Dean, Driehaus College of Business

The Driehaus College of Business of DePaul University seeks a dean to lead its close community of faculty, staff, and students. The 10th-oldest business school in America and intrinsically connected to Chicago’s robust business community, the Driehaus College (DCB) is ideally positioned to provide its students with the combination of theory and practical experience necessary to ensure their success in the marketplace.

Through its academic program; in the classroom, the laboratory, online and the library; in its teaching and in the scholarly work of its faculty; and in its public service, the DePaul University community lives and imparts the Vincentian values that have guided it across the 118 years of its existence.  From “the little school under the El” to the nation’s largest Catholic university, DePaul has remained true to its central mission and values. Under the leadership of its new president, Gabriel Esteban, himself a professor of marketing, the university is beginning a strategic planning exercise that will position the new dean of Driehaus to lead a similar planning exercise for the college at the very outset of his or her tenure. Those plans will inevitably lead to a comprehensive fund raising campaign in which the dean will play a leading role. Contemporaneously, the new dean will work with a highly motivated faculty and student body to grow enrollments, to increase opportunities for experiential learning and careers, to find and institute the appropriate balance of pedagogical approaches, and to play a central role among a highly collegial group of deans to further the university’s scholarly and educational priorities.

Success in this critical role will require a leader of people and programs, ideally one who benefits from experience both within and beyond the academy. Ideally, the dean will possess an earned terminal degree and sufficient experience in higher education to merit an appointment to the college’s faculty, preferably with tenure at the rank of full professor. Of critical importance is a commitment to student success and a profound respect for the faculty’s tri-partite responsibilities for teaching, scholarship and service. Outstanding communication skills are required, as are the personal qualities necessary for successful fund raising. Superior strategic skills and a track record as a successful manager in an organization of equal or greater complexity are absolutely required. Strong financial skills are a must, as is experience building and managing a budget. Previous experience with accreditation, especially with the AACSB, would be a significant advantage. A commitment to diversity and inclusion is central to the university’s ethos and a requirement for all of its leaders.

The Driehaus College of Business is positioned to provide its faculty and students with access to one of the nation’s most vibrant business communities. Its new dean will have a substantial personal impact on the future of this historic institution and therefore on a generation of its students.

Inquiries, nominations and applications are invited. Additional information can be found in the leadership profile available at www.wittkieffer.com. For fullest consideration, applicant materials should be received by November 22, 2017 and sent via e-mail to the university’s consultants, Dennis M. Barden, Elizabeth K. Bohan and Katy Young of Witt/Kieffer, at DePaulBusinessDean@wittkieffer.com. Questions may also be directed to the consultants through the office of Laurie Adams at 630-575-6152.