Dean, College of Liberal Arts
The University of Texas at Austin
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Job summary
The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts seeks a Dean to lead a large, multifaceted college with 21 departments and 12,000+ undergraduates. The Dean will shape strategy, academic excellence, and fiscal stewardship, while advancing fundraising and external relations to elevate COLA’s national impact.
We seek a visionary leader with a terminal degree and an outstanding record of achievement, who can foster collaboration, champion student success, and guide innovative curricula
Qualifications
- Academic qualifications with terminal degree and outstanding record for full professorship at an AAU institution.
- Strong understanding of research-intensive academic culture, tenure, promotion, and governance.
- Proven leadership and management experience in a large, complex organization.
- Strategic thinking with ability to translate ideas into actionable plans.
- Experience in fundraising, donor relations, and securing major gifts.
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
- Commitment to intellectual freedom, pluralism, and integrity.
- Ability to foster interdisciplinary collaboration across departments and schools.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic and operational leadership for COLA as chief academic and administrative officer.
- Guide undergraduate and graduate programs and academic enterprise across 21 departments.
- Oversee budget, personnel, and administration; ensure rigorous standards and stewardship.
- Lead external relations, philanthropy, and partnerships to advance resources and impact.
- Champion student success, curricular innovation, and career readiness for 12,000+ undergrads.
- Drive Core Curriculum integration and national dialogue on liberal arts education.
- Foster a collaborative culture across COLA and the broader university.
Skills
Education
Job description
Dean
The University of Texas at Austin
College of Liberal Arts
One hundred fifty years ago, the Texas Constitution mandated the creation of “a University of the first class for the promotion of literature and the arts and sciences.” This call inspires the University of Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts. The University (UT Austin) invites applications and nominations for the position of Dean of the College of Liberal Arts (COLA), one of UT Austin’s largest colleges and a national leader in humanities and social science education and research. COLA's 21 departments and more than 30 centers and institutes teach students to think critically, communicate effectively, and engage thoughtfully with complex social, political, and ethical questions. Across these fields, the College's faculty produce research that advances the frontiers of knowledge and understanding while also preparing our graduates to pursue lives of meaning, impact, and leadership. These are timeless missions that have fresh urgency in our current age of rapid technological change, and the College has a special role to play in meeting that challenge. As President Jim Davis said in his inaugural address, “In a world of growing artificial intelligence, there has never been a more important time to develop human intelligence.”
The search welcomes candidates with distinguished academic and professional backgrounds who can lead a large and multifaceted college at an AAU research university during a pivotal moment for the humanities and social sciences in American higher education.
The Dean of COLA serves as the College's chief academic and administrative officer, providing strategic, intellectual, and operational leadership for the college. Reporting to the Executive Vice President and Provost, the Dean guides the academic enterprise across undergraduate and graduate programs.
The Dean is responsible for equipping all faculty, students, and staff to thrive; recruiting and retaining outstanding scholars and educators; and ensuring that academic programs meet the highest standards of rigor, relevance, and innovation, warranting the public’s trust in our enterprise. The Dean oversees the College's budget and operations, helps develop new academic initiatives, and strengthens the infrastructure required for high-impact research, high-quality teaching, and student success. Direct reports typically include associate deans for academic/faculty affairs, student affairs, research, and graduate education; an assistant dean for finance and administration; the College's chief development officer; and department chairs across the College's 21 departments.
As the external representative of the College, the Dean serves as an ambassador to state leaders and agencies, alumni, donors, and community, industry, and government partners. The Dean leads in securing philanthropic support and expanding the College's visibility, influence, and contributions to Texas and the nation.
This is a significant opportunity: the College has operated under interim leadership for an extended period following the completion of the previous dean's term in 2025, and the next Dean will provide the sustained, permanent leadership needed to build on the College's strengths and chart its next chapter.
