Dean, School of Education and Leadership

City University of Seattle; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

City University of Seattle invites applications for the Dean of the School of Education and Leadership. The Dean is the School's chief academic and administrative leader, responsible for academic quality, relevance, growth, and long-term sustainability.

Reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, the Dean shapes the School's next chapter by strengthening programs, developing people, building partnerships, and creating pathways for learners.

Job description

The Dean of the School of Education and Leadership is the School's chief academic and administrative leader, responsible for its academic quality, relevance, growth, and long-term sustainability.

Reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, the Dean will shape the School's next chapter by strengthening its programs, developing its people, building consequential partnerships, and creating new pathways for learners. This is not a role focused simply on maintaining what already exists. It calls for a leader who can see possibility, make difficult choices, align people and resources, and turn direction into results.

The Dean leads the School's faculty, staff, programs, partnerships, and operations and serves as a member of the University's academic leadership team. Working across CityU, the Dean will help connect academic priorities with student needs, workforce demand, community opportunity, and the resources required to deliver on the University's commitments.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate is a builder.

They understand how to honor what is working without becoming its caretaker. They can see what the School might become, name the choices required to get there, and bring people into the work of building it. They question inherited assumptions, confront difficult realities, and make thoughtful decisions when the path is not obvious.

They are equally comfortable discussing learning, faculty, enrollment, student outcomes, external relationships, workforce needs, and financial sustainability because they understand that these are not separate conversations. Together, they determine whether an academic school can deliver on its purpose.

This leader knows the difference between activity and progress. They establish direction, create clarity, follow through on commitments, and help others do the same. They lead through relationships and influence as well as formal authority and know when to listen, when to challenge, when to decide, and when to change course.

They bring intellectual curiosity, persistence, perspective, sound judgment, and good humor. Above all, they are drawn to CityU's mission and to the opportunity to create stronger pathways for working adults and other learners seeking education that is relevant, flexible, and connected to opportunity.