College of Business Administration Dean Search
Position Specification

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Overview

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), chartered by the Nebraska Legislature in 1869, is the campus of the University of Nebraska system which serves as both the land-grant and the comprehensive public university for the state of Nebraska.  UNL works cooperatively with the other three campuses and central administration to provide for its student body and all Nebraskans the widest array of disciplines, areas of expertise, and specialized facilities of any institution within the state.  UNL is one of a select group of research universities which hold membership in the Association of American Universities (AAU), a distinction granted in 1909.

Enrolling 24,100 students, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln provides leadership in education and research.  The citizens of Nebraska benefit from the knowledge and research generated by the faculty and students.  This research-based service to the state of Nebraska is a feature that distinguishes UNL as a land-grant university.  Nebraska was the first university west of the Mississippi to establish a graduate college (in 1896); today, UNL is one of the top 50 American universities in the number of doctoral degrees granted annually.  The University of Nebraska boasts 22 Rhodes Scholars and three Nobel laureates among its alumni. The 2004 United States Poet Laureate is a member of its English faculty.

The Position
The Dean reports directly to the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and is the chief academic and administrative officer of the College of Business Administration.  Responsible for setting the strategic vision of the College, the Dean will provide leadership in guiding efforts to identify meaningful goals and initiatives as part of the larger institution, while simultaneously developing a distinctive identity for the college. The Dean will serve as an advocate for a competitive level of scholarship and research, effective undergraduate and graduate education, and collaborative academic programs. He/She is responsible for generating extramural financial support and developing relevant corporate partnerships.

The Candidate Profile
Candidates should have an outstanding academic record and will have a deep commitment to excellence in professional education and research, the ability to deal effectively with a broad range of constituencies, and the skills necessary to lead a complex and dynamic academic institution. The candidate should also be able to lead the College in building close and mutually supportive relations with the state and its citizens, including the business community and college alumni. More specifically, the successful candidate will be expected to build capacity for both the MBA and Ph.D. programs, develop a more competitive student profile, attract and retain the very best faculty, and facilitate the strategic development of innovative and relevant programs that can best promote the mission of the university. The candidate should have a record of scholarship with an earned doctorate or a record of significant success in business.

Required performance competencies include:

• Building Teams – Ability to forge strong, diverse teams of people with multiple perspectives and talents.
• Vision – Ability to set strategy, envision long term market potential to position the institution to capitalize on those opportunities.  Ability to work effectively at multiple levels of an institution.
• Academic credibility – Demonstrate that a deep and broad understanding of the academic enterprise informs his/her judgment and decision-making; demonstrate ability to manage an often ambiguous process, and develop a compelling academic mission for the college.
• Developing and Leveraging Relationships – Ability to build and sustain relationships at multiple levels inside and outside of the institution, motivate others to pursue common objectives, and communicate passion, energy and excitement around the organization. Being articulate and persuasive in helping build a strong case for the college – especially when cultivating fundraising opportunities.
• Driving Results – Ability to set direction and vision for a project/initiative and lead it through to a significant outcome. Bring to the position an outcomes-oriented approach, defined by clear metrics and success benchmarks.
• Culturally Astute – Developing an understanding of the local and regional business community, as well as the academic community. Being sensitive and pragmatic regarding methods to bring about change in different organizational cultures.

Compensation
UNL offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, commensurate with the successful candidate's background and experience.

The College of Business Administration
The College of Business Administration developed from a single course in political economy required of every student at the University of Nebraska in 1869. The College of Business Administration is the second largest college on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus with approximately 3,000 students attending classes with 62 full-time faculty members. The undergraduate program offers nine majors: accounting, actuarial science, agribusiness, business administration, economics, finance, international business, management, and marketing.  Masters and doctoral degrees are offered by the five departments: accounting, economics, finance, management, and marketing.

Housed within the College of Business Administration are centers and programs that receive national acclaim.

• The Bureau of Business Research
• The Nebraska Council on Economic Education and the National Center for Research in Economic Education
• The Leadership Institute
• Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management
• The Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship
• Pan Pacific Business Association

Full Accreditation
In 1916, the College, with 16 other universities including Harvard, Northwestern, and the University of Texas, was a charter member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Nationally only a small percentage of the schools offering undergraduate or graduate programs in business administration are able to be accredited under the high standards set by the AACSB. Our undergraduate and masters programs meet these high standards and are fully accredited. Additionally, the School of Accountancy has separate accreditation under AACSB.

Student Body
The student body is richly diverse with approximately 10 percent from foreign countries. Many College of Business Administration students are leaders in campus and community organizations, participate in internship programs, and earn national and regional honors within their disciplines.

Professional and Business Leaders
The College retains close ties with professional and business leaders. Executives from all around the world come into the classrooms to speak to students and student organizations. Companies visit the College regularly to meet with faculty, attend job fairs, and forge closer ties with the College. Many student organizations are closely affiliated with professional and business organizations in the community.

Mission
The Mission of the College of Business Administration is to foster intellectual curiosity and business insight by providing high quality instruction, research, and service to students, the citizens of Nebraska, and to the national and international communities served.

