The Search
Miami University (Miami), an original Public Ivy and Top 50 National Public University, invites applications and nominations for the Dean of the College of Creative Arts (CCA) position. Miami seeks an exceptional leader with a strong record of collaboration, forward-looking vision, and significant creative and academic accomplishment. The new dean will have the opportunity to foster the art educators, scholars, and makers within CCA to explore how creativity and the arts can impact all academic disciplines. The dean will lead a college that has a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching, extensive interdisciplinary and diverse programs, and is the cultural and creative center for the Miami campus and local community.
Miami University is a highly respected and distinctive public institution of higher education recognized for outstanding undergraduate education and selective graduate and research programs. The University serves the citizens of the state of Ohio, as well as an established regional and an increasingly national constituency.
The University
Miami University was chartered by the Ohio General Assembly in 1809. The University offered its first classes in 1824 in the village of Oxford, Ohio. By 1829 it had grown to 250 students, making it the fourth-largest university in the nation, following Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth. The University admitted its first women students in 1902. In 1905, Nellie Craig Walker became the first Black graduate. The breadth of its undergraduate and master’s programs grew throughout the 20th century, and in 1964 the Ohio Board of Regents approved the inauguration of Ph.D. programs.
The beautiful grounds and the gracious Georgian-style buildings of the 2,000-acre Oxford campus inspired poet Robert Frost to declare the Miami University campus "the most beautiful college that ever there was." Miami has worked consistently over the last 20 years to promote a green campus through recycling, energy reduction, and in its new construction and building maintenance; Miami is a signatory to Second Nature’s Presidents’ Climate Leadership Commitment (Climate Commitment). Both the attractiveness of the campus and the rich academic and co-curricular opportunities available for students, make a strong statement about the University’s commitment to the quality of student life.
The College
Miami’s College of Creative Arts (CCA) enrolls 1400 undergraduate and graduate students, with 158 faculty members and 45 staff members, 10 of which are within the dean’s office. The College of Creative Arts cultivates and sustains a community that is centered on creativity and where the integration of liberal education and the arts shapes identity. The CCA’s efforts are realized through degree offerings in the departments of Architecture and Interior Design, Art, Emerging Technology in Business + Design (ETDB), Music, and Theatre and through programs of the Miami University Art Museum and Performing Arts Series that enrich academic and cultural experiences across campus and throughout the region. CCA has one of the smallest departments on Miami’s campus, Theatre, but is also home to some of the quickest growing areas with the ETDB department and programs in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship. The College delivers 11 undergraduate degrees, 21 minors, and 6 graduate-level degrees.
The Role
Reporting directly to the Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, the dean is the chief administrative, academic, and budgetary officer for the College of Creative Arts. The dean will provide oversight of a breadth of creative departments, galleries, libraries, museums, and performance spaces. This individual will lead and advocate for approximately 1400 undergraduate and graduate students, 158 full-time instructional faculty, and a staff of nearly 45 and oversee a budget of approximately $15.6M.
The dean is the public face of the College of Creative Arts. The dean will possess a strong understanding and love of the arts world, have the ability to work in an interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial way across Miami, adapt and evolve the CCA curriculum to fit the changing arts world, recognize the importance of community among its Miami students and alum, and create a thriving network that will sustain the growth and support of the CCA into the future. The dean oversees an office budget of approximately $15.6 million and is comprised of several experienced administrators and staff professionals. For a list of those individuals please see here.
Application
The Search Committee will begin reviewing applications immediately and will be reviewing materials on an ongoing basis over the Summer of 2023. The requested application materials include a letter of interest, a DEI statement, a curriculum vitae, and a list of five professional references. For best consideration, please submit materials as soon as possible; the recruiting window will close over the Summer of 2023. Please send materials to the following address: MiamiCCADean@storbecksearch.com.
