Dean of Students

Colgate University; Village of Hamilton (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Free parking

Gym discounts

Bookstore savings

Athletic tickets

Cultural and recreational facilities

Job summary

Colgate University invites applications for the Dean of Students, a senior campus leader within the Dean of the College. The role guides student life, residential programs, and engagement with Colgate's diverse undergraduate community on a Hamilton, NY campus.

The successful candidate will bring deep experience in student affairs, strategic oversight, and a commitment to inclusion, student success, and collaboration with families, faculty, and senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Progressively responsible leadership experience in student affairs at a residential college or university.
• Authentic engagement with students in undergraduate settings.
• Strong relational leadership skills across diverse campus stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for student life and residential life programs.
• Collaborate with faculty, staff, and student organizations to advance student success.
• Ensure inclusive, data-driven program development and policy implementation.

Job description

Job Category

Professional/Administrative

Position Title

Dean of Students

Full Time/Part Time

Full Time

Division

Dean of the College

Department

Dean of the College

Work Arrangement type

On-Site (Hamilton, NY) – expected to work fully at the designated campus/office location.

Hiring Wage/Salary Range

$150,000 - $165,000

Professional Experience/ Qualifications

• Progressively responsible leadership experience in student affairs at a residential college or university, with demonstrated success leading at the senior level within a complex undergraduate environment.
• Authentic and sustained engagement with students as a central element of professional practice. Genuinely enjoy working with undergraduates, understand the texture of campus life, and build credibility and trust across a diverse student community.
• Exceptional relational leadership skills with the ability to build strong and trusted relationships with students, faculty, staff, families, and senior colleagues, including constituencies outside the candidate’s direct reporting lines, and to navigate a complex community with warmth, discretion, and good judgment.
• Strategic capacity paired with operational engagement, including the ability to establish direction and think several steps ahead while remaining attentive to the day-to-day realities of student life. The Dean should be someone who sees emerging issues and opportunities early, moves beyond surface-level solutions to understand underlying dynamics, and translates broad priorities into effective action.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as a trusted senior-level thought partner, contributing substantively to a shared agenda while exercising independent judgment and initiative. Comfortable bringing forward difficult issues, thoughtful analysis, and potential paths forward rather than simply reporting problems.
• Strong record of advancing student engagement, success, and persistence, with the ability to understand the multiple factors that shape students’ connection to an institution and to develop proactive strategies that help students thrive and remain engaged through graduation.
• Sophisticated understanding of student development and the residential liberal arts experience with the ability to translate that understanding into programs, policies, and practices that foster intellectual, personal, and leadership development beyond the classroom.
• Demonstrated capacity to use data, assessment, and evidence effectively, combining quantitative analysis with qualitative understanding of students and campus culture to identify emerging trends, evaluate programs, inform priorities and resources, and drive continuous improvement.
• Direct supervisory and organizational leadership experience, including managing professional staff across multiple functional areas, hiring and developing talent, establishing clear expectations, and creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, and professional growth.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to listen deeply, facilitate productive conversations, mediate differences, address sensitive issues with candor and care, and communicate effectively with audiences ranging from individual students and families to faculty colleagues and senior University leadership.
• Sound judgment in complex and high-stakes situations, with the ability to respond thoughtfully under pressure, balance competing interests, maintain appropriate confidentiality, and communicate with clarity and compassion.
• Demonstrated commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming campus community, with a nuanced understanding of the ways identity, background, culture, and access shape students’ experiences and opportunities to participate fully in campus life.
• Authentic appreciation for the traditions, history, character, and distinctive culture of a highly residential liberal arts institution, coupled with the curiosity and imagination to help Colgate’s student experience evolve thoughtfully in response to changing student needs and a changing higher education landscape.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with fraternity and sorority advising or oversight, including student development, chapter accountability, risk management, and cultivating a healthy Greek community.
• Experience advancing inclusive student programming and belonging initiatives, including direct oversight of or close collaboration with multicultural affairs, LGBTQ+ initiatives, chaplaincy, or related areas.
• Experience with student conduct, crisis response, Title IX, or related student-affairs matters, with sufficient familiarity with relevant legal and regulatory frameworks to exercise sound judgment and partner effectively with institutional colleagues who lead these areas.
• Familiarity with residential college or living-learning models and the ways residential environments can reinforce institutional mission, community, and student learning.
• A record of professional engagement and continual learning within the student affairs field and a demonstrated commitment to developing both oneself and others.

