Dean of the College of Aerospace, Computing, Engineering, and Design

Position Summary

The Dean is the chief academic and administrative officer for the College of Aerospace, Computing, Engineering and Design with responsibility for the academic and outreach leadership of the College and management of its resources, including faculty and staff, physical facilities and budget. The Dean has responsibility for managing an administrative team to work cohesively to support the College as a whole and serves as the lead in representing the College on campus and to the outside world, including alumni, donors, and other external stakeholders. The Dean takes the lead in strategic planning and in solidifying and implementing the vision, mission, and goals for the College.

In this role, the Dean will set the standard of intellectual engagement and accomplishment for the College, provide strategic vision and operational leadership to all aspects of the academic and scholarly programs, promote synergies within the College and university and encourage opportunities for distinctive programmatic innovation.

In addition, the Dean will be responsible for:

• Advancing the faculty's scholarly activities and encourage and advocate for interdisciplinary opportunities;
• Representing the College to the senior administration, particularly in securing resource support for the College's activities;
• Participating in campus-wide policy development and decision-making as a member of MSU Denver's senior leadership team;
• Persuasively articulating the vision, mission, goals, and programs of the College to the University community, external stakeholders, and the general public;
• Providing leadership to ensure excellence through diversity in undergraduate and graduate programs and faculty recruitment;
• Providing leadership to the faculty in developing, maintaining, and improving high-quality programs of instruction, research, creative activity, outreach, and public service;
• Providing leadership and support for the College's professional staff;
• Providing leadership in the area of fundraising and external relations as well as spearheading broader advancement efforts in communications and engagement with external stakeholders.

Opportunities and Challenges

The Dean will set the strategic direction for the college and guarantee their alignment with MSU Denver's unique access mission. The Dean will serve as the key ambassador between faculty, professional staff and administration, building effective and sustainable relationships with an eye toward the whole student experience to promote academic excellence, enrollment, retention, persistence, and success.

Specifically, the Dean will work to address the following challenges and opportunities:

• The successful applicant will be able to work in a highly collaborative and diplomatic manner with the CACED program chairs and faculty to develop long-term plans for higher education specific to the missions, objectives and professional associations of and represented by the academic and research interests of CACED.
• The successful applicant will be able to understand and differentiate the strategies and tactics necessary for each academic program in CACED to seek grants, funding, and collaboration among public and private sector entities and within frameworks of short and long-run planning and implementation.
• The successful applicant will be able to embrace an entrepreneurial approach to implementing and leveraging strategy for fostering basic and applied research in a coordinated an unbiased approach across all academic programs within CACED. This directive includes securing infrastructure, developing faculty incentive programs, and other human resource concerns needed to support a burgeoning research and development program within CACED.
• The successful applicant will be able to provide leadership in the development of coordinated marketing efforts supporting the academic programs within CACED. Marketing priorities for CACED include at least strong regional branding, recruitment of students, and the recruitment of a highly talented and collaborative faculty and staff. An underpinning of marketing philosophy will be to publicize and leverage the superior benefits of CACED as a synergistic collective of highly interdependent academic programming and professions supporting the missions of CACED and MSU Denver.
• The successful applicant will be able to provide leadership in the development of strategies critical to improving student retention and graduation rates for all programs within CACED.
• The successful applicant will deliver a spirit of unbiased leadership focused on the importance of CACED faculty and staff as top priorities for providing inspiration, cultivation, and professional development and job satisfaction.
• The successful applicant will recognize and hold all academic units within CACED as equal, connected, and essential to contributing to the success of CACED and MSU Denver.

Qualities and Characteristics

The Dean will possess the following attributes:

• Hold a Ph.D. or a terminal degree in one of the related fields of study as represented by the academic programs within CACED.
• Have documented experience in teaching, scholarship, and administrative experience including having served as a department chair in a department related to the programs within CACED. The candidate should also have served as a dean, associate dean, or have at least experience working at a comparable level within collegiate administration.
• Have excellent written and oral communication skills and the ability to use those skills for enhancing constructive relationships within and external of CACED.
• Have a track record of fund raising for programs like those represented within CACED. This experience should include some large gifts that the candidate played an important role in securing.
• Have a track record in hiring and retaining staff and faculty coupled with experience handling personnel problems and the potential legal ramifications associated with human resource management.
• Demonstrate a strong career track record for providing unbiased and supportive leadership and change management experience directly related to one or more of the academic or professional areas as represented within CACED.
• Demonstrate a strong career track record for fostering entrepreneurship, creativity and collaboration directly related to one or more of the academic or professional areas as represented within CACED.
• Have strong documented experience working with one or more industries as associated with the programs represented in CACED.
• Demonstrates an innate desire to be curious about and understand the nature of all academic programs with CACED.

Required Qualifications

MSU Denver's Dean of the College of Aerospace, Computing, Engineering and Design will play an important role in the future growth of the College as it advances MSU Denver's mission of providing access and supporting students from the local Denver, regional, and State of Colorado communities. The Dean must be dedicated to ensuring academic excellence and student success with a focus on research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement, and public service.

The successful candidate will possess a distinguished record of academic service, superior interpersonal and management skills, and in addition will possess:

• An earned doctorate or a terminal degree in one of the related fields of study as represented by the academic programs within CACED and administrative and/or leadership experience in a university environment;
• An outstanding record of scholarly achievement and a solid reputation in the broader sciences community, commensurate with appointment as full professor in one of the departments in the College;
• A history of providing students with a high-quality educational experience and a history of addressing issues related to student success;
• The interest and skills necessary to be effective at fundraising and securing private support from donors;
• Experience as a seasoned, decisive leader and diplomat with strong organizational and consensus-building skills, integrity, and the ability to inspire and lead faculty with diverse interests;
• A record of success and ability in recruiting and retaining talented and diverse faculty; a history of inspiring faculty to excel in teaching, research, and creative activities and to reward excellence in these areas;
• A track-record of employing assessment and accountability measures that will help to guide and enhance strategic planning goals in accordance with MSU Denver's strategic plan to appropriately track the College and University's competitiveness; and
• Well-developed fiscal management experience, both in establishing budgets and implementing them along with a history of data-driven business decisions on balancing the allocation of resources and funding across departments to meet university growth needs;

Preferred Qualifications

• A track record of success in fundraising and securing private support from donors;
• A record of success in leading through innovative organizational change in a transparent and inclusive manner;
• Experience working in a highly complex institutional environment and addressing diverse stakeholder needs across the organization;
• The demonstrated ability to build multidisciplinary programs.

Salary for Announcement

The salary range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position is $200,000-$225,000 with a start date in August 2026.

MSU Denver offers a generous and comprehensive benefits package.

Schedule Information

• This position is expected to work on-campus.
• This position is a full time position.

Application Process

Candidates must complete an application online through MSU Denver's career site, https://www.msudenver.edu/careers/

The Search Committee will begin reviewing applications immediately and will continue to accept applications and nominations until the position is filled with preference given to all applications submitted by April 24, 2026.

Applicants must submit: a current resume or curriculum vitae and a cover letter describing relevant experience and interest in the position. Nomination letters should include the name, position, address, and telephone number of the nominee. All applications and nominations will be handled in confidence.