Undergraduate Educational Objectives
Integrate business concepts across functional areas.
Develop an understanding of the external environment (political, social, legal, regulatory, environmental and technological) which affects business organizations.
Internationalize the curriculum.
Develop technical skills (critical analysis, communication, analytical and computer) and human relations skills (group dynamics, team building, organization and delegation) to enable students to translate knowledge into action.
Critical analysis and communication skills enable students to effectively present views, either in writing or through oral presentations, and to analyze and critique the views of others for purposes of decision making.
Analytical and computer skills enable students to process information under pressure and to appropriately apply methods, procedures and techniques to decision making.
Human relation skills enable students to understand group dynamics, to work effectively as group members, to build cooperative effort with the teams one leads, and to organize and delegate tasks.
Develop general business knowledge through core and foundation courses.
Create cohesion and depth in a single business area by providing areas of major or emphasis in accounting, actuarial science, agribusiness, business administration, economics, finance, international business, management or marketing.            
Sensitize students to ethical issues.
Incorporate contemporary theory and practice in the learning environment.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

For 140 Years, a Leader in Higher Education

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, chartered in 1869, is an educational institution of international stature. A member of the Association of American Universities since 1909, Nebraska is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a Doctoral/Research Extensive University. UNL is a land-grant university and a member of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (formerly the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges). The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. On Feb. 15, 2009, UNL celebrated the 140th anniversary of its founding.  

A Strong Foundation
Always a place of high ambition, this was the first institution west of the Mississippi River to award doctoral degrees — the first was granted, in physics, in 1896. The University of Nebraska established the world's first undergraduate psychology laboratory. The discipline of ecology was born here, and the campuses reflect that tradition, with their botanical gardens and arboreta. An early institutional interest in literature and the arts provided the foundations for today's Prairie Schooner literary magazine, for the University of Nebraska Press, and for the Sheldon Museum of Art, which houses one of the world's most significant collections of 20th century American art in a building designed by Philip Johnson.

Today, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln is one of the nation's leading teaching institutions, and a research leader with a wide array of grant-funded projects aimed at broadening knowledge in the sciences and humanities.

Better to Best
In Fall 2009, for the sixth-straight year, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has made U.S. News and World Report's annual evaluation of America's Best Colleges' Top 50 list of Public National Universities. UNL is tied with four others at 43rd on the list of Top 50 public universities, placing it among the top one-fourth of all public universities. UNL also is ranked near the top third of all public or private national universities, tied with five others at 96th. In the last six years, UNL has climbed from 107th in the national universities rankings and from 57th in the public universities charts.

Excellence in Undergraduate Education
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a research-extensive institution with an extraordinary focus on Undergraduate Education. Our undergraduates learn from faculty who create new knowledge, who are leading scientists and scholars, and who care about students' success. In Fall 2009, a new general education curriculum, Achievement-Centered Education, launched for incoming undergraduates. ACE is built on student learning outcomes that answer the fundamental question, "What should all undergraduate students -- irrespective of their majors and career aspirations -- know or be able to do upon graduation?"

Several signature programs exemplify this commitment to undergraduate success. The Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences Program (UCARE) connects faculty and students who work collaboratively on independent study projects that advance new knowledge. The Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management develops leaders for this era of expanding information technology and business globalization. Students are selected for this innovative program based on high academic achievement, outstanding leadership experience, demonstrated interest in computer science and business, and career goals. The program provides an education balanced in technology and management while developing professional skills in leadership, communications and collaboration. The Nebraska Colloquium engages the entire academic community in a yearlong discussion on a topic of importance. The Nebraska Colloquium raises the level of intellectual discourse among UNL students, faculty and staff under the framework of a campus-wide theme that serves as an organizing mechanism for unit activities and events that contribute to the theme. The University Honors Program hosts Honors Forum talks to complement the 20-year-old E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues.

Research and Engagement
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln provides leadership in education and research. The citizens of Nebraska benefit from the knowledge and research generated by our faculty and students. This research-based service to our state is a feature that distinguishes UNL as a land-grant university. Total research funding at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln increased nearly 13 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009, to a record of more than $122 million, according to the UNL Office of Research.

Total research funding, which includes all external funds awarded for university research, was $122,452,344 in the fiscal year ending June 30. The increase, up from $108.3 million in fiscal 2008, is UNL's largest ever year-to-year research funding growth.

Nearly $84 million of this year's research funding came from federal sources such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, Department of Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Agriculture and others. UNL's federal funding for research grew nearly 16 percent from $72.3 million in 2008.

UNL's research enterprise has grown substantially during this decade. Total research funding increased by 146 percent since 2000 when funding was $49.6 million.
Total external funding for sponsored programs, which include research and other activities such as teaching, public service and student services, also hit a record $192.4 million, up nearly 9 percent from $176.5 million last year.

Examples of major grant awards that contributed to the fiscal year's increase include:

• $9.3 million from the National Science Foundation for NebraskaMATH, a statewide program to improve mathematics achievement for students.
• $8.1 million from NSF for continued support of UNL's Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and its nanotechnology research.
• $8.7 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau to establish the Midwest Child Welfare Technical Assistance Implementation Center.
• $3.8 million from NSF to establish an ADVANCE program at UNL to help recruit, promote and retain female faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
• 2.5 million from NSF to make available nationwide a robotics and GPS/GIS science education curriculum developed by Nebraska 4-H.
• $300,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to edit, annotate and make available online the Civil War writings of Walt Whitman.

Contact
The Search Committee will begin reviewing candidates immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Nominations and applications should be submitted before October 31, 2009, electronically (PDF files preferred), in confidence, to:

University of Nebraska–Lincoln
College of Business Administration Dean Search
c/o Paul H.L. Chou
Russell Reynolds Associates
unldeancba@russellreynolds.com

Applications should include detailed resume, a two-page statement summarizing the applicant's personal vision and goals in philosophy of leadership to achieve those goals, as well as preferred contact information.
 
Further information may be found at: http://www.unl.edu/svcaa/cba/welcome.shtml

To ensure full consideration, materials should be submitted electronically as soon as possible.

"The University of Nebraska has an active National Science Foundation ADVANCE gender equity program, and is committed to a pluralistic campus community through affirmative action, equal opportunity, work-life balance, and dual careers."