Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services , LOUISIANA

THE SEARCH

Tulane University, among the nation’s most prestigious and innovative academic institutions, seeks a creative and dynamic leader to serve as Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services to provide strategic leadership and vision for career and professional development-related programs and services for Newcomb-Tulane College, the home to all Tulane undergraduate students. The Assistant Dean and Executive Director will serve as a key university leader in setting the strategic direction of career services at and will build bridges to closely collaborate with school and departmental units across the University to create a holistic, integrated function that improves career outcomes for Tulane’s talented students.

Founded in 1834, Tulane offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees across an attractive array of schools: architecture, business, law, liberal arts, medicine, public health and tropical medicine, the sciences and engineering, and social work. It is known for its highly collaborative environment, and it has developed innovative interdisciplinary research and educational programs that span all of the schools. Tulane has cultivated an emphasis on community service and practical experience that is infused in its programs, culture, and community. With 8,339 undergraduate and 5,110 graduate students, Tulane takes pride in providing hands-on experiences to its students who take part in research at all levels of the University and provide thousands of hours of public service to the greater New Orleans community. The single-entry Newcomb-Tulane College (“NTC” or “The College”) provides a unique opportunity to bring all undergraduates together in a community of discovery, with career professionals collaborating with advisors to cultivate students skilled in theoretical, technological, and social practice. The College enables academic flexibility, emphasizes scholarship and engagement, provides opportunity for service, and positions students for post-graduate life by developing flexible, nimble thinkers who engage imaginatively, critically, and ethically with local, national, and global communities.

The Assistant Dean and Executive Director (“Assistant Dean”) will harness Tulane’s momentum to connect students with opportunities, enabling them to explore career options and achieve goals that fit with their values and skills. Specialized programming and opportunities to connect directly with employers will teach students to develop contemporary career management skills and deliver on the promise of a Tulane academic experience. Stronger connections with other divisions, such as academic advising, alumni relations, and student affairs, will ensure a holistic approach to engaging students with diverse interests and ambitious career goals. The Assistant Dean and Executive Director will ensure career services programs are of top quality and support all students across the University. Tulane University Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services Page 2 of 6

Tulane has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in the recruitment of the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services. All inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed in confidence as noted at the end of this document.

TULANE UNIVERSITY

Tulane traces its origins to 1834, when it was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana. It was renamed the University of Louisiana by the state legislature in 1847. The legislature subsequently transferred it to the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund in 1884. With that transfer, Tulane University was established as a private, nonsectarian university and named in honor of benefactor Paul Tulane, a wealthy merchant who donated more than $1 million in land, cash, and securities “for the promotion and encouragement of intellectual, moral and industrial education.” In 1886, the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was established as Tulane’s college for women. The unified Newcomb- Tulane College today enrolls all full-time undergraduates at the University. The University has an operating budget of $1 billion and an endowment of $1.4 billion.

Tulane University is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching ranks Tulane as a university with “very high research activity.” As such, it is committed to the highest level of research. Tulane attracts an outstanding student body that is both intellectually curious and driven by community engagement. In 2018, U.S. News and World Report ranked Tulane 44th among national universities, and the University’s 8:1 undergraduate student-faculty ratio allows Tulane undergraduates to receive the personalized attention of a smaller liberal arts college along with the resources of a major research institution. In 2006, Tulane became the first major research institution to require public service as a graduation requirement, which led to the Carnegie Foundation recognizing Tulane with its Community Engagement Classification. Tulane is the most national university in the country, with its undergraduates traveling further to attend college, on average, than those of any other university. As such, it plays a valuable role in recruiting talent to New Orleans, as only 18% of Tulane’s undergraduate students are from New Orleans, and about 26% of its students stay in New Orleans after graduation.

