Dean Searches - Frequently Asked Questions
The University of California, Berkeley, seeks a collaborative leader, accomplished scholar, and persuasive advocate for the arts and humanities to serve as the next Dean of the Arts & Humanities Division in the College of Letters & Science.
UC Berkeley is internationally renowned for its comprehensive research excellence and for the opportunities it affords students of all backgrounds. TheBerkeley campus is home to more than 31,000 undergraduates and 11,000 graduate students. It has over 1,500 ladder-rank faculty across 14 schools and colleges. Located near San Francisco and Silicon Valley, the campus sits at the epicenter of imagination and invention.
Faculty and students in theArts & Humanities Division of theCollege of Letters & Scienceexplore the human experience across an exceptionally broad range of subjects. With31 undergraduate majors and 22 graduate programs in19 departments, the Division offers students opportunities to study and make art; learn about a wide range of civilizations, languages, literatures, and cultures; and explore ideas in philosophy, rhetoric, religion, and history. The Division prides itself on the way it integrates the practice and study of the arts, and it offers thebroadest range of languages taught at any university in the country.
UC Berkeley is ranked among the top four universities in the world for its programs in the arts and humanities, which prepare students for citizenship in a rapidly changing world and for leadership in fields that value skillful communication, critical and creative thinking, and cross-cultural knowledge. More fundamentally, the Division brings faculty and students together to pursue questions about how human beings can lead meaningful lives. In annual surveys of student satisfaction, the programs in the Division are consistently rated the best at Berkeley.
Berkeley seeks a Dean committed to supporting the Division’s array of exceptional departments, disciplines, and academic cultures. The next Dean will work with faculty to articulate a vision for the contributions the Division will make to Berkeley’s fulfillment of its public mission. The Dean will advocate persuasively for the Division’s programs both within and beyond the campus community. The Dean will manage resources thoughtfully and will work with campus partners, alumni, donors, and foundations to increase philanthropic support for the Division’s faculty, programs, and students. The Dean will be committed to building a community whose members advance equity, diversity, and inclusion. As the leader of a division within the College of Letters & Science — the largest by far of the campus’s colleges — the new Dean will have the opportunity to collaborate on college-wide initiatives with Deans of the Divisions ofBiological Sciences,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Social Sciences, andUndergraduate Studies
Read a comprehensive leadership profile on the WittKieffer website
The successful candidate will have earned earned a terminal degree by the time of application in a discipline within the arts or humanities and will have a record of scholarship or creative achievement that merits a tenured appointment at Berkeley with the rank of full professor. The Dean will have experience as an academic leader, for example, as a department chair, institute director, or academic administrator, and will have participated in the processes of faculty appointment and promotion. The Dean will have a record of advancing institutional equity, diversity, and inclusion. The Dean will have experience with alumni and donor relations or have clear potential for strength in those areas. The successful candidate will understand the distinctive character and mission of a public university and will have a record of fruitful collaborative efforts to build consensus.
Applicants must submit a CV, preferably with a letter of interest, via WittKieffer’s candidate portal or by email. Applicants must also apply directly to UC Berkeley at https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF02636
For fullest consideration, materials should be received by August 31, 2020.
Confidential nominations, inquiries and applications can be directed to:
Suzanne Teer, Philip Tang and Alejandra Gillette-Teran
BerkeleyArtsandHumanities@wittkieffer.com
The University of California, Berkeley, is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer with a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct
This position is a sensitive position and is subject to a criminal background check.
Questions may be referred to Dana Jantz at 510-642-1963 or jantz@berkeley.edu.
Arts & Humanities Dean Search Committee
Janet Broughton, Executive Dean, College of Letters & Science (Chair)
Weihong Bao, Associate Professor, Film & Media and East Asian Languages and Cultures
Rebecca Egger, Associate Director, Townsend Center for the Humanities
Eric Falci, Professor, English
Munis Faruqui, Associate Professor, South & Southeast Asian Studies
Jeremy Geffen, Director, Cal Performances
Pedro Hurtado Ortiz, Graduate Student, Comparative Literature
Bob O'Donnell, Chair, Berkeley Endowment Management Company and Former Chair, UC Berkeley Foundation
Ellen Oliensis, Professor, Classics and Comparative Literature
Leslie Schibsted, Campaign Director, University Development and Alumni Relations
Ethan Shagan, Professor, History