The successful candidate will bring visionary leadership grounded in a deep understanding of the evolving role of the humanities and social sciences in higher education and society. UT Austin is building a new undergraduate Core Curriculum—a clear, focused, and rigorous program of general education organized around three categories: Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM—designed to ensure that every student shares a common and balanced learning experience and grapples with big questions of human meaning and purpose, citizenship and self-government, scientific discovery, and the opportunities and challenges of technological innovation. With courses in the new Core beginning fall 2027 for approximately 10,000 students a year, COLA's departments—spanning both the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences categories—will be central to its success. The Dean will play an important role in shaping and implementing the Core, while influencing broader national conversations about the value and relevance of a liberal arts education. The Dean should also ensure that COLA’s disciplines build the judgment, character, and capacity for lifelong learning that are essential in a world where information is abundant, but wisdom is scarce.
The successful candidate will be committed to student success and to preparing COLA's more than 12,000 undergraduate students and more than 1100 graduate students for meaningful careers and civic life–preparation that extends to the tens of thousands of students from other academic units at UT who take COLA classes. This leader will champion student interests and expand opportunities for research, internships, and experiential learning, ensuring that a liberal arts education translates clearly into career readiness whether in the public, private, or third sectors. The Dean will support curricular innovation, including through the College's honors and interdisciplinary programs, to ensure students graduate with both deep knowledge and adaptable, transferable skills.
The successful candidate will be committed to building and sustaining an exceptional faculty community across COLA's wide-ranging departments. This leader will recruit and retain outstanding scholars and teachers; develop and maintain high standards for hiring, promotion, and tenure; and ensure that faculty and staff can flourish in their work. Following a period of reorganization within the College, including the recent consolidation of several departments, the Dean will foster a culture of collaboration and shared purpose across the College's diverse fields.
The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong capacity for fundraising, external relations, and advocacy in support of the College's mission and strategic priorities. As UT begins preparing for the next capital campaign, the Dean will lead in cultivating relationships with donors, alumni, and community and industry partners, and in securing investments that enhance faculty excellence, student opportunities, and the College's public impact. The Dean will also champion the enduring value of a liberal arts education to state leaders, families, and the broader public.
The successful candidate will oversee a budget of approximately $179 million, along with the College's personnel and administrative functions, ensuring alignment with COLA's strategic priorities and the University’s overall academic mission. The Dean will promote transparency, accountability, and data-informed decision-making. The Dean will also work collaboratively with faculty, staff, and university leadership to ensure prudent stewardship of the College’s resources.
The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to intellectual freedom, a marketplace of ideas in and out of the classroom, and the highest standards of academic integrity. This leader will cultivate an environment where rigorous scholarship and free inquiry can thrive, and will champion a culture of intellectual pluralism and respectful dialogue—recognizing that the strength of a public research university, and of the liberal arts in particular, depends crucially on the free exchange of ideas. The Dean will help the University's broader efforts to strengthen viewpoint diversity and civic education, including with newer university-wide initiatives in this space, ensuring that COLA's departments remain vital, trusted contributors to that mission.
The successful candidate will embrace the interdisciplinary opportunities that define both the College of Liberal Arts and The University of Texas at Austin. This leader will foster meaningful collaboration across the “40 Acres,” building partnerships with many of the 17 other schools and colleges. The Dean will encourage initiatives that integrate the humanities and social sciences with fields such as data science, public policy, law, technology, and health, recognizing the increasingly interconnected nature of knowledge and practice.
The successful candidate will develop a sophisticated strategy for engaging with artificial intelligence across the full scope of the College's work. This leader will leverage AI thoughtfully in the College's own administrative and operational functions, while also providing faculty with the intellectual and institutional frameworks needed to integrate AI into their research and pedagogy in ways that are rigorous and discipline-appropriate. Critically, the Dean will champion curricular and pedagogical approaches that guard against cognitive deskilling—ensuring that a COLA education continues to cultivate the deep capacities for reading, writing, reasoning, and interpretation that define the liberal arts, even as AI tools reshape how students learn and how knowledge is produced. The Dean will also be a compelling public voice for the distinctive and urgent mission of the humanities and social sciences in an AI-saturated society: articulating why the questions COLA's disciplines have always asked are not made obsolete by artificial intelligence, but made more consequential by it.
