academic advisors working with prospective and current undergraduate students.

In the first year, the Assistant Dean will design and lead our strategy for admissions, working with partners across campus.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Establishes priorities that align with the strategic directives of the assigned school or college and ensures units effectively carry out duties in a way that best supports the academic mission of the university; provides direct supervision of department /program leadership staff and monitors compliance with laws, regulations, university policies, procedures, and relevant contractual obligations
• Facilitates collegial, collaborative working relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, partners with administrative and academic departments to support initiatives, and gathers input from key stakeholders to support recommendations
• Supports special initiatives and/or grant-funded programs that require senior leadership attention with respect to program design, planning, coordination, and interaction with internal and external stakeholders
• Monitors on-going assessment and continuous improvement of academic programs and services by guiding the establishment of annual goals, ensuring progress towards goals is met, articulating challenges, and reporting on annual outcomes and achievements for programs and services
• Serves on various university review committees, working with a wide range of constituencies including the Faculty Senate, Deans and Associate Deans, General Counsel, and University Leadership
• Advises and collaborates with the Dean, Associate Dean, and/or Office of the Provost on critical issues, representing the functional area of supervision at appropriate meetings and events as requested; and serves on and/or leads various program and/or university committees as directed
• May exercise supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 FTE or equivalent employees

Department

UW-Madison, College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Academic Affairs

Compensation

The minimum salary is $113,000, but may be negotiable depending on qualifications and experience.

Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as:

• Generous vacation, holidays, and paid time off
• Competitive insurances and savings accounts
• Retirement benefits

More Benefits information can be found here.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 5-7 years of progressively responsible experience in student affairs, academic administration, or a related area
• Minimum of 3 years of experience leading and supervising staff, including managing multiple teams or functional units
• Proven experience advancing student success initiatives that support individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, with evidence of measurable impact (e.g., retention, engagement, or satisfaction outcomes)
• Experience implementing academic or student affairs policy and procedures
• Experience working collaboratively across departments and administrative units in a complex organizational setting
• Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships across diverse stakeholders
• Experience using data and assessment to inform decision making, program improvement, and strategic planning

Preferred Qualifications

• Understanding of the computer, data or information curricula and ability to relate to undergraduates and prospective students
• Demonstrated success overseeing student-facing units (e.g., advising, student engagement, student services, recruitment)
• Experience with budget management, resource allocation, and operational oversight
• Familiarity with student information systems, reporting tools, and assessment frameworks
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives or large-scale student experience improvements

Education

Bachelor’s degree required

Master’s degree preferred

Contact Information

Kayla Weisensel at [e-mail]

Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. SeeRELAY_SERVICEfor further information.

Institutional Statement on Diversity

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies, crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years, and on-campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW-Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.