Education

A Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, counseling, or a closely related field is required.
A doctoral degree is preferred.

Offer Determination

When extending an offer, Colgate University considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and organizational considerations.

Other Information

This position is deemed essential under the University’s Essential Personnel Policy.
DSG Storbeck has been exclusively retained for this engagement, which is being led by Ruth Shoemaker Wood and Kamilah Allen.

Benefits

Colgate University offers a competitive benefits package, with most benefits effective on the date of hire. Highlights include: medical, dental, vision, retirement contributions, paid time off, paid family leave, health & wellness, continuing education and professional development. We also offer unique perks, such as free parking, gym discounts, bookstore savings, athletic tickets, and access to cultural and recreational facilities. Explore the full benefits package on our Benefits page.

Department Statement

Colgate University invites applications and nominations for the next Dean of Students, a key campus leader who will play a critical role in sustaining and deepening their distinctive student experience. This is a highly visible, deeply student-facing position that requires genuine presence with students and a nuanced understanding of the many ways they experience Colgate. The Dean will engage directly with student government, student organizations, fraternities and sororities, and a diverse student community, building the trust and relationships that allow the institution to understand what students are experiencing and respond thoughtfully to their needs. At a time when student success and retention are important institutional priorities, the Dean of Students will also help ensure that the experience Colgate promises students is one in which they can thrive.

Accountabilities

Reporting to Vice President and Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II, the Dean of Students occupies a distinctive position at the heart of Colgate’s undergraduate experience. The Dean of Students is both a senior leader within the Dean of the College Division and one of the University’s most visible and accessible leaders for students. The Dean of Students provides strategic leadership to areas that encompass important dimensions of how Colgate students find community, develop as leaders, explore identity and purpose, engage across difference and navigate the challenges and opportunities of college life: the ALANA Cultural Center; LGBTQ+ Initiatives; Office of Student Involvement, including Colgate Speaking Union; Center for Volunteerism, Education, and Civic Engagement (COVE); Fraternity and Sorority Advising; New Student Orientation; and the Office of Chaplains. The Dean of Students knows the community well, understands the texture of student life, and can be trusted to engage with students thoughtfully when circumstances are straightforward as well as when they are difficult.
Colgate seeks a student-centered and institutionally sophisticated leader who combines an authentic affinity for undergraduate life with the judgment, intellectual depth, and leadership capacity to shape a complex student affairs portfolio and serve as a trusted partner to the Vice President and Dean of the College. The role calls for a leader who can see individual student concerns in the context of the larger educational experience and, in turn, bring an informed understanding of students and campus culture to senior-level institutional conversations. A master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, counseling, or a closely related field is required. A doctoral degree is preferred and will be viewed as a meaningful differentiator among finalists. For additional details, visit the full position profile.
This position has been designated as a Campus Security Authority (CSA), in accordance with the federal statutory requirements of the Jeanne Clery Act. CSAs are required to and responsible for reporting allegations of crimes they receive from students and employees to the Campus Safety Department.

Requisition Number

2026S066Posting

Temporary

No

Job Open Date

09/29/2026

Open Until Filled

No

EEO Statement

The University recognizes that equal employment opportunity can only be achieved through demonstrated leadership. It is the Policy of the University to recruit, employ, retain, promote, and train employees on the basis of skills and experience, capacity to do the job, and valid job qualifications without regard to any characteristics protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.

Clery Act

CAMPUS CRIME REPORTING AND STATISTICS
The Department of Campus Safety will provide upon request a copy of Colgate’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. This report includes statistics as reported to the United States Department of Education for the previous three years concerning reported: 1. crimes that occurred on-campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Colgate University; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus and 2. fires that occurred in student housing facilities. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security and fire safety, such as policies concerning sexual assault, life safety systems, and other related matters. You may access the report from the Clery Compliance web page at: https://www.colgate.edu/about/offices-centers-institutes/dean-college/campus-safety-staff/clery-compliance. Printed copies may be obtained upon request from the Department of Campus Safety via e-mail at [e-mail].