Assistant Dean, Finance & Administration

Special Instructions to Applicants:All interested applicants should attach a resume in the Supporting Documents section of the application preferably in a PDF format to avoid any formatting issues.

About Rice:

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston Texas Rice University is ranked among the nations top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio and a residential college system which supports students intellectually emotionally and culturally through social events intramural sports student plays lectures series courses and student government. Developing close-knit diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rices culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name RICE Responsibility Integrity Community and Excellence.

Position Summary:

The Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration serves as the chief administrative officer of the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies (GSCS) providing strategic leadership and oversight of finance human resources procurement grants management compliance and legal coordination across the schools Deans Office and its affiliated organizations. Reporting directly to the Dean the Assistant Dean is a member of the Deans senior leadership team and serves as a strategic partner in advancing the schools administrative operational and academic mission.

This role leads the schools shared services model ensuring that administrative functions are centralized compliant and aligned with university policy. The Assistant Dean advises the Dean and program leadership on complex administrative matters manages a team of administrative professionals and represents the school in university-wide forums. The position requires the ability to operate with significant independence exercise institutional authority and build effective working relationships across a diverse and decentralized academic environment.

Ideal Candidate Statement:

The ideal candidate is a seasoned administrative leader with deep experience managing complex financial compliance and human resources functions in a higher education or similarly complex institutional setting. They are equally comfortable providing strategic guidance to senior leadership and ensuring the operational integrity efficiency and effectiveness of day-to-day administrative functions. They bring an entrepreneurial mindset experience with financial proforma projections a systems orientation a strong compliance approach and the interpersonal credibility to work effectively with faculty staff and central administrative offices. They are skilled at building and leading high-performing administrative teams driving organizational change and holding institutional authority with confidence and good judgment.

Workplace Requirements:

This position is offered as a hybrid role combining both in-office and remote work to provide flexibility and support collaboration. PerRice policy 440 work arrangements may be subject to change.

Hiring Range:$96859 - 123624 annually

*Exempt (salaried) positions underFLSA are not eligible for overtime.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelors degree
  • In lieu of the education requirement additional related experience above and beyond what is required may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.
    
• Six or more (6) years of progressively responsible experience in financial administration human resources compliance or operations management in a complex organization including demonstrated experience leading and supervising staff
  • In lieu of the experience requirement additional related education above and beyond what is required may be substituted on an equivalent year-for-year basis.
    
• Skills:
  • Demonstrated ability to provide strategic leadership and manage complex multi-functional administrative operations
  • Strong financial management skills including budget development forecasting financial reporting and compliance oversight
  • Experience managing human resources functions including workforce administration faculty appointments and compliance with employment policy
  • Demonstrated ability to interpret implement and enforce institutional and school policies and regulatory requirements
  • Strong interpersonal written and verbal communication skills; ability to advise and influence senior leadership and diverse stakeholders
  • Proven ability to lead organizational change and build effective administrative systems and teams

Preferences:

• Masters degree in business administration public administration higher education administration or a related field
• Experience in academic administration preferably in a school or college within a research university
• Familiarity with Oracle Cloud or a comparable enterprise resource planning (ERP) system especially with Rices Oracle system (iO)
• Experience with complex budget development forecasting and reporting
• Experience with grants administration including pre- and post-award compliance in a university or research setting
• Experience managing procurement operations and vendor or contractor relationships at scale
• Experience working at Rice University

Essential Functions:

• Serves as the chief administrative officer of the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies and as a strategic partner to the Dean and school leadership
• Provides leadership and oversight for the schools administrative shared services model encompassing finance human resources procurement grants management compliance and legal coordination across the Deans Office and affiliated organizations
• Leads the development implementation and monitoring of multi-year budgets and financial plans; advises the Dean and senior leadership on financial strategy resource allocation and long-range planning
• Ensures compliance with university policies school policy federal regulations and applicable legal requirements across all administrative functions; serves as the schools subject matter expert on policy interpretation and enforcement
• Oversees human resources administration for school personnel faculty appointments cross-campus arrangements the performance evaluation process and compliance with HR and VPAA policies
• Manages research and grants administration for the school including post-award compliance effort reporting and coordination with the Office of Research and Research Cost Accounting
• Supervises and develops Deans Office administrative staff; builds team capacity and fosters a culture of compliance accountability and continuous improvement
• Leads in collaboration with the Dean and the school organizational excellence committee workplace environment initiatives
• Works closely with the offices of the Provost Budget Controller Human Resources General Counsel and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs on matters affecting the school
• Represents the school on university-wide committees and in cross-campus administrative forums
• Performs all other duties as assigned

Additional Functions:

• Oversees procurement operations including vendor and independent contractor management contract review and policy compliance; leads centralization of procurement functions into the Deans Office
• Reviews and manages contracts agreements and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) through their full lifecycle; serves as primary liaison to the Office of General Counsel
• Manages travel and expense administration including oversight of institutional purchasing card (PCard) program and expense report compliance
• Represents the Dean and the school within and outside the university as needed
• Commitment to advancing the schools mission of providing access to degrees and programs that engage educate and empower lifelong learners and communities.

Rice University HR Benefits: Mission and Values: Mission and Values Rice University

Rice University is committed to ensuring Equal Employment Opportunity and welcoming the fullness of diversity into our candidate pools. Rice considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race color religion age sex sexual orientation gender identity national or ethnic origin genetic information disability or protected veteran status. Rice also provides reasonable accommodations to qualified persons with disabilities. If an applicant requires a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process please get in touch with Rice Universitys Human Resources Office via email at for support.

If you have any additional questions please email us at . Thank you for your interest in employment with Rice University.