The University of Houston seeks an innovative, strategic, and highly collaborative Director of the School of Art, holding broad perspectives on the visual arts, art history, design, higher education, the role of the arts in society, and the future of all of the arts disciplines. Reporting to the Dean of the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts, the Director will set a strategic vision for the School in its context as a comprehensive training institution for art, art history, and graphic design, ideally situated in a public, urban, community-serving, R1 university.
The Director will lead the School to ensure that it offers: a high-quality and relevant curriculum taught with innovative and student-centered approaches; an internationally recognized faculty; engagement and active collaboration among its performing-arts and interdisciplinary partners in the McGovern College; and active collaboration across the university in the service of broader strategic goals, including growth of the research enterprise, student success, community engagement, and access and inclusivity.
The Director provides executive leadership for the School of Art, including administrative leadership and responsible fiscal management. The successful candidate will foster academic and artistic innovation and relevance, nurturing excellence in the School’s programs by supporting and stewarding the implementation of new or innovative programs, as appropriate and in consultation with the faculty. The Director will lead in the execution of initiatives to support the strategic plans for the School of Art, the McGovern College, and the University of Houston. The Director will lead in updating and implementing a strategic plan for the School of Art, and the Director will oversee initiatives and processes to keep the School’s initiatives and priorities relevant and outcomes impactful.

About the School of Art
The mission of the School of Art is to prepare students for success in research, making, and scholarship. An incredibly rich environment, combined with a commitment to providing a complete and comprehensive education, leads the School’s graduates to extraordinary careers. The School celebrates the centrality of art and design in culture and recognizes its importance to the vitality of a civil society; it trains artists, designers, and art historians who will delight, surprise, inform, engage, and move us towards a better understanding of each other and our extended communities; and it does this by making a commitment to connect the creativity of art to the practice of citizenship—equipment for living that values diverse human expression, ethics, and social engagement.
About the McGovern College of the Arts
The Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts includes the Schools of Art, Music, and Theatre and Dance, the M.A. in Arts Leadership Program, the Blaffer Art Museum, and the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. The faculty is award-winning and internationally distinguished, providing top-quality instruction to talented, emerging student artists, teachers, and scholars in more than thirty programs of study.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning, and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving institution with an enrollment of more than 47,000 students.
How to Apply
Please provide a cover letter, CV, and contact information for five references. The search will be conducted with a commitment to confidentiality for candidates until finalists are selected. Initial screening of applications will begin immediately and will continue until an appointment is made.

To request a full position profile or for any other inquiries, please contact one of the following:

1. Andrew Davis, Dean, Katherine G. McGovern College of the Arts; adavis5@central.uh.edu
2. Brian Kai Chin, Director, Moores School of Music, and Search Committee co-chair; bkchin@central.uh.edu
3. Rex Koontz, Moores Professor of Art History, School of Art, and Search Committee co-chair; email rkoontz@central.uh.edu
The University of Houston is responsive to the needs of dual-career couples.

The University of Houston is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action institution and recognizes protected classes of race, color, sex (including pregnancy), genetic information, religion, age (40 and above), national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or status, and gender expression as required by federal law. Veterans and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications:

• Experience in leadership, in academic administration as a Department Chair or Associate Dean, or in other comparable leadership roles.
• Proven success in fundraising for higher education, faculty support, and capital improvements.
• A commitment to establishing community-minded spaces, cognizant of the access needs among a student body such as the University of Houston’s.
• Experience with budgeting and resource allocation.
• An understanding of and a commitment to the mission, vision, and values of an urban, community-serving, R1 public university, and a willingness to play an active role in the life of the school, college, university, and city.
• An ability to utilize student-success initiatives and to facilitate instruction of exceptional quality.
• A demonstrated track record in scholarship and creative activity, including in exhibitions or publishing.
• Success in obtaining external grant funding.
• An ability to communicate and work effectively with a wide range of constituencies in the arts, across the university, and in the wider community.
• Experience with shared governance and university faculty-affairs policies and processes.
• Attributes that include strategic vision, excellent leadership skills, a strong work ethic, high energy, excellent written and oral communication skills, and tact and confidentiality; an ability to balance compassion and morale building with accountability; and a penchant for bringing together people from different disciplines and organizations to work toward common goals.
• A clear understanding of the role of the Arts in society, the current trends in the disciplines, and the changing demographics and trends within higher education in the Arts.
• A terminal degree in a relevant area and a scholarly and creative record that qualifies for appointment at the rank of professor with tenure at the University of Houston.