The University is organized into ten academic divisions: Newcomb-Tulane College, A.B. Freeman School of Business, School of Architecture, School of Professional Advancement, School of Law, School of Liberal Arts, School of Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, School of Science and Engineering, and the School of Social Work. The mix of schools is an asset that is rich with opportunity for cross-school collaboration in research and education. Enrolled in these diverse programs are nearly 8,400 undergraduate and 5,100 graduate students from every state in the U.S. and more than 85 nations worldwide. The Tulane faculty totals over 1,200 full-time members with a staff of approximately 2,900.

Leadership

Michael Fitts is the 15th president of Tulane University. He arrived at Tulane in July 2014, bringing with him a strong emphasis on heightening cross-disciplinary education and research. President Fitts believes students and higher education institutions can set themselves apart in a fast-changing world and ever- shifting economy through the combining of different fields and skills. In his first year at Tulane, he launched task forces to lead the University in deepening its unique strengths for interdisciplinary collaboration. He sees powerful advantages in the University’s manageable size, its wide selection of professional schools, the unified undergraduate college, and multiple cross-disciplinary projects already in place. He aims to create the most engaged undergraduate experience in the country through this rethinking of academic options, residential living, extracurricular activities, and more. In graduate Tulane University Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services Page 3 of 6 education and research, he will foster intellectual cross-pollination that can produce solutions to some of the world’s most fundamental problems.

Dr. Robin Forman was appointed Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost in September 2016. He previously served as Dean of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Mathematics at Emory University. He has held faculty and administrative appointments at Rice University, and has served as an instructor at MIT and as a visiting professor at the University of Burgundy, Harvard University, and the Mathematical Research Institute. Dr. Forman received a bachelor’s of arts and a master’s of arts in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctoral degree in mathematics from Harvard University.

NEWCOMB-TULANE COLLEGE

Named after the two foundational institutions of Tulane University, Newcomb-Tulane College is the academic home for Tulane’s full-time undergraduate students. Created during the post-Katrina academic reorganization of Tulane University, the College provides academic services for students including advising, honors, study abroad, and a range of academic student programs. Students pursue programs and majors offered by the five undergraduate schools and the College serves to focus on the holistic development of each student. By fostering an inclusive environment where students of diverse backgrounds from across the country and around the world encounter, serve, and learn from each other, the College empowers all students to achieve their full academic potential and career goals.

Tulane University’s stature has climbed a remarkable upward trajectory in recent years. With a growing reputation for academic excellence and providing students opportunities to engage in cutting-edge research, hands-on learning, and transformative community service, the University has seen its applications increase 65 percent in the last five years. Its selectivity rate is just over 13 percent, placing it among the nation’s top schools. And, importantly, Tulane is increasingly seen as a destination school, with significant percentages of students originating in California, New York, and Texas, as well as fully one-third of the 2019 class identifying as people of color or international students. Its reputation for outstanding community interface, advising, and career services ranks it among the top schools for “ROI for Tuition Investment” and “Impact Schools” for off-campus engagement. NTC plays the critical role of both academic home for undergraduates—many of whom remain undecided until well into their sophomore year at Tulane—as well as hybrid service unit that consolidates career services, advising, the Honors Program, athletics, global education, and equity under a single aegis, and with outstanding outcomes reflected in a 94% retention rate from first- to second-year students, and an 85% undergraduate completion rate under six years. With a new Dean, Dr. Lee Skinner, joining NTC from Claremont McKenna College effective July 2019, the College is ready to invest resources and effort into fortifying its services and connecting them more effectively with broader University initiatives.

CAREER SERVICES AT NTC

As Tulane has continued its remarkable growth, NTC and its service functions have adapted alongside the University to meet the needs of an expanding and ever more sophisticated student population. Signaling the importance of a holistic approach to career services and advising, the University broke ground in 2016 on the construction of Mussafer Hall, a state-of-the-art, LEED-certified building, centrally situated, which unites career programming, academic advising, and success coaching. The building was completed in September 2018 and houses these functions and offices, together with Tulane’s Diplomat-in-Residence and Executive-in-Residence. It is a modern building, with full connectivity for videoconference interview rooms and shared spaces where students and advisors can meet and explore. With one central location Tulane University Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services Page 4 of 6 customized to the needs of career services and advising, there is ample opportunity to sustain a destination for students and provide high-quality service under one roof.

