Dean of the Kalmanovitz School of Education

Saint Mary’s College of California (SMC), one of the oldest and most distinguished universities in the West, seeks an accomplished, forward-looking, and social-justice-oriented academic leader to serve as its next Dean of the Kalmanovitz School of Education (KSOE).

Serving approximately 4,000 students, Saint Mary’s College is a Catholic, liberal arts, residential university that has been owned and administered by the De La Salle Christian Brothers for 150 years. Inspired by the Lasallian tradition and charism, Saint Mary’s is recognized for its rigorous liberal arts education, promoting critical thinking, shared inquiry and social justice; the high quality of its academic programs; and its award-winning, internationally recognized faculty and students. Renowned for the beauty of its campus, Saint Mary’s College is located in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area in Moraga, California, a suburban community about 10 miles east of Berkeley and 20 miles east of San Francisco.

Saint Mary’s academic departments and programs, which encompass 222 faculty members, are organized around four distinct schools. The degree programs at Saint Mary’s are a rich blend of traditional undergraduate, graduate and professional, and degree completion programs. All programs focus on the world beyond the student and recognize that wisdom is both timeless, as reflected in the curriculum, and iterative, growing in and through shared inquiry. These programs advance social justice in ways central to Catholic social thought and the Lasallian educational mission, and they intensify the impact of the Saint Mary’s College experience by taking an immersion approach to learning and requiring focus, commitment, and personal responsibility.

The Kalmanovitz School of Education and its programs enjoy a stellar reputation for educational excellence and innovation due to a unique student-centered learning environment which includes 650 students and 32 faculty members KSOE programs include Teacher Education, Educational Leadership, and Counseling, and they range from teacher credentialing and counseling licensure to degrees at the master’s and doctoral levels. The School is located near many of the Bay Area’s largest public school districts (including racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse urban districts such as Oakland Unified and Mount Diablo Unified), as well as colleges and universities, and community-based agencies, providing students with opportunities to apply their knowledge and new understandings in real classrooms and community settings in both private and public sectors.

The next Dean of the KSOE will build and refine academic program offerings, foster collaboration with the School of Liberal Arts (where the undergraduate teaching pathway lies in the Justice, Community, and Leadership Program), advance academic excellence and support faculty development, foster external relationships and partnerships, advance fundraising and alumni engagement, champion diversity and inclusion, and contribute to the three pillars of SMC's mission: the Catholic, Lasallian, and Liberal Arts traditions. To fulfill these needs, the next Dean will be a visionary scholar with impeccable credentials, prepared to lead the School into the future.  Given recent changes in State regulation of teacher credentialing and the influx of new faculty in the School, KSOE’s next Dean will have the opportunity to lead an increasingly diverse faculty and staff through a pivotal time of change and opportunity.

They will have a record of instruction, scholarship, and research excellence that merits appointment as a tenured professor in one of the departments of the School. The next Dean will also have a history of administrative leadership; an understanding of education as a vehicle for social change and transformation; experience and a longstanding commitment to working toward equity in PK-12 education, the counseling field, and/or other community leadership roles; strong human resource and financial management experience, and superior communication skills, as well as being adept at conflict resolution and restorative practices. For more information about this position, please visit www.wittkieffer.com.

Inquiries, nominations and applications are invited. For fullest consideration, applicant materials should be received by December 1, 2018. Candidates should provide, as two separate documents, a curriculum vitae and a letter of application that addresses the responsibilities and requirements described in this Leadership Profile. These materials should be sent electronically via e-mail to the St. Mary's College of California’s consultants Robert W. Luke and Jane Courson at SMC-KSOEDean@wittkieffer.com.

The St. Mary's College of California values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity for all persons regardless of age, color, disability, ethnicity, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other status protected by law.