Higher Education Recruitment
Retained executive search for colleges, universities, community colleges, and trade schools. We place presidents, provosts, deans, and program directors across the United States and worldwide. Higher education is our founding market and our deepest.
Start a Search Contact UsTell us about your open presidency, deanship, or program directorship and we will scope a retained search, usually with finalists in three to five weeks.
Start a search For Candidates Looking for a role in higher education?Browse current academic and administrative openings, or submit your resume to be considered for confidential searches as they open.
View open rolesHigher Education Recruitment, Built on Two Decades of Sector Depth
Excelon Associates is a higher education executive search firm founded in 2007. We provide higher education recruitment for colleges, universities, community colleges, and trade schools. We place presidents, provosts, deans, department chairs, nursing program directors, and senior administrators at public and private institutions across the United States and worldwide. Higher education is our founding and deepest market. We hold one of the largest candidate networks in the industry and have engaged more than 500 schools since 2007.
Recruitment in higher education is unlike any other sector. Search committees, shared governance, accreditation timelines, and academic culture all shape who can succeed in a role. They also shape how a search must be run. We built this firm inside that world, and it is where our relationships and candidate networks run deepest. Whether you are hiring a president, a dean of nursing, or a director of admissions, every search follows the same retained discipline and a real understanding of how institutions hire.
Which Higher Education Roles Do We Recruit For?
We recruit at every level of institutional leadership. That spans governing-board and cabinet roles like presidents, chancellors, and provosts; senior academic leaders like deans and department chairs; program and clinical directors; the administrators who run admissions, enrollment, and student affairs; and campus and career-school executives. Select an area below to see representative titles.
Executive and C-Suite Search
Board & Cabinet LevelWe place senior institutional leaders at public and private universities, community colleges, and career schools. Our executive searches are confidential, thorough, and built around what boards and search committees actually need from a president or provost.
Deans and Department Chairs
All DisciplinesWe place deans across every academic discipline, including health sciences, nursing, business, education, engineering, liberal arts, law, and fine arts. Department chair searches cover both tenure-track academic appointments and administrative leadership with faculty development responsibilities.
Nursing and Allied Health Program Leadership
CCNE & ACEN AccreditedOur healthcare education practice is staffed by former nurses who now recruit full time. They screen candidates with clinical context most firms cannot match. We place program leadership across nursing and allied health.
Admissions, Enrollment, and Administration
Operational LeadershipWe place the administrative leaders who keep institutions running, drawn from both traditional four-year universities and non-traditional education environments.
Campus and Trade School Leadership
Career & ProprietaryWe recruit for skilled-trade schools, proprietary education organizations, career colleges, and vocational programs, placing campus directors and senior leadership across the United States.
Start a Specialized Higher Education Search
Each leadership search we run has its own dedicated page covering the process, the candidate profile, and what to expect. Filter by area, then open the search you plan to begin.
What Is Higher Education Executive Search?
Higher education executive search is a retained recruitment model. A college, university, or trade school engages a specialist firm on an exclusive basis to identify, vet, and place senior academic and administrative leaders. The firm reaches out directly to qualified candidates, including strong performers who are not actively applying. It then manages the full process, from position profiling through offer and transition.
Most Excelon Associates engagements follow the retained model because it is the standard for presidential, provostial, deanship, and program-director searches. While we prefer retained search for the depth and commitment it brings, we are flexible and will discuss contingency arrangements for the right opportunity.
Which Institutions Do We Serve?
Higher education recruitment at Excelon Associates spans the full range of post-secondary and education organizations.
Higher Education Leaders, Placed Across the Globe
We place academic and administrative leaders nationwide in the United States and across international markets. The four regions below show where.
United States
All 50 states, from R1 universities to community and career colleges.
UK, Ireland & the EU
Universities, colleges, and post-92 institutions across Europe.
GCC & the Wider MENA Region
Gulf flagship universities and international branch campuses.
Asia Pacific & South Asia
Regional universities and transnational branch campuses.
Which Academic Disciplines Do We Recruit Across?
Our higher education practice covers faculty and administrative recruitment across a comprehensive range of academic fields.
What Sets Our Higher Education Practice Apart?
Our Original and Deepest Market
Higher education is not a secondary practice for us. It is where Excelon Associates was founded and where our relationships, knowledge, and candidate networks run deepest. We understand academic culture, shared governance, accreditation pressures, and the hiring timelines institutions actually work with.
Former Nurses on Our Team
Our healthcare education practice is staffed by former nurses who are now full-time recruiters. That credibility matters when evaluating candidates for CCNE and ACEN-accredited nursing and allied health programs.
Passive Candidates First
The best higher education leaders are rarely applying to job boards. We identify and approach high performers in their current roles. That reaches candidates the institution's own postings will never surface, at home and abroad.
Every Search Fully Indexed
We proactively market every search online and ensure full Google indexing of active campaigns at no extra cost. Our positioning extends candidate reach well beyond the pools available to institutions posting on their own.
Accreditation Fluency Across the Sector
We understand how accreditation cycles shape faculty and leadership searches. We know the regional accreditors that oversee America's colleges and universities, including NECHE, MSCHE, the Higher Learning Commission, SACSCOC, and WSCUC. We also know the programmatic standards: AACSB for business, ABET for engineering and computing, CCNE and ACEN for nursing, CSWE for social work, and CAPTE and ARC-PA for clinical programs. That fluency lets us judge candidates against the standards a hiring committee will actually scrutinize.
See our latest higher education searches
Every search we run is fully indexed on Google and promoted across our network at no extra cost to clients.
What Do Clients and Candidates Report?
Excelon Associates holds a 5.0 rating on Google from higher education clients and candidates. Read the full set of verified reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Higher Education Recruitment Questions Answered
What types of higher education institutions does Excelon Associates recruit for?
Excelon Associates recruits for public and private universities, community colleges, vocational and technical schools, online learning platforms, proprietary schools, K-12 organizations, charter schools, and educational technology companies. Higher education is our original and deepest service market.
What higher education roles does Excelon Associates place?
We place presidents, chancellors, provosts, academic and administrative vice presidents, deans, department chairs, directors of admissions and financial aid, registrars, HR and compliance directors, and a wide range of senior administrative and faculty leadership roles across higher education.
Does Excelon Associates recruit internationally?
Yes. While headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, Excelon Associates recruits nationwide in the United States and across international markets, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, the European Union, the Gulf Cooperation Council (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman), the wider Middle East and North Africa, and Asia Pacific. We routinely run cross-border searches and place leaders at universities, colleges, and international branch campuses.
Does Excelon Associates recruit for nursing and allied health programs?
Yes. We have deep expertise placing nursing program directors, directors of clinical education, simulation directors, and department chairs in physical therapy, physician assistant studies, dental hygiene, and respiratory therapy at CCNE and ACEN accredited programs. Our team includes former nurses who are now full-time recruiters.
How long has Excelon Associates been placing higher education leaders?
Higher education was Excelon Associates' founding service market in 2007. With more than 25 years of combined sector experience, our team has built deep institutional relationships and a candidate network among the largest in the industry.
Does Excelon Associates recruit for trade and career schools?
Yes. We recruit for skilled-trade schools, proprietary education organizations, career colleges, and vocational programs, placing campus directors, associate campus directors, directors of admissions, and other senior leadership across the United States.
Ready to Hire a Higher Education Leader?
Excelon Associates places presidents, deans, nursing program directors, and senior administrators at colleges, universities, and trade schools across the United States and worldwide. Higher education is our founding market. We have run retained searches since 2007.
Start a Search All Service MarketsPrefer to talk? Call +1 (828) 417-7094