Associate Dean Position Description

Position Profile

Associate Dean for Faculty Success and Research, College of Humanities and the Arts

The University

San José State University (SJSU) is a major, comprehensive public university located in the center of San José, California––the heart of Silicon Valley. A member of the 23-campus California State University System, SJSU is the oldest state university in California. Its distinctive character has been forged by its long history, its location, and its vision––a blend of the old and the new, the traditional and the innovative. Among its most prized traditions is an uncompromising commitment to faculty scholarship, research, technological innovation, community service, and creative activity.

SJSU grants bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 134 areas of study as well as doctoral degrees in Education, Nursing, and Audiology. Quality teaching and small classes are a priority at SJSU; our tenured and tenure-track faculty teach introductory courses along with advanced courses in their disciplines.

Among the top 200 universities in research and development expenditures (as surveyed by the National Science Foundation), SJSU offers rigorous coursework and research opportunities to approximately 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students, with more than 600 tenure/tenure track faculty, 1000+ part-time faculty, and 1,300 staff.

SJSU is an exceptional place for hands-on learning, professional development, and personal growth. The academic colleges include Health and Human Sciences; the Lucas  College and Graduate School of Business; the Connie L. Lurie College of Education; the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering; the College of Humanities and the Arts; and the Colleges of Science and Social Sciences. Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the University offers 82 bachelor’s degrees with 66 concentrations, and 70 master’s degrees with 25 concentrations.

The University is proud of the Hammer Theatre Center and the Martin Luther King Library, its award-winning library, both of which are unique joint city-university partnerships.

The College of Humanities and the Arts

The College of Humanities and the Arts serves all undergraduate students at SJSU through first-year writing and diversified General Education offerings. With 4,200 majors at the undergraduate and graduate levels, we are proud of the role we play in delivering accessible, affordable public education in humanities and the arts.

The College consists of ten academic units: the Departments of Art and Art History; Design; English and Comparative Literature; Film and Theatre; Humanities; Linguistics and Language Development; Philosophy; World Languages and Literatures; and the Schools of Music and Dance and of Journalism and Mass Communications. We offer 12 masters degrees, 43 undergraduate majors and concentrations, and 30 minors, as well as interdisciplinary general education sequences in Humanities Honors and American Studies. Undergraduate degrees include Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Science. Master’s degrees include the Master of Arts, Master of Music Education, and Master of Fine Arts. Our commitment to teacher education is expressed through credential programs in art, English, liberal studies, music, and Spanish.

As dedicated teacher-scholars, our faculty members bring extensive knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm to the classroom. Our faculty publish, perform, and exhibit nationally and internationally, and receive grant funding from major federal agencies such as the NEH, NEA, and the U.S. State Department, and from other agencies including from California Humanities, the Knight Foundation, and the Sam Mazza Foundation. 

Each year, the College sponsors more than 500 concerts, performances, exhibits, and other cultural events. Our Centers, including The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, the Center for Literary Arts, the Center for Comparative Philosophy, and the Center on Ethics, enhance the intellectual and cultural life of the University and the surrounding community.

The College is driven by the core values of inclusion, diversity, collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and innovation. Key initiatives include: operating the Hammer Theatre Center; expanding our H&A in Action program; offering a rich range of programming through our Artistic Excellence Programming Grants and Global Engagement Grants; designing College programming themes that touch on our commitment to equity and leverage the arts and humanities to ask the most important questions of our time; extending our public programming footprint in the community; building, as proposed, Advanced Institute for Ethical Technologies to promote “good tech” through the values of the humanities and arts; building a Digital Humanities Center that is supported by an NEH Challenge Grant; enhancing support for faculty research, creative activity, and grant activity; expanding collaborations among faculty in the humanities and arts and across SJSU’s colleges; supporting student success through improving four- and six-year graduation rates; and supporting collaboration across the arts, humanities, and technology, as well as between SJSU and the City of San José and the larger Silicon Valley and Bay Area.  

Mission and Priorities

The College of Humanities and the Arts at San José State University provides a high-quality liberal arts education focused on creativity, innovation, and problem solving. Our humanities and arts programs produce graduates with critical thinking skills that businesses in the region rely upon in the fast-paced world of the Silicon Valley; we bring the values of the arts and humanities to our students who will improve tech through their training.  We prepare our students to be creators, thinkers, and innovators; we produce citizens who are ethical, informed, and engaged, as well as prepared for a range of career opportunities. Our faculty members are committed to student success and to the values of the public university as an avenue for social mobility. As a college, we are committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, innovative teaching, and university/community partnerships. 

The Position

The Associate Dean of Faculty Success and Research will be joining the College leadership team at a time of growth and optimism. This is an ideal position for someone seeking leadership growth in the California State University System.

You can read the full position description here [docx]. Inquiries may be sent to Dean Shannon Miller: humanities-arts@sjsu.edu

This page was last updated October 19th, 2022.