Associate Dean of Student Life and Belonging

The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is located in the heart of downtown LA, and is the largest private employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you will be part of a world-class research university and a member of the "Trojan Family." The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance was founded in 2012 by a transformational gift from visionary founder Glorya Kaufman as the university's sixth art school and, at that time, its first new school in nearly 40 years. The USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance expands upon USC's unique signature as a world-class research institution with a deep commitment to the arts. With its enterprising vision for arts education, USC Kaufman is at the forefront of developing dancers, choreographers, and dance leaders for the future. The University of Southern California is seeking applicants for the position of Associate Dean of Student Life and Belonging for the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance.

Position Summary

The Associate Dean of Student Life and Belonging reports directly to the dean, serves as a member of USC Kaufman's Senior Leadership team, and provides leadership for all aspects of the student experience. The position provides strategic leadership and operational oversight of the Student Affairs Department for the direction, development, and implementation of services and programming that meet the needs and objectives for admissions, student success, wellbeing, and community and belonging. Working with two direct reports-an Assistant Director of Admissions and Career Services, and an Assistant Director of Advising and Student Affairs -the position collaborates closely with a broad spectrum of constituents including school leadership, students, faculty, campus-based units, and external partners to ensure that robust networks of support positively impact the student experience and align with the mission and goals of the School and University. Weekend and evening work, as well as some travel, may be required for recruitment and other student-centered activities. Schedule flexibility during non-standard business hours is required due to the nature of the academic and artistic mission of the school as student-related events and performances occur on weekends and/or evenings.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with school leadership, campus-leadership, and external partners, as appropriate, to develop and implement a 360 approach to addressing the distinct needs of students in the BFA Dance Major program across academic, artistic, developmental, physiological, psychological, and social domains.
• Collaborate with school leadership, campus leadership, and external partners, as appropriate, to addressing the needs of Dance Minor and elective students.
• Lead the school's efforts to foster community and belonging for all students.
• Cultivate and sustain productive relationships with internal campus partners to advance collaborative and innovative programming and resources for all students.
• Supervise the development and implementation of programs, policies, and procedures that support recruitment, matriculation, graduation, and career placement.
• Supervise the advising of the entire undergraduate BFA Major and Dance Minor populations on matters of curriculum, general education requirements, course and degree requirements, and graduation counseling and clearance.
• Develop and implement student leadership development opportunities-including but not limited to-optimization of the Student Advisory Board (SAB) to serve student and school needs.

Essential Functions

Collaborative Leadership

• Engage with dean and assistant deans to set direction and establish priorities for the school's mission of serving students, including strategic planning, decision-making, policy development and problem-solving.
• Supervise programs and services coordinated and administered by direct reports, and additional resources as appropriate provided by USC Kaufman, including:
• Resolve student issues identified and/or referred by deans and assistant deans, direct reports, other staff, and/or faculty.
• Direct the management of and response to student crises. Ensure proper escalation and/or reporting to appropriate University Central Offices. Identify current and future challenges and propose effective solutions to improve services to prospective and current students.
• Lead collaborative, data-informed decision-making processes to develop, assess, and implement policies and procedures related to admissions and student services for USC Kaufman.
• Represent USC Kaufman on campus and/or University-wide committees, as assigned or delegate direct reports to serve, as appropriate.

Community & Belonging

• Develop, implement, and lead student-centered initiatives to cultivate and sustain a school culture and climate that values difference and supports constructive dialogue.
• Serve as the first point of contact for managing conflict between students. Adopt and implement a spectrum approach as a framework to campus conflict, drawing upon educational programs and a range of conflict resolution strategies to facilitate informal and formal resolutions.
• Liaise with campus units to provide students with information and access to supportive resources, as appropriate, including but not limited to:
• Office Of Civil Rights Compliance (OCRC).
• Campus Support and Intervention (CSI).
• Counseling and Mental Health (CMH).
• Office of Community Expectations (OCE), and other units, as appropriate.
• Proactively forge relationships with USC Student Culture & Community Centers across campus as spaces for students to engage in cultural experiences, foster connection, and access support.
• Reinforce the principles of the USC Culture Journey and the USC Student Conduct Code to assist students in navigating the college experience.
• Conduct ongoing needs assessment and gap analysis related to effectiveness and efficacy of student belonging and wellbeing systems, programming, and services. Direct continuous process and outcomes improvement activities.

Administration

• Create and maintain a supportive culture that facilitates recruiting, equipping, motivating, supporting and leading a dedicated team of Student Affairs professionals committed to excellent service to students, faculty and staff colleagues, and other community stakeholders.
• Hire, support, evaluate, supervise, and train and evaluate assigned staff, Resource Employees and Student Workers. Schedule and assign work, assess performance, and provide feedback, counseling and/or performance improvement measures as needed. Foster an environment that motivates, empowers, and inspires commitment from employees.
• Plan and administer budgets in collaboration with Senior Business Officer and direct reports, as appropriate. Provide projections for use in developing budgets. Identify funding opportunities and develop proposals.
• Supervise the creation, maintenance, disposition, and privacy/security of student records in accordance with university, local, state, and federal guidelines.
• Ensure that internal policies and procedures are consistent with university and regulatory requirements. Ensure procedures are well documented, develops quality control standards and measures program and staff performance using these standards.
• Supervise the implementation of communication programs by direct reports to publicize the range of student affairs services and programming, including recruitment and admissions, advising, career services, etc. Supervise the development of written materials and staff presentation guides to ensure consistency in the delivery of information.
• Plan outreach strategics to ensure all students and constituencies are aware of services.
• Supervise the management of admissions and student aid delivery to undergraduate students and special mission/professional student locations through policy development and an automated system delivery mechanism.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in related field. Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education.
• Minimum Experience - 5 years' experience in student affairs, programming and services within Higher Education.
• Minimum Field of Expertise

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in student affairs and five or more years of experience in admissions, registration, student counseling, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Preferred Experience - 7 years' experience in student affairs, programming and services within Higher Education.

Required Competencies

• Student-Centered Focus: Make decisions that support a student-first culture of excellence.
• Strategic Planning: Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing strategic initiatives and creating a culture in which long-range goals can be achieved.
• Commitment to Community and Belonging: Demonstrated experience in community building, conflict resolution, and establishing relationships and positive communications with students and other constituents across multiple backgrounds and lived experiences.
• Change Catalyst: Ability to encourage others to seek solutions, develop opportunities, and propose different and innovative approaches to addressing problems.
• Communication: Ability to communicate clearly and effectively through verbal conversation and written correspondence to a range of stakeholders. Excellent and timely responsiveness to all constituencies (e.g., students, families, faculty, staff, applicants, etc.)
• Decisive: Ability to make informed, and when necessary, expedient decisions while keeping policy and regulations at the forefront of determinations.
• Inspiring Leadership: Ability to influence, motivate, and mobilize individuals to work toward common goals and positively represent the mission and vision of USC Kaufman.

Interest in working in performing arts and/or within a university setting strongly preferred.

The annual base salary for this position is $112,000 - $117,000. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, federal, state and local laws, contractual stipulations, grant funding, as well as external market and organizational considerations.