Associate Dean, Director Student Success

Associate Dean, Director First Year Student Success

Job Category : Student Affairs

Requisition Number : ASSOC
002915

• Posted :
  August 24, 2026
• Full-Time
• Hybrid

Showing 1 location

Chicago, IL 60603, USA

About SAIC

For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top four graduate fine arts programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago Museum, on-campus galleries and state-of-the-art facilities.

SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, and LeRoy Neiman.

About the Department

SAIC is reimagining how we support students across the full arc of their academic and professional journey. Through the restructuring of Academic Advising, Career and Professional Experience, and Student Success, three interconnected functional areas of First Year Student Success, Academic & Career Coaching, and Employer Partnerships & Internships will create a more integrated, intentional, and forward-looking approach to student success.

First Year Student Success establishes the foundation for long-term student success through a unified strategy focused on transition, academic confidence, persistence, and first-to-second-year retention. The area leads first-year success programming, academic recovery and academic standing, and the First Generation and Chicago Fellows programs, while working closely with Academic & Career Coaching and Employer Partnerships & Internships to create a coordinated student experience from the beginning of an SAIC education through graduation and into professional opportunities.

Position Summary

The Associate Dean, Director of First Year Student Success provides strategic leadership for first-year student success initiatives, first year academic and career coaching, and first-to-second year retention efforts. The position oversees staff, programs, and policies that shape the development and implementation of strategies that strengthen the first-year experience, build academic confidence and belonging, and identify and address barriers to student success.

Through data-informed leadership and cross-functional partnership, particularly with Academic and Career Coaching and Employer Partnerships and Internships, the position advances a cohesive first-year strategy and strengthens pathways to continued academic progress and persistence.

Responsibilities

• Leads the vision, strategy, and execution of comprehensive first-year student success initiatives, including advising, coaching, and transition programming
• Oversees first-year advising and coaching models, including 1:1 student support, integrated advising approaches, and required pre-registration appointments
• Leads the development and execution of strategies to improve first-year retention, persistence, and course enrollment outcomes, including first-year enrollment correction processes
• Collaborates with the Director, Associate Dean of Academic and Career Coaching to ensure alignment across the student lifecycle
• Supervises the hiring, training, development, and evaluation of staff within the first-year student success and related program areas
• Partners with the Dean, Academic Advising and CAPX to ensure alignment between first-year initiatives and institutional advising frameworks, academic policies, and student success systems
• Provides leadership for academic support and recovery initiatives, including oversight of academic standing processes, outreach, and targeted interventions for students in need of academic support
• Oversees and manages First Generation and Chicago Fellows programs, including program development,…