Associate Dean for Development, School of the Arts

Position Summary

The School of the Arts is the home of art making at Columbia University. It is the largest arts school among our peer institutions, a thriving center of art-making and education across a rich diversity of disciplines, and the central hub for the arts at Columbia more broadly.

Taking full advantage of our location in New York City, one of the greatest arts cities in the world, as well as its setting within Columbia as a top research university, the School of the Arts is unique among arts schools in the country.

Founded in 1965 (though arts had been taught at Columbia as early as 1881), the School comprises a dazzling faculty of full and part-time artists and scholars in four broad areas Film (including Film and Media Studies), Theatre, Visual Art (including Sound Art), and Writing who are active practitioners, doing exceptional work across these diverse areas.

The School of the Arts offers the Masters in Fine Arts (MFA) degree, the highest degree offered within the arts, in a robust program (with an incoming class of roughly 220 students each year);

a much smaller MA degree in Film and Media Studies; and it is the location for arts education for Columbia College (CC), the School of General Studies (GS) and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

The undergraduate programs in the School of the Arts are thriving; enrollments are continually increasing, and in the last five years, majors have doubled.

There is also a small PhD program in Theatre, run jointly with the Department of English and Comparative Literature.

The Associate Dean for Development, School of the Arts is responsible for overseeing a comprehensive development operation and will report jointly to the Dean of the School of the Arts and the Assistant Vice President for University Development.

The successful candidate will collaborate with faculty and staff in the School of the Arts, the Office of Alumni and Development (OAD), and University leadership to create an innovative, comprehensive, and sustainable advancement program to support Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

The Associate Dean will raise internal and external awareness of the School of the Arts and connect the School to prominent arts constituents in New York City and internationally.

The incumbent will direct development initiatives and alumni programs for the School of the Arts and manage a staff of development professionals toward key fundraising goals.

This Associate Dean works closely with the Dean, faculty, school, OAD development, and alumni relations officers, volunteers, and program directors to assure optimization of all fundraising opportunities and priorities.

Additionally, the Associate Dean partners with the Dean and other senior staff to sustain the momentum for new and ongoing initiatives and plays an active role in strategic planning, in creating and implementing policies and procedures, and in serving as liaison to the larger campus administration.

Responsibilities

• Develop a master plan for the School of the Arts, including identification of key strategic initiatives, top prospects, and volunteers, which is designed to raise significant levels of support.
• Assist the Dean and School of the Arts faculty in developing campaign priorities for the School.
• Oversee prospect management / fundraising with a portfolio of major- and principal-gift-level prospects, including developing effective solicitation strategies for securing appropriate gifts while managing the prospect relationships to enhance continued and increased support.
• Lead a team of four, full-time School of the Arts development and alumni relations employees, ensuring that they are high performing;

staffing a full range of development functions including fundraising of major gifts, annual fund, and institutional donors as well as managing the alumni relations function.

• Ensure the Dean is actively and effectively deployed in the fundraising arena at the appropriate levels.
• Rebuild, staff as needed, engage, and solicit the School of the Art’s Dean’s Council.
• Work closely with other Associate Deans and with faculty within the School of the Arts to optimize results on joint initiatives.
• Participate in the Office of Alumni and Development management and prospect coordination activities.
• Engage and solicit highly sophisticated prospects; manage 100 prospects and meet the associated activity goals.
• Create and execute engagement opportunities using School assets.
• Work constructively with colleagues in the University, across all disciplines.
• Establish credible relationships with the external arts sector in New York, nationally, and internationally.
• Advocate the role and benefits of the arts to colleagues at large.
• As a senior member of the OAD staff, work within OAD’s Core and Partnership Values and proactively collaborate with colleagues around prospect issues.
• Performs related duties and responsibilities as assigned / requested.

Minimum Qualifications

A bachelor’s degree is required. A minimum of eight (8) years of fundraising or related development experience is required.

At least three (3) years of demonstrated leadership / managerial responsibility required.

• Must possess the ability to develop and supervise staff.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment, as well as work with changing priorities and multiple projects.
• Must have excellent analytical, project management, organizational, interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including a high level of attention to detail and active listening skills.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively partner with a diverse group of administrators and academic leaders.
• The successful candidate must be a strategic thinker, effective in moving strategic agendas, politically savvy, and ensure the utmost discretion in all matters.

Additionally, the candidate should work well with all levels of management, both internally and externally, be flexible in nature, possess sound judgment, have strong influencing skills, and have a collaborative style that fosters teamwork and cooperation beyond the immediate team to the broader organization.

Computer proficiency (Word, Excel) is required.

Preferred Qualifications

• An advanced degree is strongly preferred.
• Prior experience in a not-for-profit or similar complex organization is a plus.
• Previous work experience in higher educational or arts institutions is highly preferred.
17 hours ago