University of Chicago

Position Title/Short Description

Full Text of JOE Listing:

The University of Chicago seeks an experienced, inventive and ambitious scholar/administrator as the next dean of the Harris School of Public Policy. The Harris School was founded 25 years ago in line with the University of Chicago’s traditions of intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary investigation. Its exacting, data-driven perspective, across a range of disciplines and policy domains, has distinguished the Harris School from its competitors.

In a brief period of time the Harris School has developed an array of new initiatives and blazed a remarkable path. Recent successes will provide the next dean with a rare opportunity to build a preeminent professional school for the next generation of policy leaders. In fundraising, the school has been the recipient of transformational gifts: $38 million in total to build its new home, the Keller Center and a landmark $100 million gift to establish The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts and The Pearson Global Forum. At the same time, the ranks of the full-time faculty have increased by 24% to 41%, with top flight hires in the areas of conflict and international development, data analytics, energy, labor economics and political economy. New degrees are now offered in the areas of computational analysis, environmental sciences, a certificate in data analytics as well as a BA in public policy for undergraduates in the College. Organizationally, the school has invested in enhancing staff capacity in advising, marketing, development and enrollment management to deliver a world class student experience and to enable the school to grow.

The next dean will come at a critical moment for the Harris School. Cultivating the school’s academic distinction; strategizing and executing on The Pearson Institute and The Global Forum, opening the Keller Center; growing the faculty and student body; fundraising; sustaining and developing new academic programs; and implementing effective systems and policies internally will all be critical tasks for the dean.

The dean has the opportunity to firmly harness the school’s forward momentum. There is much that is new at the Harris School and much that was always foundational and remains central to its identity. The school will require astute leadership from the dean to fully shape and settle an emerging and more expansive identity. As new faculty and staff are recruited, they will join an ambitious, successful and rapidly evolving school, reaching for new cohesion, an expanded place in the University and eminence in the world of policy analytics.

The University of Chicago has engaged Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist with this search. Inquiries, nominations and applications should be directed in confidence to: www.imsearch.com/5835.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law.