DEAN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA THE SEARCH Tulane University, one of the nation s most prestigious research institutions, seeks an ambitious and entrepreneurial leader to serve as Dean of the School of Architecture (TSA). Offering courses in architecture for more than 100 years, TSA prepares students for leadership roles in the profession while emphasizing a strong commitment to civic responsibility. The School and University have been central participants in the recovery of New Orleans in the post-katrina era and this involvement has uniquely informed the School s educational trajectory. Now, the Dean will join a dynamic and cohesive new leadership team for the University that is defining a bold next chapter for Tulane, building on its successes. Founded in 1834, Tulane is a member of the distinguished Association of American Universities and boasts an exciting mix of schools that positions the University to have impact on problems of global scale. The University enrolls close to 14,000 students and is home to an outstanding faculty that numbers approximately 1,200 who are defining their fields. An emphasis on path-breaking research and a commitment to outstanding undergraduate education informed by community service and practical experience are deeply woven into Tulane s culture and community. Recognized as one of the nation s top architecture programs and recently ranked by Design Intelligence as the #17 undergraduate program in the country, TSA enrolls approximately 300 students across undergraduate and graduate degrees in architecture, preservation studies, and sustainable real estate development, as well as in a minor in social innovation and social entrepreneurship (SISE). Reporting to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, the Dean will be expected to define strategic priorities that leverage the strengths of the School and expand in new directions. The Dean will have the latitude and support to innovate and create sustainable and transformative new programs and will recruit, retain, and support a field-shaping faculty to advance research, scholarship, and creative activity, providing students with a high-quality education. Qualifications for this position include a professional or advanced degree in architecture or a related discipline as well as a distinguished record of research, creative work, and/or significant professional activity appropriate for appointment as full professor with tenure. The Dean will have an energetic and collaborative leadership style that inspires faculty, students, and staff to develop a shared vision for the future. Tulane has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in the recruitment of the Dean of the School of Architecture. All inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed in confidence as noted at the end of this document.
Page 2 of 7 TULANE UNIVERSITY Tulane traces its origins back to 1834, when it was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana. It was renamed the University of Louisiana by the state legislature in 1847, who subsequently transferred it to the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Education Fund in 1884. With that transfer, Tulane University was established as a private, nonsectarian university, and named in honor of benefactor Paul Tulane, a wealthy merchant who donated more than $1 million in land, cash, and securities for the promotion and encouragement of intellectual, moral, and industrial education. In 1886, the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was established as Tulane s college for women. The unified Newcomb-Tulane College today enrolls all full-time undergraduates at the university. The university has an operating budget of $885 million and an endowment of $1.235 billion. Tulane attracts an outstanding student body that is both intellectually curious and driven by community engagement. In 2016, U.S. News and World Report ranked Tulane 39th among national universities, and its 8:1 undergraduate student-faculty ratio allows Tulane undergraduates to receive the personalized attention of a smaller liberal arts college along with the resources of a major research institution. In 2006, Tulane became the first major research institution to require public service as a graduation requirement, which led to the Carnegie Foundation recognizing Tulane with its Community Engagement Classification. The University is organized into ten academic divisions: Newcomb-Tulane College, A.B. Freeman School of Business, School of Architecture, School of Professional Advancement, School of Law, School of Liberal Arts, School of Medicine, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, School of Science and Engineering, and School of Social Work. The mix of schools is an asset that is rich with opportunity for cross-school collaboration in research and education. Enrolled in these diverse programs are nearly 8,500 undergraduate and 4,700 graduate students from every state in the United States and more than 85 nations worldwide. The Tulane faculty totals over 1,200 full-time members with a staff of approximately 2,900. THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE History The first courses in architecture at Tulane University leading to a degree in architectural engineering were offered in 1894. An article published in 1907 noted, the geographical location