Assistant Dean, Finance & Administration

About Rice:

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lectures series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice's culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name -- RICE -- Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

Position Summary:

The Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration serves as the chief administrative officer of the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies (GSCS), providing strategic leadership and oversight of finance, human resources, procurement, grants management, compliance, and legal coordination across the school's Dean's Office and its affiliated organizations. Reporting directly to the Dean, the Assistant Dean is a member of the Dean's senior leadership team and serves as a strategic partner in advancing the school's administrative, operational, and academic mission.

This role leads the school's shared services model, ensuring that administrative functions are centralized, compliant, and aligned with university policy. The Assistant Dean advises the Dean and program leadership on complex administrative matters, manages a team of administrative professionals, and represents the school in university-wide forums. The position requires the ability to operate with significant independence, exercise institutional authority, and build effective working relationships across a diverse and decentralized academic environment.

Ideal Candidate Statement:

The ideal candidate is a seasoned administrative leader with deep experience managing complex financial, compliance, and human resources functions in a higher education or similarly complex institutional setting. They are equally comfortable providing strategic guidance to senior leadership and ensuring the operational integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness of day-to-day administrative functions. They bring an entrepreneurial mindset, experience with financial proforma projections, a systems orientation, a strong compliance approach, and the interpersonal credibility to work effectively with faculty, staff, and central administrative offices. They are skilled at building and leading high-performing administrative teams, driving organizational change, and holding institutional authority with confidence and good judgment.

Workplace Requirements:

This position is offered as a hybrid role, combining both in-office and remote work to provide flexibility and support collaboration. Per Rice policy 440, work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range:

$96,859 - 123,624 annually

*Exempt (salaried) positions under FLSA are not eligible for overtime.*

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree
  1. In lieu of the education requirement, additional related experience, above and beyond what is required, may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.
• Six or more (6+) years of progressively responsible experience in financial administration, human resources, compliance, or operations management in a complex organization, including demonstrated experience leading and supervising staff
  1. In lieu of the experience requirement, additional related education above and beyond what is required may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.
• Skills:
  • Demonstrated ability to provide strategic leadership and manage complex, multi-functional administrative operations
  • Strong financial management skills, including budget development, forecasting, financial reporting, and compliance oversight
  • Experience managing human resources functions, including workforce administration, faculty appointments, and compliance with employment policy
  • Demonstrated ability to interpret, implement, and enforce institutional and school policies and regulatory requirements
  • Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills; ability to advise and influence senior leadership and diverse stakeholders
  • Proven ability to lead organizational change and build effective administrative systems and teams

Preferences:

• Master's degree in business administration, public administration, higher education administration, or a related field
• Experience in academic administration, preferably in a school or college within a research university
• Familiarity with Oracle Cloud or a comparable enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, especially with Rice's Oracle system (iO)
• Experience with complex budget development, forecasting, and reporting
• Experience with grants administration, including pre- and post-award compliance in a university or research setting
• Experience managing procurement operations and vendor or contractor relationships at scale
• Experience working at Rice University

Essential Functions:

• Serves as the chief administrative officer of the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies and as a strategic partner to the Dean and school leadership
• Provides leadership and oversight for the school's administrative shared services model, encompassing finance, human resources, procurement, grants management, compliance, and legal coordination across the Dean's Office and affiliated organizations
• Leads the development, implementation, and monitoring of multi-year budgets and financial plans; advises the Dean and senior leadership on financial strategy, resource allocation, and long-range planning
• Ensures compliance with university policies, school policy, federal regulations, and applicable legal requirements across all administrative functions; serves as the school's subject matter expert on policy interpretation and enforcement
• Oversees human resources administration for school personnel, faculty appointments, cross-campus arrangements, the performance evaluation process, and compliance with HR and VPAA policies
• Manages research and grants administration for the school, including post-award compliance, effort reporting, and coordination with the Office of Research and Research Cost Accounting
• Supervises and develops Dean's Office administrative staff; builds team capacity and fosters a culture of compliance, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Leads, in collaboration with the Dean and the school organizational excellence committee, workplace environment initiatives
• Works closely with the offices of the Provost, Budget, Controller, Human Resources, General Counsel, and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs on matters affecting the school
• Represents the school on university-wide committees and in cross-campus administrative forums
• Performs all other duties as assigned

Additional Functions:

• Oversees procurement operations, including vendor and independent contractor management, contract review, and policy compliance; leads centralization of procurement functions into the Dean's Office
• Reviews and manages contracts, agreements, and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) through their full lifecycle; serves as primary liaison to the Office of General Counsel
• Manages travel and expense administration, including oversight of institutional purchasing card (PCard) program and expense report compliance
• Represents the Dean and the school within and outside the university as needed
• Commitment to advancing the school's mission of providing access to degrees and programs that engage, educate, and empower lifelong learners and communities.