Dean of Nursing
A Dean of Nursing leads a nursing program's academic and clinical operations, working with campus leadership on policy, planning, and evaluation while safeguarding curriculum quality, accreditation, and student success. This is a sample job description from Excelon Associates that you can adapt as a template for your own hire.
What does a Dean of Nursing do?
The Dean of Nursing is a key member of the college's leadership team, working closely with the Executive Director of Academic Operations and other campus leaders on policymaking, planning, implementation, and evaluation of campus activities. The role helps ensure the college's vision, mission, and values are integral to decision-making, while leading the nursing program's academic and clinical operations.
The work spans administrative leadership, faculty management, curriculum development, clinical scheduling, student support, and accreditation. It sits at the intersection of higher education and healthcare, preparing students for a high-demand field amid an ongoing nursing shortage.
A Dean of Nursing is the senior academic leader of a nursing program. A clinical consortium is a network of healthcare facilities providing student clinical placements. Some jurisdictions require a doctorally prepared program administrator, and nursing programs are accredited by bodies such as the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN).
What does the Dean of Nursing oversee?
Key responsibilities of a Dean of Nursing
- Provide administrative and academic leadership for the nursing program, overseeing general operations in alignment with the college's mission and values.
- Manage nursing faculty, including recruitment, evaluation, development, and support.
- Serve on and contribute to institutional committees.
- Lead nursing curriculum development, ensuring it equips students for a high-demand clinical career and meets program standards.
- Manage clinical scheduling and clinical consortium relationships so students secure the placements required to complete their training.
- Support student success across the program, from admission through completion and licensure readiness.
- Maintain accreditation and regulatory compliance for the nursing program.
- Contribute to policymaking, planning, implementation, and evaluation of campus activities alongside other campus leaders.
What qualifications does the role require?
- Master's degree in nursing; doctorate preferred, and required where regulatory bodies mandate a doctorally prepared program administrator.
- Current unencumbered registered nurse license or compact nurse licensure, subject to applicable regulatory requirements.
- Five years of combined teaching experience and experience in curriculum development and administration.
- Demonstrated ability to lead faculty, manage clinical operations, and support student success in a nursing program.
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Download the TemplateWhy is the Dean of Nursing role important?
Nursing programs train clinicians for a workforce facing a sustained shortage. The Dean of Nursing safeguards academic and clinical quality, accreditation, and licensure readiness, which together determine whether graduates can actually practice. A program that loses accreditation or clinical placements cannot serve its students.
Because the role combines academic leadership with clinical logistics and regulatory compliance, the strongest deans are credentialed nurse educators who can also secure clinical placements and keep the program accredited. That mix of clinical, academic, and operational command is what makes the search distinct.
What does a Dean of Nursing earn?
In Excelon Associates' Dean of Nursing searches, offers have typically landed between $150,000 and $250,000 per year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics groups this role under postsecondary education administrators (SOC 11-9033), which carried a median annual wage of $103,960 in May 2024. That category spans deans through admissions leadership, so pay for any single title can sit well off its midpoint. Nursing deanships consistently price above that bucket midpoint.
Program scale and accreditation stakes drive the number, with multi-program health science portfolios at the top.
A hiring note from Excelon
Dean of Nursing searches are constrained by credentials and clinical reality at once: many jurisdictions require a doctorally prepared administrator, and the dean must keep clinical consortium placements flowing. Through our healthcare and higher education practices, we look for credentialed nurse educators with accreditation experience and the relationships to secure clinical sites, since both are essential and the pool is narrow.
A program that loses accreditation or clinical placements cannot serve its students.
Related sample job descriptions
Dean of Nursing: frequently asked questions
What does a Dean of Nursing do?
A Dean of Nursing leads a nursing program's academic and clinical operations. The role covers administrative leadership, faculty management, curriculum development, clinical scheduling and consortium relationships, student support, and accreditation compliance.
What qualifications does the role require?
This sample role requires a master's degree in nursing (doctorate preferred, and required where regulators mandate a doctorally prepared program administrator), five years of combined teaching and curriculum or administrative experience, and a current unencumbered RN license.
Is a doctorate required for a Dean of Nursing?
A master's in nursing is the minimum, with a doctorate strongly preferred. A doctorate is required in jurisdictions whose regulatory bodies mandate a doctorally prepared program administrator, so requirements vary by location.
What is a clinical consortium?
A clinical consortium is a network of healthcare facilities that provide clinical placements for nursing students. The Dean of Nursing manages clinical scheduling and consortium relationships so students complete required hands-on training.
Why is this role important?
Nursing programs train clinicians for a workforce facing a sustained shortage. The Dean of Nursing safeguards academic and clinical quality, accreditation, and licensure readiness, which determines whether graduates can practice.
How much does a Dean of Nursing make?
Dean of Nursing offers in Excelon Associates' searches have typically ranged from $150,000 to $250,000 per year, against a BLS median of $103,960 for the broader postsecondary education administrators category (SOC 11-9033, May 2024). Program scale and accreditation stakes drive the number, with multi-program health science portfolios at the top..
Hiring a Dean of Nursing?
Excelon Associates recruits nursing deans, program directors, and clinical academic leaders for nursing schools and health-science institutions across the United States through our healthcare recruitment practice. Retained executive search since 2007, headquartered in Asheville, NC, with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL. The average Excelon search delivers a slate of 5 qualified candidates in 3 to 5 weeks, with 88 searches completed in the last 12 months.
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