Senior Business Officer, College of Arts and Sciences

Pay Grade: 35E

Context of the Job:

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at the University of Delaware emphasizes the enduring value of a liberal arts education and the importance of cultivating new knowledge and artistic representation. The faculty are dedicated scholars, scientists, artists and professionals who teach, research, mentor, and lead their fields. CAS fosters excellence in scholarship, creative work, and public service as it educates students to be thoughtful, ethical, and engaged leaders. The College prioritizes interdisciplinarity and experiential learning across our academic programs, and sees diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values, with its recruitment, retention and hiring processes designed to support these values.

The largest college at the University, CAS comprises 24 departments and more than 30 programs and centers in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. CAS serves over 6,000 undergraduate and 1,100 graduate students, conferring more than 1,300 BA and AA degrees and 350 graduate degrees in 2023-24. CAS faculty, comprising 600 full time tenure-track and non-tenure contract faculty are experts who are leaders in their fields, innovators in education, and noted advisors to nonprofit and governmental agencies at the local, regional, national, and international levels. CAS is guided by a commitment to shared governance, and CAS faculty serve as leaders in the University and College Faculty Senates. The staff include more than 300 individuals supporting students and academic units. CAS maintains annual operating expenditures of over $121M and sponsored research expenditures totaling more than $40M per fiscal year. CAS is also supported by an engaged and generous body of alumni, including an active Dean’s Advisory Council.

Under the limited direction of the Dean, the Senior Business Officer (SBO) serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the College of Arts and Sciences, and serves as a key member of the CAS senior leadership team. The SBO oversees and directs the implementation of the interests, operations, and priorities of the Dean and the College.  The SBO provides direction and leadership to administrative and business services including financial operations, space and facilities planning, grant administration, academic administration, and information technology. The SBO defines and directs strategies in these functional areas ensuring consistency with the broad strategic goals of the college. The SBO is responsible for significant contributions to institutional planning and to operational strategies. The SBO regularly consults with four Associate Deans, the Chief of Staff, and interfaces regularly with the Office of the Provost in order to ensure operational efficiency. The SBO partners with the Sr. HR Director on strategic alignment between CAS leadership and central HR and coordination of human resources related activities.

Major Responsibilities:

• Lead effective implementation and management of the College’s operations. At the Dean's direction, work collaboratively with CAS Senior Leadership in developing and implementing policies and procedures consistent with those of the University, ensuring the efficient operation of the College.
• Supervise the Director of Financial Operations with oversight of staff members who are a part of the CAS Financial Operations team and responsible for the administration, management, and execution of a $225MM annual budget, based on the Dean's allocation decisions.  Oversee CAS sponsored research expenditures totaling more than $40M per fiscal year.
• Partner with the CAS Sr. HR Director on strategic alignment between CAS leadership and UD central HR, workforce planning, resolution of personnel matters, and ensuring that HR policies and procedures are communicated throughout CAS.
• Supervise the Director of College Facilities Planning who is responsible for directing space utilization and space planning within the College, which includes over forty buildings encompassing over 570,000 net square feet of space.
• Supervise the Director of Computing Operations who is responsible for the management of all Information Technology support for the arts, humanities, and social sciences portfolios, web development initiatives, and desktop operations.
• Provide leadership and direction to academic administration and college operation unit Directors. 
• Serve as the College ombudsperson, acting as the Dean's facilitator/mediator, assisting the Associate Deans in the resolution of routine and highly sensitive issues and concerns.  Determine appropriate stakeholders to address situational challenges. 
• Actively participate in the development and implementation of CAS’s overall strategic objectives, priorities, plans, and initiatives. Manage the execution of policies and procedures.