RESIDENCE LIFE - Dean Undergrad Residence Life/Assoc Dean Stud Life

Job Classification

  Salaried Administrative

Position summary

The Dean of Undergraduate Residence Life serves under the direction of the Assistant Vice President for Residence Life, directing and administering all facets of the undergraduate residence hall community,  including strategic planning, daily operations, staffing, programming, and resident nurture and accountability.

Rooted in Andrews University's commitment to faith-based holistic education, the Dean cultivates a living environment where students flourish spiritually, mentally, physically, and socially. In partnership with professional and student staff, the Dean fosters personal character development, upholds community standards, and ensures consistent follow-through on student development, conduct, and care across all undergraduate residence halls.

Qualifications summary

The successful candidate will demonstrate skills in organization, conflict resolution, counseling, public speaking, leadership, and mentoring. This individual must be a committed Christian role model with a heart for spiritual growth and a working knowledge of youth culture and the complex challenges today's students face, with the ability to assess, intervene, and connect students to appropriate support.

A master's degree in a related field and 3+ years of residence hall experience are required.


Must be a Seventh-day Adventist in good and regular standing.

Duties and responsibilities

Residence Life Program Oversight

Directs the daily administration of the services and programs of undergraduate Residence Life to create an optimum living environment in the residence halls. 

Directs the management and daily operations of the undergraduate residence life system, including programming that responds to the spiritual, social, community-building, physical, and educational needs of residents.



Fosters a residential environment that cultivates student responsibility, accountability, and personal growth within the undergraduate residence life community.



Ensures institutional financial policies are followed within the undergraduate residence life program, including approving purchases and properly submitted documentation to appropriate finance departments.



Directly supervises the Assistant/Associate Deans for Community Standards, Student Intervention, Student Development, and Community Connections, providing leadership and accountability across all functional areas of the residence life program to ensure a holistic, integrated approach to student care, community building, and policy follow-through.



Directly supervises the Assistant/Associate Dean for Residence Hall Facilities and Operations, providing strategic direction for facility priorities, capital planning, and maintenance coordination in support of a safe and well-functioning residential environment.



Provides oversight to the Housing Coordinator, ensuring effective management of room assignments, occupancy tracking, and housing operations in alignment with institutional policies and enrollment goals.



Directs RA and SD selection, training, and accountability with the assistance of associate/assistant deans. 

Directs staff scheduling to ensure the availability of staff to provide for the daily and crisis intervention needs of residents at all times.

Participates with staff in the assessment of and meeting of student needs for support, advising, counseling and areas of crisis management such as mental health and medical emergencies. 

Participates in development, interpretation, and dissemination of university and residence hall policy for students.  

Oversees the development and delivery of public presentations on spiritual and educational topics, and personally contributes to this work as appropriate.



Participates in staffing responsibilities including recruitment and selection of salaried and hourly staff members. 

Provides professional support and care for the undergraduate residence hall students when participating in the weekend coverage rotation.

Maintains an open working relationship and serves as the liaison with administration, faculty, parents, alumni, student groups and other constituents throughout the university regarding student life issues on an individual basis as well as serving on a variety of committees.

Maintains professional contact outside the University through involvement in professional organizations/activities and collaborations with Residence Life and Student Services professionals at other institutions.

Associate Dean for Student Life 

Plans and implements an orientation/informational session with new undergraduate community students during new student orientation.  

In collaboration with the dean staff, ensures undergraduate community students receive consistent professional support, care, and conduct intervention.



Memberships and Meetings

Represents the undergraduate Residence Life program and services by being a member as requested, on selected University committees.

Hosts team meetings with RAs, SDs, and professional Deans.

Serves on Student Life Conduct Council.

As a member of the division of Campus and Student Life, attends full Student Life Division meetings as well as Director and Team Leader meetings.

Supervisory responsibilities

The Dean carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with Andrews University policies and applicable laws, with direct supervisory authority over five assistant/associate residence hall deans, and provides functional oversight to the Housing Coordinator.

Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training professional staff; scheduling and directing work assignments across the dean’s staff; appraising performance; and addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Leads the full process for interviewing, hiring, and training student staff, including job description preparation and assignments, scheduling, performance appraisal, and complaint resolution.

Supervises and actively participates with staff in nurturing residents and holding students accountable to community expectations, including substance abuse, overnight leave and curfew guidelines, co-curricular attendance, and general citizenship standards. Guides staff in applying policy consistently and with integrity, while exercising the wisdom to recognize when individual circumstances call for a more thoughtful and personalized response, ensuring that accountability serves both the community and the individual student.

Qualifications

A masters degree in a related field and 3+ years of experience as a residence hall dean or administrator are minimal requirements for this job.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and /or ability required:

Skills in business administration, organization, conflict resolution, counseling, teaching, discipline, public speaking, group dynamics, leadership and mentoring. The Dean is expected to be a strong Christian role model and should be committed to personal spiritual growth.  This individual should have knowledge of youth culture and youth challenges, including knowing how to assess, intervene and direct to professional help those involved in: drug and other substance abuse issues, childhood molestation, rape and date rape, depression, suicidal inclination, bulimia and anorexia, and other crises inherent in the social-emotional environment of today’s youth.



This individual should be an active participant in student service professional organizations, such as Adventist Student Personnel Association (ASPA), Association of College and University Housing Officers International (ACUHO-I), American Colleges Personnel Association (ACPA).  It is expected that the person in this profession will keep personally abreast of the changes and challenges of working in a youth culture, and will avail themselves of literature and learning situations giving them increased learning, insight and skills.


Must be a Seventh-day Adventist in good and regular standing.

Technical competencies

Strong written and verbal communication skills are required, including the ability to read, analyze, and interpret information and to produce reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals. Basic mathematical skills are necessary to perform fiscal and facility management responsibilities and provide oversight to evening accountability follow-through.

Superb abstract and concrete reasoning and problem-solving skills are required to make decisions that have profound impact on the mental, physical, social, and spiritual welfare of residents and staff. The ability to prioritize a high volume of responsibilities in a critical and timely fashion is essential, particularly in a community where many residents are young adults navigating emotionally significant life events such as family loss, relational breakdown, and mental health challenges. Despite the urgency of these moments, residence hall life and services must continue without disruption.

Interpersonal interactions

The Dean must communicate effectively across a wide range of relationships, including administration, colleagues, faculty, staff, students, parents, and the general public, and must demonstrate excellence in personal counseling and the public presentation of devotional and educational topics.

Equally important is the capacity to hold policy and process faithfully while recognizing when a situation requires something beyond what is written. Not every circumstance fits neatly within established guidelines, and the Dean must possess the wisdom to distinguish between what the policy prescribes and what a particular moment may require, exercising sound, principled judgment in the gray areas without compromising the integrity of the system as a whole. This nuanced approach is especially critical when working with a population that, by the very nature of their developmental stage, demands rationale for expectations while simultaneously navigating the tension between their need for autonomy and their need for care.

Physical demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential function of this job.

The job often requires full use of all body senses and most limbs of the body for office work such as data entry, duplication, walking, climbing stairs, listening, and observing both body language and environmental factors.

The job also requires sharp mental skills and emotional balance.

The largest physical demand may be the ability to handle the stress of balancing both the responsibilities of the job and the critical decisions regarding student lives.   Those in this profession must contend with an active residence hall community that is open 24 hours a day, every single day of the year.  The individual must have high physical stamina and be able to adjust to very frequent interruptions.

Work environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  The individual must be able to handle prescribed daily tasks while accommodating constant interruptions.

An environment that houses hundreds of students will be more inconvenienced with construction, repairs to basic life-support systems, and environmental factors than most of the rest of the campus.  For example, a campus department may close down for a portion of the summer to accommodate a building project, a residence hall committed to providing year-round housing may not.  A campus department is not severely inconvenienced by a power outage at night, water being turned off, a computer system down for upgrade, etc. but a residence hall housing hundreds of residents with individual study and sleep schedules is.