Southwest Tennessee Community College is a comprehensive, multicultural, public, open—access college. Southwest has four campuses/centers from which it offers over 100 programs and over 20 technical certificate programs.
We foster student success, transform lives, and increase the educational level of a growing community in Shelby County. Southwest is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution, accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
We invite you to become a part of the Southwest Team!
Title: Dean - Humanities, Social Sciences & Mathematics
Employee Classification: Faculty
Institution: Southwest Tennessee Community College
Department: Humanities, Social Sciences & Mathematics
Campus Location: SWTCC - Multiple Campus Locations
Job Summary
The Dean of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Mathematics provides strategic, academic, and operational leadership for a multidisciplinary division that includes English, Humanities, Fine Arts, Psychology, Sociology, History, Political Science, Economics, Anthropology, Mathematics, and related general education programs. The Dean ensures high quality instruction, program integrity, accreditation compliance, and alignment with transfer, workforce, and institutional needs.
This role advances institutional goals through effective planning, faculty development, budget management, and community engagement while fostering a culture of intellectual inquiry and continuous improvement.
Job Duties
- Strategic Leadership and Planning
- Serve as a member of the Academic Affairs and Instruction Leadership team.
- Represent the College with the Tennessee Board of Regents, external agencies, and legislative partners.
- Provide vision and direction for humanities, social sciences, and mathematics programs, aligning divisional goals with institutional mission, transfer pathways, and strategic priorities.
- Lead long range planning, program expansion, and innovation in instructional delivery, interdisciplinary collaboration, and general education curriculum design.
- Promote a collaborative and student centered culture across departments.
- Faculty and Staff Leadership
- Recruit, hire, onboard, and retain qualified faculty and staff across humanities, social sciences, and mathematics disciplines.
- Provide mentoring, coaching, and professional development that support instructional excellence, scholarly engagement, and creative work.
- Conduct evaluations, manage workload assignments, and ensure transparent personnel practices.
- Support faculty engagement in research, creative scholarship, community based learning, and interdisciplinary initiatives.
- Department Chair Leadership
- Supervises, mentors, coaches, and evaluates department chairs to strengthen their effectiveness as academic leaders.
- Develops chairs’ leadership capacity and builds a sustainable succession pipeline within the division.
- Ensures consistency across departments in scheduling, faculty workload, hiring, evaluation, and academic operations.
- Provides guidance and accountability for departmental planning, budgeting, enrollment management, and student success initiatives.
- Aligns departmental leadership with institutional priorities through clear expectations, data informed decision making, and coordinated collaboration.
- Academic Program Oversight
- Oversee curriculum development, program review, and assessment to ensure academic rigor, relevance, and alignment with accreditation, transfer, and statewide general education standards.
- Ensure high quality instruction across lecture, seminar, studio, quantitative, and online learning environments.
- Support the development of new programs, certificates, and pathways responsive to student needs, transfer requirements, and regional educational priorities.
- Enrollment Management
- Provides strategic oversight for divisional enrollment planning, growth strategies, and program viability, ensuring accountability for enrollment outcomes.
- Partners with Admissions, Advising, Marketing, Workforce Development, and Enrollment Management to support coordinated recruitment, retention, and student success initiatives.
- Ensures schedules are developed to optimize enrollment, student access, and alignment with Guided Pathways, and holds department chairs accountable for schedule quality and productivity.
- Guides and monitors departmental recruitment, marketing, and outreach efforts while clarifying roles so day to day operations remain with the Enrollment Management unit.
- Evaluates program productivity and makes evidence based recommendations for expansion, redesign, consolidation, or discontinuation to strengthen divisional performance.
- Accreditation, Compliance, and Institutional Effectiveness
- Ensure compliance with regional accreditation (e.g., SACSCOC) and institutional academic standards.
- Maintain audit ready documentation, assessment systems, and continuous improvement processes.
- Oversee general education assessment, learning outcomes reporting, and institutional effectiveness initiatives.
- Developing annual divisional performance metrics.
- Using institutional dashboards to guide resource allocation.
- Leading continuous quality improvement initiatives.
- Monitoring key performance indicators.
- Student Success and Learning Support
- Strengthen advising, retention, and completion strategies for students enrolled in general education and transfer pathways.
- Ensure high quality learning environments, including classrooms, studios, tutoring centers, and quantitative learning spaces.
- Support student progression through developmental education, gateway courses, quantitative pathways, and transfer aligned curricula.
- Budget, Resource, and Facilities Management
- Develop and manage divisional budgets, ensuring responsible stewardship of financial, human, and physical resources.
- Oversee procurement and maintenance of instructional materials, technology, and classroom resources.
- Coordinate facilities planning for classrooms, studios, labs, and learning spaces.
- Pursue grants, partnerships, and external funding opportunities.
- Partnerships and Community Engagement
- Build and sustain relationships with community organizations, cultural institutions, educational partners, and workforce stakeholders.
- Lead advisory board engagement to ensure programs remain aligned with transfer expectations and community needs.
- Represent the division on institutional committees and in community, educational, and cultural collaborations.
- Operational Management and Communication
- Lead divisional meetings, maintain clear communication channels, and ensure timely dissemination of policies and decisions.
- Oversee scheduling, staffing, and operational processes across departments.
- Ensure compliance with institutional policies, academic standards, and state regulations.
Minimum Qualifications
- Master’s degree in a humanities, social sciences, or mathematics discipline.
- Minimum of three (3) years of academic leadership experience (chair, program director, associate dean, or similar).
- Minimum five (5) years full time teaching experience.
- Strong organizational, communication, and administrative skills.
- Ability to work collaboratively with an ever-growing college population of faculty, staff, students, and external partners.
Preferred Qualifications
- Relevant doctoral degree.
- Three (3) years of experience in administration, with higher education administration preferred.
- Demonstrated experience with regional accreditation processes.
- Experience managing budgets, grants, or community partnerships.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Knowledge of humanities, social sciences, and mathematics pedagogy, scholarship, and disciplinary standards.
- Understanding of curriculum development, assessment, and academic operations across general education and transfer pathways.
- Strong leadership, communication, strategic planning, analytical, and project management skills for managing complex academic operations.
- Ability to mentor faculty, support instructional excellence, and foster professional growth.
- Ability to cultivate partnerships with community organizations, cultural institutions, and educational stakeholders.
- Ability to manage budgets, prioritize resources, supervise faculty and staff, and uphold institutional policies and ethical standards.
- Ability to adapt to evolving pedagogies, technologies, and disciplinary trends while maintaining high quality learning environments.
The intent of this job description is to provide a representation of the types of duties and responsibilities that will be required of positions given this title and shall not be construed as a declaration of the total specific duties and responsibilities of any particular position. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description.
Candidates who are called for an interview must notify Human Resources in writing at least five (5) days in advance of any reasonable accommodation needed prior to the date of the interview.
First consideration will be given to current Southwest Tennessee Community College employees who meet the minimum qualifications for the position.
In order to be considered for the position, the following items must be uploaded:
- Resume
- Cover letter
- Unofficial Transcripts
A summary of our benefits can be found below:
https://www.southwest.tn.edu/hr/benefits-overview.php
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
The TBR does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, or national origin, sex, disability, age, status as a protected veteran or any other class protected by Federal or State laws and regulations and by Tennessee Board of Regents policies with respect to employment, programs, and activities.
The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies: Dr. Brandon Johnson, Director of People & Culture, myhr@southwest.tn.edu, 737 Union Ave, Memphis, TN 38103, 901-333-5000. See the full non-discrimination policy.