While no single candidate will have all of these ideal qualifications, strong candidates will demonstrate many of the following experiences and abilities:
- Academic qualifications in one or more of the College’s fields, including a terminal degree and an outstanding record of academic achievement commensurate with appointment as a full professor with tenure at an AAU institution
- Understanding of research-intensive academic culture, including tenure, promotion, sponsored research, and faculty governance
- A strong record of motivational leadership and effective management in a large, complex organization, with the ability to lead diverse units
- Intellectual depth and strategic thinking; the capacity to translate ideas into actions with meaningful impact
- Demonstrated success in establishing a vision and executing a strategic plan; experience aligning resources with strategic goals
- A strong record of promoting community, civil discourse, and intellectual pluralism
- Demonstrated experience building meaningful relationships with philanthropists, institutional grant‑makers, and industry partners, as well as success in securing gifts and/or establishing significant partnerships
- Financial acumen and a record of fiduciary transparency and accountability
- Exceptional communication and relationship skills and the ability to be an effective spokesperson and strong advocate for the College and University
- Demonstrated support for traditional, emerging, and converging technologies and the development of cutting‑edge curricula and research programs; capacity to navigate emerging technologies–especially AI and platform shifts–with strategic and ethical judgment
- An understanding of the importance of interdisciplinary and collaborative opportunities across departments and colleges within a great university
The College comprises 21 departments:
Air and Space Force Science, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Classics, Economics, English, European and Eurasian Studies, Geography and the Environment, Government, History, Linguistics, Middle Eastern Studies, Military Science, Naval Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies, Rhetoric and Writing, Social and Cultural Analysis, Sociology, Spanish and Portuguese.
Across these units, COLA faculty are widely recognized for excellence in research and teaching, with numerous graduate programs ranked among the nation's best. The College also offers the Plan II Honors Program, one of the University's flagship interdisciplinary honors programs, along with more than 30 additional centers, institutes, and programs supporting research and public engagement across the social sciences.
COLA enrolls more than 12,000 undergraduate students and more than 1,000 graduate students, and employs more than 760 faculty (426 tenured, 91 tenure-track, and 246 professional track) and 550 staff. The College's alumni network includes more than 150,000 graduates worldwide.
- #8 Philosophy, Philosophical Gourmet Report, 2024–25
- #8 Behavioral Neuroscience, U.S. News & World Report, 2025–26
- #9 Social Psychology, U.S. News & World Report, 2025–26
- #13 History, U.S. News and World Report, 2025–26
- #14 Sociology, U.S. News and World Report, 2025–26
- #15 Clinical Psychology, U.S. News & World Report, 2025–26
- #17 English, U.S. News and World Report, 2025–26
- #18 Political Science, U.S. News & World Report, 2025–26
- #22 Economics, U.S. News & World Report, 2025–26
- #23 Psychology (overall), U.S. News & World Report, 2025–26
UT Austin is one of the premier universities in the world. Located in Austin, Texas—one of the nation's most dynamic centers for government, technology, and culture, it is the state’s flagship university and an influential catalyst for scientific, economic and societal progress.
Founded in 1883, the University’s main campus spans 431 acres with a community of 55,000 students, 4,700 faculty members and more than 10,000 staff members.
The University is a leader in multiple academic fields, including energy, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics, entrepreneurship, and national security. Its graduate programs in accounting, petroleum engineering, geology, Latin American history, and sociology of population rank No. 1 in the United States. UT is among the top producers of doctoral degrees in the nation, and its alumni and faculty include Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize winners. In total, UT offers more than 150 undergraduate degree programs and 230 graduate programs across 17 colleges and schools in the sciences, arts, humanities and professions.
- 1 among Texas public universities, U.S. News & World Report
- 7 among American public universities, U.S. News & World Report
- 76 graduate and undergraduate programs in the top 10, U.S. News
- 1 in the nation for National Science Foundation grants
- 3 in the world for most patents granted (UT System-wide), National Academy of Inventors
- $1.14 billion in research expenditures (FY2024)
- 1,291 patents issued in the last 10 years
- 4,660 externally sponsored research projects
- ~100,000 applications for ~9,300 undergraduate spots in the Class of 2030
The University’s holdings comprise more than 170 million objects, including a Gutenberg Bible and other rare books, manuscripts, photographs, artworks and artifacts from natural history to pop culture in eight museums and 12 libraries. The Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum was the first presidential library to be located on a university campus.
Over the past decade, the campus has undergone a significant modernization and expansion of its research,
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