You're an academic leader with a restless sense of what's next. You love to listen closely (to students, to faculty, to the broader field of art education), and you can't help but ask yourself, is this still the way things should be done. You're energized by collaborating with others to design rigorous, forward-looking graduate-level education that actually changes what an educator can do in their classroom. You balance a clear vision with a pragmatic view of reality on the other hand, and you know how to transform a program from looking good on paper to one that genuinely moves the needle for student outcomes.
You're a systems thinker who builds structures and relationships that foster repeatable, intentional teaching and learning experiences. You’re a people-leader at heart who takes pride and ownership in proactively developing faculty and teams through trust and compassionate accountability, not micromanagement. You do your best work in a fully remote environment, where clarity, strong communication, and earned trust matter more than geography. You're equally comfortable partnering with an executive leader on institutional strategy as you are independently owning the hard calls inside graduate academics.
As our Dean of Graduate Studies, you'll be the senior academic leader responsible for the vision, quality, and continued evolution of graduate teaching and learning at AOEU. You'll oversee the Curriculum, Instruction, and Academic Success teams; ensuring programs, offerings, and academic practices are aligned with our mission, strategic priorities, and accreditors' expectations. Reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, you'll set direction for the entire graduate academic experience. Every day will look a little different, but in general, you'll:
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Set Academic Strategy: You'll translate institutional priorities into a clear academic strategy, implementation plans, and measurable outcomes that ensure the Curriculum, Instruction, and Academic Support teams operate as one integrated system rather than disparate parts.
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Reimagine & Grow Graduate Programming: You'll scan the field, listen to students, and track shifts in art education and higher ed to spot emerging needs and then proactively explore opportunities to grow, evolve, or reinvent programs.
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Own Curriculum Design & Innovation: You'll own the academic framework for how graduate curriculum gets designed, reviewed, and revised, and you'll pilot and evaluate new learning models, course designs, and delivery formats that expand access and deepen the student experience.
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Uphold Quality & Drive Student Outcomes: You'll lead programmatic evaluation and continuous improvement as well as set the standards for academic policy, quality teaching, outcomes attainment, and satisfactory academic progress.
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Build a High-Performing Faculty: You'll lead faculty hiring, onboarding, development, evaluation, and retention, and foster a culture of instructional innovation by role modeling accountable leadership in areas of expectations, instructional quality, academic integrity, and accountability.
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Champion Student & Academic Success: You'll lead the strategy and continuous improvement of academic support services, use learning and success data to find and remove barriers, and keep feedback channels open to ensure the student voice genuinely shapes academic decisions.
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Oversee Budget & Resourcing: You'll own graduate academics, ensuring we align faculty, tools, and program investments with strategic priorities and the intended academic impact.
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Own Accreditation & Institutional Standing: You'll serve as the academic face of graduate studies with accreditors and external partners, keeping programs aligned to accreditor expectations, and you'll partner across AOE(U) to ensure academic quality stays connected to the full student experience.
You bring at least 6 years of multi-disciplinary leadership within higher education. Your hands-on experience spans curriculum, instruction, and faculty development, in addition to your terminal degree in education or a closely related field. You've worked hands-on with accreditation, assessment, and academic effectiveness, having not just survived a review cycle, but proactively used standards and evidence to make programs measurably better and you’re excited to do it again. You can share academic structures you've built, decisions you've owned, and have a compelling and clear vision for graduate learning that others want to follow.
You're a strategic thinker who defaults to action, a strong communicator who builds trust across teams, and you’re comfortable holding both the big picture and the academic details all at once. You lead with sound judgment and humility, develop the people around you, and move work forward in a remote environment without always needing to be in the room.
If you've been an academic leader in online or distance education, or in graduate and adult-learning contexts, you'll feel right at home. A track record of building and leading remote teams may also set you apart from other candidates. Having demonstrated success in rapidly designing, launching, or reimagining academic programs in response to real student needs (or industry trends) may also move you toward the top of the list. Lastly, if you carry a soft spot for arts education or a mission-driven organization, those are exactly the instincts we're looking for.
