Dean, Faculty of Dentistry
About the Role and Institution
Our client is a globally recognized leader in higher education, known for its dedication to academic excellence, innovative research, and meaningful global impact. Located in the vibrant and culturally rich Northeast, the institution provides a dynamic environment where academic leaders can thrive and contribute to advancing both education and healthcare outcomes.
The Faculty of Dentistry seeks an experienced and visionary leader to serve as Dean. This position presents a unique opportunity to lead one of the region’s most respected dental programs, renowned for its academic rigor, impactful research, and deep commitment to community oral health. The Dean will provide strategic direction, foster a culture of innovation and inclusion, and oversee the academic and operational excellence of the Faculty in alignment with the university’s broader mission and strategic priorities.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Develop and implement a comprehensive and forward-looking vision for the Faculty of Dentistry in alignment with the university’s strategic priorities and the evolving landscape of dental education and oral health.
- Promote interdisciplinary collaborations across faculties, clinical partners, and external organizations that strengthen the Faculty’s research, educational, and community health missions.
- Lead the Faculty’s strategic planning process, ensuring sustainable growth in enrollment, program development, research productivity, and institutional reputation.
Academic and Research Excellence
- Guide the development and delivery of innovative academic programs at the predoctoral, postdoctoral, and continuing education levels, ensuring full compliance with CODA accreditation standards and national best practices.
- Strengthen the Faculty’s research capabilities by advancing high-impact scholarly initiatives, supporting faculty grant activity, and securing external research funding from federal agencies, foundations, and industry partners.
- Foster a culture of scholarly inquiry that positions the Faculty as a recognized contributor to advances in dental science, oral health equity, and clinical innovation.
Student Success
- Enhance student learning experiences through progressive teaching practices, simulation-based education, evidence-based curriculum development, and structured clinical training pathways.
- Support efforts to recruit, retain, and advance a diverse and talented student body, including targeted outreach to underrepresented communities in dental education.
- Champion student wellness, academic support, and professional development initiatives that prepare graduates for licensure and careers of impact in the dental profession.
Faculty and Staff Leadership
- Lead the recruitment, mentorship, and retention of top-tier faculty and staff, building a team with the clinical expertise, scholarly productivity, and teaching excellence required of a leading dental school.
- Foster a collaborative culture that emphasizes professional development, equity, and a shared commitment to the Faculty’s academic and community health mission.
- Provide clear performance expectations, structured feedback, and development pathways for both tenure-track and clinical faculty across the full range of dental disciplines.
Community Engagement and Oral Health Advocacy
- Build and maintain strong relationships with healthcare institutions, dental organizations, industry leaders, state licensing bodies, and government agencies to advance the Faculty’s standing and extend its community reach.
- Advocate for oral health initiatives, health equity, and community impact programs that align with the university’s mission and address unmet dental care needs in the region.
- Represent the Faculty at regional, national, and international forums, positioning it as a leader in dental education, research, and community oral health.
Operational Management
- Manage the Faculty’s budget, clinical facilities, simulation infrastructure, and administrative operations to ensure sustainable growth, operational efficiency, and appropriate reinvestment in strategic priorities.
- Lead CODA accreditation processes and program reviews, upholding the highest standards of educational quality, compliance, and continuous improvement across all academic and clinical programs.
Required Qualifications and Leadership Competencies
Key Leadership Competencies
Develops a credible direction for the Faculty that advances its academic reputation, research productivity, and community health impact simultaneously.
Bridges the worlds of clinical practice and academic scholarship, ensuring the Faculty’s programs are both scientifically rigorous and professionally relevant.
Creates infrastructure, culture, and individual support that enables faculty scholarship to grow in both volume and impact across dental science disciplines.
Understands and actively champions the Faculty’s role in addressing oral health disparities and advancing access to care in the communities it serves.
Recruits, mentors, and retains outstanding dental faculty by creating an environment where both clinical expertise and scholarly achievement are recognized and rewarded.
Builds a faculty community and student body that reflect the diversity of the profession and the patients it serves, through intentional hiring, curriculum, and outreach.
Why This Role Matters
Dental education sits at a genuinely consequential intersection. The quality of clinical training a dental school delivers shapes the competence of practitioners for decades. The strength of its research advances the science that improves patient outcomes. And the depth of its community health engagement determines how much of its considerable expertise actually reaches the people who need oral care most.
For an accomplished dental educator and administrator who understands all three of these dimensions and has the leadership capability to advance them together, the Dean of a Faculty of Dentistry at a respected research university is one of the most meaningful roles available in the profession.
The best dental school deans are not choosing between clinical excellence, research, and community health. They are building the institutional conditions where all three reinforce each other.
What the University Offers
Application Process
Candidates are encouraged to submit the following materials. Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled.
- A detailed curriculum vitae highlighting leadership experience, academic achievements, research contributions, and clinical or administrative history relevant to dental education leadership.
- A cover letter outlining the candidate’s vision for the Faculty of Dentistry, their approach to academic and clinical leadership, and their specific interest in this institution.
- Contact information for three professional references who can speak to leadership effectiveness, scholarly contributions, and collaborative working relationships in a dental education context.
Retained Search by Excelon Associates
Excelon Associates is a retained executive search firm headquartered in Asheville, NC, with additional offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL. Our higher education and healthcare practices place academic deans, vice presidents for health affairs, and senior health professions education leaders at universities and academic health centers across the United States. Since 2007 we have supported institutions in identifying the academic leadership that advances program quality, research reputation, and community health mission.
For institutions seeking an exceptional Dean for their Faculty of Dentistry, Excelon Associates is a trusted recruitment partner. Reach out to start a confidential conversation, or browse our full sample job descriptions library for related higher education and health professions leadership roles.
Hiring a Dean for Your Faculty of Dentistry?
Excelon Associates places dental education deans and health professions academic leaders at universities across the United States. Headquartered in Asheville, NC. Retained search since 2007.