of the city of New Orleans, its cosmopolitan character, and the age and variety of its unique building types, make it a fit place in which to develop a school of architecture which would be suited to its environment, maintain a reasonableness of planning and construction, and be recognized as appropriate to the climatic conditions. Accordingly, a full four-year professional curriculum in architecture leading to a bachelor s degree was established in the College of Technology (Engineering) in the academic year 1907-1908. At the conclusion of the Second World War, the faculty and enrollment increased to accommodate returning veterans, and the school continued to grow throughout the next few decades. In 1971, the School of Architecture moved into its present facility, the Richardson Memorial Building. In the 1990s, the School began offering a Master of Architecture as a first professional degree for students with undergraduate degrees in other disciplines and also initiated its Master of Preservation Studies program. On August 29, 2005, New Orleans and the Gulf South experienced the worst engineering and cultural disaster in the history of the United States. The leadership of Tulane University used the recovery period following Hurricane Katrina to take a hard look at the storm's immediate and future impact and how to
Page 3 of 7 reshape and renew the University in response to that impact. When the campus reopened in Spring 2006, the School of Architecture initiated the Tulane City Center, its urban research and outreach program, as well as URBANbuild, which helps rehabilitate neighborhoods through urban design and the construction of student-designed and built housing prototypes. In the years following, the School has played a critical role in helping the campus and larger New Orleans community recover and rebuild, forging a strong connection between TSA and the city of New Orleans, with its extraordinary architectural and cultural heritage and coastal city environment. The responsibility to support and engage with New Orleans has become even more crucial in the post-katrina world. For the past 10 years, TSA has been led by Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA, who has helped to increase national and international recognition for the extraordinary work of TSA s students, faculty, and alumni. As a part of this work, in 2011, the School initiated its Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development program. In 2014, the School added a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree track, and, in 2015, an intensive summer Real Estate minor. The School is expanding its degree offerings and international study opportunities. Current Outlook and Programs Today, the School of Architecture is home to 203 undergraduate students and 96 graduate students. Guiding the student body are 15 full-time faculty and 40 part-time faculty. Within the University, TSA is recognized for its intensity and rigor. There is a good deal of interaction between the School of Architecture and the Schools of Liberal Arts, Science and Engineering, and Business, all located on the Uptown Campus. The Architecture program educates and prepares students for leadership positions in the design professions and in their communities. Students have the option of a B.S. in Architecture (4-year preprofessional) or the B.Arch. (5-year professional). The graduate program is open to students who have already earned undergraduate degrees in architecture (2-year M.Arch.), as well as those who received undergraduate degrees in other disciplines (3.5-year M.Arch.). The school also offers a post-professional degree (1-year M.Arch. II). Dual degrees and graduate certificates are also encouraged. Tulane offers graduate students the opportunity to pursue a Master of Architecture degree in conjunction with the Master of Preservation Studies or with the Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development, typically with one additional semester of course work. The next accreditation visit for the Architecture programs will be in 2022. The Preservation Studies program offers an interdisciplinary opportunity to learn about urban preservation in one of America s most historic cities. New Orleans maintains a wealth of experience in architectural heritage protection resulting from its over eighty years of historic preservation legislation and its history of preservation achievements. Programs include a Master of Preservation Studies (MPS), a certificate, and an undergraduate minor in Preservation Studies. The program is supported by a strong Tulane Preservation Alumni Group, and a Preservation Studies Advisory Group. The program also hosts a biennial Preservation Matters symposium addressing new directions in the field. The Sustainable Real Estate Development program offers opportunities for both undergraduates and graduates to gain core skills and practical experience in the real estate industry. The core of the program is the Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED), which is a practice-based three-semester graduate program that prepares students with classes in real estate finance and economics, design, planning, and legal issues in development. The program also offers an intensive Real Estate Summer Minor Institute for Tulane undergraduates who are interested in entry level knowledge of the real estate industry.