The Assistant Dean will be a direct report in the larger portfolio of student advising and summer initiatives led by one of three senior associate deans in the College. This dynamic and growing portfolio is coordinated specifically by Senior Associate Dean Dr. Amjad Ayoubi, who is a leader and innovator in student advising. He has allocated significant resources and time in the last years to build a robust, data- focused career services and support infrastructure, which the Assistant Dean will inherit, sustain, and grow. In all, nearly 200 people spanning career services and advising in all of Tulane’s schools and The College have access to a Salesforce-powered database that tracks undergraduate interactions across the University. The Office of Career Services has shifted towards a model of early and frequent engagement with undergraduates, particularly those primarily focused on coursework in the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science and Engineering, the primary interfaces of the NTC Career Services office. Career Services runs the CRDV 1090 course that guides NTC students through the career development process, culminating in a mock interview.

In all, the Assistant Dean and Executive Director will lead an office primed for expansion and innovation, eager to connect with academic advising as well as with adjacent career functions spread across other academic units. The Assistant Dean oversees an office of nine career advisors (with two positions currently vacant), with plans to expand the office to 15 total staff in the next years. The total budget of the office exceeds $500,000 annually.

The Assistant Dean will set a strategic direction and implement initiatives that expand and enhance pre- and post-graduation career and graduate school outcomes. They will also design, build, and enhance integrated programs and services for students and employers that help students achieve their career and future goals. Students of all disciplines and backgrounds will be supported in clearly envisioning and achieving career goals.

KEY OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

The Assistant Dean will lead an innovative, collaborative, team-based unit, which is committed to student success as part of an integrated academic advising and career experience. S/he will bring an understanding of how to incorporate traditional and emerging career practices into an integrated campus model of service delivery, and will articulate the benefit of that model to gain institutional support for continued innovation. Additionally, the Assistant Dean will address the following key opportunities and challenges:

Incorporate career services throughout the undergraduate student experience

Tulane’s national reputation has boomed in recent years, with application numbers and yield on the rise, and increasingly high-achieving and diverse students walking through NTC’s doors. A unique characteristic of the undergraduate experience is that each student enters and remains a member of the College regardless of major. From their arrival on campus, Career Services should facilitate students in creating and achieving career goals. The Assistant Dean will advance an Office and a staff that thinks creatively, with students, about their pathways to career success from all disciplines. The Office will be increasingly proactive about the value of career development coursework, strategic internships to explore as freshmen or sophomores, professional skills to develop, networking opportunities, and other steps to take throughout their time at Tulane. All students will see a successful pathway from their academic passions to a life-long career journey.

Tulane University Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services Page 5 of 6

Engage employers across all industries to connect with the student body

The Assistant Dean will take a lead role in creating and cultivating connections with employers. Employers understand that undergraduates across disciplines have different skillsets that can be of value, and a more centralized system—enabled by Career Services professionals and structure, as well as cross- departmental collaboration—will aid in connecting them with a diverse and talented Tulane student body. Though few Fortune 500 companies call New Orleans home, the geographic distribution of Tulane’s students, coupled with a systematized and proactive communications function in the Career Services Office, will help to broadcast the strengths of Tulane students. Ultimately, the Assistant Dean will strengthen the pipeline to employment in all key areas of interest to students and will capitalize on alumni, parents, and friends as assets in this endeavor.

