HARRY E. PREBLE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

HARRY E. PREBLE DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS & SCIENCES

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a preeminent public land grant university and the flagship campus of the University of Illinois System, is seeking nominations and applications for the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

Founded in 1867 as one of the nation's original public land-grant institutions of higher education, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign engages in transformative undergraduate, graduate, and professional teaching, conducts ground-breaking research in virtually all areas of academic inquiry, undertakes extensive and influential public engagement and education, including through life-changing extension, continuing education and online learning opportunities, and promotes a diverse environment of intellectual curiosity that welcomes, cultivates, and respects the contributions of all. Illinois faculty have been awarded 24 Nobel Prizes; three faculty and 23 alumni are Pulitzer Prize winners; and our faculty and alumni are prominently represented across the memberships of the National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has an enormous international footprint and impact. We collaborate with institutions and individuals around the world through cutting-edge research, institutional agreements, education-abroad programming, and on-campus training initiatives. And we are always among the top handful of universities in the nation in the size and academic quality of our international student population.

For more than 100 years, the heart of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS), whose variety and depth of educational offerings and innovative research have profoundly shaped the arc of the careers and lives of hundreds of thousands of its graduates throughout the state, nation and world. LAS faculty members make groundbreaking discoveries in the lab, library and field; translate those discoveries for consumption and discussion in the classroom; promote the intercultural and linguistic competencies needed to thrive and lead in diverse public and private institutions and societies in the 21st century; and help develop the critical analytic and communication skills and knowledge needed to navigate social debates and cultural realities, and to locate historical events in their proper context. Our graduates understand that their educations here are designed to equip them not simply to earn a living, but to become full and active participants in all aspects of society and governance.

Across its 68 units, including five schools, 37 academic departments, and the Illinois Global Institute, LAS represents a breadth that serves as a model for a comprehensive research university. The College is home to 610 tenure-system faculty members (LAS faculty account for 1/3 of all faculty on the Urbana- Champaign campus), over 260 specialized faculty members, and 12,000 undergraduate and 2,600 graduate students, including some in online professional degree programs. Thanks to its disciplinary span and interdisciplinary ethos, as well as its responsiveness to the ever-changing world, LAS has enabled students to pursue their interests and to fashion educational pathways and attain outcomes that meet their varied needs. It is no surprise that the College's pedagogical strengths and research prowess - and the accomplishments of our alumni - have been acclaimed throughout the nation and the globe.

The next dean will be expected to bring outstanding scholarly credentials and broad intellectual insights, a deep appreciation of the full range of the many disciplines that make up LAS - from the arts and humanities to the sciences and social sciences - and how they can best be harmonized and integrated within the College to maximize opportunities for collaboration and synergy, a skill for communicating effectively and efficiently to all constituencies within the College, an ability to refine and build on the College's strategic vision, and a talent for explaining, promoting, marketing and implementing that vision. In addition, the position requires a demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion; excellent administrative and budgetary capabilities; demonstrated capacity for fundraising; and facility for managing cutting-edge undergraduate, graduate, and professional education in a comprehensive world- class interdisciplinary university environment.

As part of the senior leadership on campus, the successful dean is expected to help continue and advance the strong culture of cross-campus interdisciplinary research and entrepreneurial activity that are hallmarks of Illinois. The campus is home to world-famous institutes and centers like the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology; the Cancer Center; the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; the Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences; the Humanities Research Institute; the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment; the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute; the National Center for Supercomputing Applications; and the Prairie Research Institute. Teamwork between humanists, engineers, life scientists, social scientists, artists, and physical scientists, as well as other experts and scholars from throughout the country and the world, is the norm. New and emerging opportunities for LAS to collaborate abound, including at the Carle-Illinois College of Medicine, the first medical school to be founded at the intersection of engineering and medicine, the Siebel Center for Design, a large cross-campus, multidisciplinary effort to harness the potential of design thinking and design learning in teaching, research, and engagement, the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute, and the recently announced National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture Artificial Intelligence Institutes to be housed on campus. The nationally distinguished Research Park adjacent to the University offers opportunities for entrepreneurship and includes more than 120 companies that employ upwards of 2,200 people in high-tech careers and provides opportunities for more than 800 student interns.

Even as it looks to the future, LAS, as a core part of the campus, retains its pivotal role in honoring and continuing the venerable tradition of the public land-grant university. From its founding, LAS and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been dedicated to - and will continue to be focused on - providing access to, and serving the needs of, the people whom we are proud and privileged to serve.

Candidates for this exciting opportunity must hold a terminal degree and have a distinguished record of teaching and scholarly accomplishments. Additionally, a proven record of achievement, commensurate with an appointment at the rank of Professor is required. This is a full-time, 12-month appointment with a summer 2021 start date. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

For more information about the position, please visit: www.imsearch.com/7609

Inquiries, nominations, and applications are invited. The university strongly encourages nominations of, as well as applications from, individuals traditionally underrepresented in academia. Review of applications will continue until the position is filled. For full consideration, applications should be received by December 1, 2020. All inquiries, nominations/referrals, and applications should be sent electronically to:

Natalie Leonhard, Partner
John Muckle, Partner
Becky Piper, Senior Associate
Isaacson, Miller
www.imsearch.com/7609

The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer.

As a qualifying federal contractor, the University of Illinois System uses E-Verify to verify employment eligibility.

The University of Illinois System requires candidates selected for hire to disclose any documented finding of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment and to authorize inquiries to current and former employers regarding findings of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment. For more information, visit Policy on Consideration of Sexual Misconduct in Prior Employment

The University of Illinois is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer that recruits and hires qualified candidates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability or veteran status. For more information, visit go.illinois.edu/EEO.