Page 4 of 7 Building upon Tulane University s strengths in civic engagement and service learning, the Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship (SISE) minor provides students with skills to create a more just and equitable society. SISE is an interdisciplinary minor for undergraduate students from across the campus. The 17-credit hour minor includes a variety of courses taught by SISE faculty members and Social Entrepreneurship Professors from across the university. The School is continually exploring new program offerings to enhance its curriculum. A Bachelor of Arts in Design major is currently in development. Housed in TSA, this program would be available to all Tulane undergraduate students for exploration of a wide range of design issues (digital, industrial, graphic, systems, etc.). The School is also exploring an undergraduate major in Real Estate Development in partnership with Business School. Historic Richardson Memorial Hall is home to the School of Architecture and is located on the beautiful Gibson quadrangle, the oldest quadrangle at Tulane. Over the next several years, the Dean will work with the university to complete necessary renovations on the building and expand classroom and studio space. Outreach and Community Engagement The School of Architecture has several initiatives and centers that directly engage students in projects in the city of New Orleans and the region. On January 10, 2017, the Tulane City Center was re-dedicated as the Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design. The Small Center s mission has been to educate, advocate, and provide design services to New Orleans s neighborhoods and non-profit clients who are traditionally severely under-resourced and underserved by the design disciplines. Founded post- Katrina, the Small Center has grown substantially. It now employs 6 full-time staff, has its own facility in the Central City neighborhood, and has completed 85 projects since its inception. The Small Center's work is driven by citizens ideas and input and involves the faculty and students of TSA as well as from many departments across Tulane University. URBANbuild is a design/build program in which teams of students take on the design and construction of prototypical homes for New Orleans s neighborhoods. URBANbuild s partners in the development of these homes have been a number of non-profit community partners such as Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, the Make It Right Foundation, and Harmony Neighborhood Development. Work with these organizations has exposed the School to the needs of the city s economically challenged families as well as to what is required for the revitalization of New Orleans s urban fabric and neighborhoods. The Tulane Regional Urban Design Center (TRUDC) was established with a grant from Arthur Q. Davis in the summer of 1996 and charged with addressing the critical issues of urban design and land use planning towards the development of a quality physical environment. The TRUDC provides institutional support to various local and regional civic officials, non-profit community groups, and other civic entities of all sizes: communities, districts, towns, and cities. Situated within TSA, the TRUDC conducts projectoriented research and planning ordinance and policy review and advises clients regarding strategies for project implementation. Projects undertaken by the TRUDC range from the Mayors Institute on City Design South to local and regional non-profit design work for entities including the City of New Orleans, community action groups, and regional municipalities such as Covington and Mandeville, Louisiana, and Biloxi, Natchez, and Moss Point, Mississippi. All of the School s initiatives and course offerings are closely connected with the strong New Orleans practitioner community. TSA benefits from partnership with an active and engaged 42-member Board of Advisors drawn from both local and national practitioners, many of whom are alumni of the School.
Page 5 of 7 THE ROLE OF THE DEAN As chief executive and academic officer for the School, the Dean reports directly to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Dean will oversee all aspects of the School s operations, including academic affairs, administration and planning, financial management, student recruitment and career placement, institutional advancement, alumni/ae engagement, and collaboration with the Dean s Board of Advisors. Direct reports to the Dean include the Associate Dean for Academics, and the Directors of the Core Programs (Preservation Studies, Sustainable Real Estate Development, Social Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship, Graduate Architecture, and Undergraduate Admissions and Student Affairs). In addition, the directors of the public service and community engagement centers associated with TSA report to the Dean (Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design, URBANbuild, and Tulane Regional Urban Design Center (TRUDC). The Dean has financial and administrative management responsibility and accountability for an annual operating budget of $10M. Tulane University is in the midst of a $1.2 billion capital campaign dedicated to academic excellence, with the public portion expected to be announced shortly. University leadership has affirmed its commitment to research and scholarly impact. Faculty are ready to seize on this moment and look to the Dean to provide strategic direction. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES To ensure the School of Architecture s growth and academic distinction, the next Dean will address the following key opportunities and specific challenges: Articulate a vision for the School s future. The Dean will collaborate with faculty, staff, students, and other members of Tulane s Architecture community to continue the School s successes, identify strategic priorities that leverage its strengths, and expand its efforts in new directions. The next Dean will provide visionary leadership cognizant of the rapidly shifting higher-education landscape, and the need for innovation in schools and colleges of architecture. With strategic focus in mind, the Dean needs to capitalize on the diversity of programs within TSA and foster a culture that encourages and empowers faculty, staff, and students to explore new ways of thinking and creating. The Dean will be ambitious and proactive in helping the School anticipate changing market needs and demographic shifts, inspiring broad buy-in and enthusiasm from the School s stakeholders to bring coherence to their collective efforts, and increase enrollments across all programs. The School has seen a shift in its enrollment patterns over the last several years, with declining undergraduate enrollment and increasing graduate enrollment. One of the important responsibilities of the Dean is to address changes in student demographics. The next Dean will provide strategic leadership that positions the School competitively, nationally and internationally, to continue to attract the best students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Support and enhance teaching and research within the School. The incoming Dean will be a scholarly exemplar, working with faculty to create an intellectual environment that promotes outstanding research and elevates standards of scholarly excellence. S/he will champion and support faculty in seeking externally funded research supporting both disciplinary and