Maintain an equitable structure of support for every student to achieve their career goals

Tulane’s student body continues to evolve, with geographic distribution increasing, socioeconomic diversity on the rise, and more first generation college students than ever before. The Assistant Dean will ensure efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion are incorporated throughout the Career Services Office to address the needs of all students. The Assistant Dean must work with first-year programs to engage students less likely to explore Career Services on their own, and must connect throughout the University to aid students pursuing career opportunities across disciplines. Efforts may include equitable access and targeted delivery of services and programs, as well as specifically designed assistance to meet the various and unique needs of students of diverse backgrounds, in alignment with best practices nationally.

Innovate and ideate new initiatives to place NTC at the forefront of career services nationally

With the new role of Assistant Dean, Career Services will be strategically positioned to be a leader in the field and a critical element for Newcomb-Tulane College in achievement of visionary goals. Under the Assistant Dean, Career Services will be proactive and engaged across campus, beyond The College, and externally through partnership with functions focused on constituency outreach/constituency engagement including coordination with Tulane’s Office of Advancement via Alumni Relations and Development, the A.B. Freeman School of Business, and other units with robust outreach activity. This will require broad consideration of how to continue to improve on the integrated model that connects career advising with academic advising and thinking beyond a traditional career services center. The Assistant Dean will advance a vision that facilitates internal partnerships and collaboration to utilize career services in all aspects of the University.

Orchestrate campus partners to create an overall campus culture fostering student career and professional development

The Assistant Dean will need to take a relational approach in leveraging the existing career and professional development efforts across the University in a variety of departments and units. For example, students can find internship opportunities in such diverse offices as the Center for Public Service, the Newcomb College Institute, and the Freeman School Career Management Center. Alumni Relations has a current technological platform to allow students to engage with alumni in specific career fields and regional locations. The Office of Advancement and Student Affairs work closely with parents of current students who are interested in providing internships and job opportunities for students. The Assistant Dean will help understand the multiple stakeholders in this work and build effective relationships to assure a holistic culture and approach to career and professional development initiatives at Tulane with a unified guiding vision. Tulane University Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services Page 6 of 6

QUALIFICATIONS

Tulane seeks in its Assistant Dean and Executive Director a leader who has the creative vision, entrepreneurial spirit, interpersonal skills, and professional profile to inspire and lead NTC to excellence in academic career services. This person will be a strong advocate for students, with a nuanced understanding of career and student development across a wide spectrum of academic disciplines and trajectories. The ideal candidate will bring the following skills and experiences:

 Visionary and forward thinking, able to anticipate trends, opportunities, and challenges and execute creative solutions that produce continuous improvement and ensure relevance of programs, services, and outcomes;  Possess a high degree of cultural competency and sensitivity that promotes positive relationships with individuals of varied backgrounds;  Experience leading a unit and/or program involving a variety of stakeholders including students, human resources recruiting representatives, university administrators, C-level professionals, faculty, alumni, and parents; or equivalent leadership experience in a similarly complex organization;  Demonstrate skills of diplomacy and political acuity—capable of managing expectations of multiple stakeholders, articulating a clear strategy, and developing buy in among varied constituents;  A successful record in assisting teams to formulate and accomplish goals;  Experience in helping students achieve their goals and assisting employers in hiring students;  Ability to build, maintain and leverage relationships with alumni, parents and employers;  Data-driven—focused on outcomes and results;  An entrepreneurial spirit, with the ability to sustain a high degree of energy, drive, and passion that readily engages and inspires others;  Understand the evolving dynamics of the global marketplace and recruitment strategies, as well as the changing interests and values of contemporary students;

TO APPLY

Tulane University has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of Career Services, Tulane University Search Committee in its identification and review of candidates. Nominations and applications, including – as individual attachments – a cover letter and a resume, should be submitted online: http://www.imsearch.com/7006

Kate Barry, Partner Vijay Saraswat, Managing Associate Ryan Leichenauer, Senior Associate Isaacson, Miller 263 Summer Street, 7th Floor Boston, MA 02210

Tulane is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and actively works to enhance its diversity.