About Seattle Pacific University:
Founded in 1891, Seattle Pacific University is a premier Christian university that equips people to engage the culture and change the world. Its comprehensive academic program serves more than 4,100 undergraduate and graduate students. As a Christian university, SPU is historically orthodox, clearly evangelical, distinctively Wesleyan, and genuinely ecumenical, and seeks applicants who are committed to its Christian mission. The University is located in a cosmopolitan urban center with rich cultural diversity and is committed to building an excellent and diverse teaching faculty. Women and people of color are particularly encouraged to apply.
The Puget Sound region is home to spectacular natural beauty combined with diverse cultural and professional opportunities. Seattle is a center of influence and innovation in the business, technology, education, healthcare and nonprofit sectors. Major corporate headquarters include Microsoft and Amazon, while global nonprofits such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and World Vision operate from the area. The University of Washington Medical School and affiliated hospitals and clinics provide training across a five state region. Two major Veterans Administration Medical Centers and a major military hospital system are prominent healthcare providers. Through our network of alumni and clinical placements, as well as faculty research and clinical affiliations, SPU has strong and ongoing collaborations within each of these sectors.
About the School of Psychology, Family, and Community:
The School of Psychology, Family, and Community’s (SPFC) liberal arts baccalaureate and professional graduate and certificate programs bring vital expressions of Christian faith to rigorous training, substantive research, and effective practice of psychological and therapeutic disciplines. The Clinical Psychology doctoral program is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA); the Marriage & Family Therapy program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage & Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE). The Industrial-Organizational Psychology MA and Ph.D. programs are aligned with the Society of Industrial/Organizational Psychology (SIOP) and our Undergraduate Psychology curriculum (the largest undergraduate program on campus) follows APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major. Across these four programs, there are 26 faculty and 5 staff serving about 250 undergraduate majors and about 70 undergraduate minors in Psychology, as well as approximately 240 graduate students.
SPFC faculty and students are well-integrated into the community, providing more than 70,000 hours of service and clinical care each year. Annually, faculty and students co-author more than 40 scholarly publications and present more than 70 papers, posters, or symposia at professional conferences. Nearly 20 doctoral dissertations are defended each year.
Job Description:
Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is searching for a dean of the School of Psychology, Family, and Community (SPFC). The dean is expected to be an enthusiastic advocate of the school’s mission and vision, while providing leadership to SPFC’s faculty and staff. She or he is responsible for assisting in the resourcing of these programs; empowering the chairs and faculty as they ensure high quality undergraduate, graduate, and non-degree programs; and overseeing the work of the school’s centers, initiatives, and laboratory programs. The dean is responsible for recruiting, developing and evaluating excellent faculty and staff, as well as developing and maintaining strong external relations with the community and with the school’s Advisory Board. He or she manages the school’s budget, provides oversight to the school’s assessment process, and will support the maintenance of the secondary accreditations held by the programs. Fundraising and establishing development strategies for endowments, scholarships, grants, and so forth, is a critical element of the position. The dean reports directly to the Provost and serves on Deans’ Cabinet. As a member of Deans’ Cabinet, the dean will join other academic leaders in establishing policy and direction for academic initiatives of the university as a whole and in advising the Provost on decisions having all- campus implications.
Requirements:
The ideal candidate will be characterized by the following:
- Mature Christian faith aligned with SPU’s faith commitments; known as a person of high integrity and a sense of calling to Christian higher education.
- Academic experience with teaching and scholarship, and/or the ability to meet criteria for tenure and promotion within the school.
- Clear understanding of and support for the faculty roles of teaching, scholarship, and service within Christian higher education, as well as faculty professional involvement (e.g., leadership positions in professional associations, Fellow/ABPP status, editorial roles).
- Creative vision and the ability to encourage new ideas and provide strategic thinking and direction.
- Nuanced understanding of the cost and delivery challenges facing higher education, and ability to creatively address such challenges.
- Meaningful experience in leading an organization, including demonstrated success with developing, executing, and completing plans.
- Capacity to maintain and develop lab, clinical, and instructional facilities.
- Commitment to maintaining and developing the professional and guild standards of programs (e.g., APA accreditation for Clinical Psychology; COAMFTE accreditation for MFT; Federal Assurance for Institutional Review Board).
- A comprehensive understanding of issues facing the disciplines of psychology and marriage and family therapy, including the mental health professions.
- Record of cultivating and maintaining relationships with community members, including tangible success in fundraising.
- Collaborative leadership style which supports the school’s collegial culture; ability to build and maintain strong relationships with students, alumni, faculty, staff, university administration, other academic units, and the SPFC Advisory Board.
- Ability to work effectively in multicultural, multiethnic, and global settings.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Earned advanced degree in a discipline relevant to psychology.
Compensation:
Salary and benefits are commensurate with qualifications and experience. Benefits include dependent tuition discount, health, dental, disability, and life insurance as well as retirement programs. A moving allowance is provided.
Application Instructions:
Completed applications will be reviewed beginning November 15, 2015; the position will remain open until filled. The online application includes an official SPU application form, a faith statement of approximately one page, and supporting documents. The university reserves the right to fill the position before the deadline or to extend the deadline as circumstances warrant. For inquiries, please email the chair of the search committee, Debra Sequeira, Ph.D., Dean, College of Arts and Sciences; Division of Arts and Humanities; Professor of Communication: sequeira@spu.edu.