Page 6 of 7 interdisciplinary research and teaching. Technological advances have affected every aspect of design and planning. The School expects its next Dean to lead the School in fully utilizing the potential of technology in teaching, research, and application. Maintain and enhance financial strength. Tulane University recently adopted a Responsibility Centered Management (RCM) budget model. Within this context, the Dean will be empowered to enhance the financial strength of the School. While TSA is financially sound, the Dean will work closely with Institutional Advancement, university leadership, and faculty to develop compelling and effective opportunities to attract philanthropic support. The School has increased its fundraising activity considerably in recent years, raising over $20 million from donors in the last decade. It is expected that the new dean will undertake an ambitious program of raising additional resources for current or new program directions, as well as spearheading efforts to generate earned revenue. Serve as a visible champion for the critical role of architecture and design in the University and beyond. The Dean is expected to be a visible leader in the design community of New Orleans and an advocate for the School s involvement in its environs. The Dean will be charged with continuing the development of sustainable community partnerships that leverage the intellectual capital and resources of the School. Supported by an engaged Board of Advisors, the Dean should consider how best to connect with crosscampus colleagues, industry, and other external partners to better position TSA. This rich cultural environment creates extraordinary opportunities for design education, research, practice, and creative collaboration. S/he will connect with alumni, donors, arts leaders, policy makers, and other external audiences to promote the school s successes and ambitions. Further develop a diverse, cohesive, and high-performing community. The Dean will provide leadership on the University s long-standing commitment to a culture of diversity and inclusion in its intellectual and community life and across its student, faculty, and staff populations. The next Dean will have the opportunity to work with an exceptional faculty, noted in their individual disciplines and as leaders in interdisciplinary innovation. Maintaining a strong core faculty is paramount to the ongoing success of the School of Architecture. The Dean will recruit and retain a field-shaping faculty committed to the success of the School. THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE: QUALIFICATIONS Tulane seeks in its next Dean an exceptional leader with energy, ambition, and entrepreneurial creativity. While no single candidate may meet all of the qualifications, the search committee expects that candidates will demonstrate many of the following personal qualities and professional experiences to inspire and lead the School of Architecture to new levels of excellence: Academic or professional qualifications within one or more of the School s teaching fields, a professional degree or Ph.D., an outstanding record of academic and/or professional achievement, and significant experience commensurate with an appointment as a full professor with tenure; A record of providing motivational leadership and effective management of a complex organization; Intellectual depth and strategic abilities; the capacity to translate ideas into actions;
Page 7 of 7 Demonstrated success in establishing a vision and executing a strategic plan; experience with the alignment of resources with strategic goals; Demonstrated administrative ability: the ability to delegate, prioritize, and make timely, transparent, and collaborative decisions; Experience in faculty and staff recruitment and development, and in supporting the unique needs of a diverse community of practicing professionals and scholars; Demonstrated fundraising experience and success; Financial acumen and a record of fiduciary transparency and accountability; Ability to be an effective spokesperson and strong advocate for the School; an excellent communicator; Demonstrated support for traditional and emerging technologies and the development of cutting-edge curricula; Experience in building collaborations involving public and private sector organizations, systems of higher education, and leaders and organizations in the community, region, state, nation, and world; A record of promoting inclusion and diversity, with the necessary experience to make strong contributions to enhancing faculty and student diversity; A dedication to the mission and vision of Tulane University and the School of Architecture; a tireless advocate for excellence in research, teaching, and public service. NEW ORLEANS Famed for its history, music, and cuisine, New Orleans is one of the world's most extraordinary cities, and will celebrate its Tricentennial in 2018. Events such as Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest draw millions of visitors to the city each year. Unique neighborhoods reflect the city's French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean roots. The educational experience at Tulane is interwoven with this rich cultural tapestry. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans rebuilt and is now experiencing a period of rejuvenation in many areas of the city. A boom in start-up culture and the tech sector attracts a generation of new residents, and a new international airport is currently under construction. Tulane is the largest private employer in New Orleans, and among the largest employers in the state, with approximately 5,500 employees. TO APPLY Tulane University has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist the Dean of the School of Architecture Search Committee in its identification and review of candidates. Nominations and applications, including as individual attachments a cover letter and resume, should be submitted online: http://www.imsearch.com/6375. Ben Tobin, Managing Associate Emily Buehrens, Associate Isaacson, Miller 263 Summer Street, 7th Floor Boston, MA 02210 Tulane is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and actively works to enhance its diversity.