Associate Dean/Director, Brown Office of Resource, Support and Engagement (Brown RiSE)

Job Description:

Job Description

Building upon established relational and responsive care models, the Associate Dean/Director, Brown Office of Resource, Support and Engagement (Brown RiSE) provides strategic vision, administrative leadership, and active, non-clinical case management. This leadership role is tasked with standing up a high-touch, supportive collegiate crisis recovery model that emphasizes and practices proactive, relationship-driven care. The Associate Dean/Director ensures Brown RiSE serves as a highly coordinated, centralized single point-of-contact for students, faculty, and staff navigating the intersections of complex trauma. Rather than focusing exclusively on single crisis points, Brown RiSE acknowledges that community members carry layered trauma. This role serves the entire University population (over 10,000 students, plus faculty and staff as needed) and directly supervises the Assistant Dean for Resources.

This position provides the administrative leverage required to navigate Brown’s matrixed organization, align institutional services, and command cross-unit coalition building through shared governance. Crucially, the Associate Dean/Director is a visible, trusted point-person who actively maintains a direct student support portfolio, ensuring that Brown University serves as a national leader in trauma-informed academic and community healing.

This is a three-year, term-limited appointment ending on June 30, 2029, with the potential for extension based on institutional funding and ongoing community needs.

Job Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master’s or higher) in Higher Education Administration, Social Work (MSW), Counseling, Clinical Psychology, Public Policy, or a related field.
• 7 to 10 years of progressive leadership experience within a complex, matrixed higher education or institutional ecosystem, preferably inside a related Student Affairs, Student Support, or Academic Advising unit.
• Demonstrated success in standing up a new department, center, or large-scale institutional initiative from inception to operational maturity.
• Advanced professional track record practicing trauma-informed crisis response, community mental health coordination, or structural institutional recovery.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; a proven ability to craft and deliver transparent, stabilizing, and highly empathetic messaging to university leadership, families, media, and external partners during high-stakes or sensitive situations.
• Advanced proficiency in documenting highly sensitive case narratives clearly and objectively.
• The ability to communicate with deep relational authority across diverse forums, including campus vigils, town halls, faculty meetings, and print/digital mediums, to actively build and protect the office’s visibility, accessibility, and trusted reputation.
• Proven ability to provide calm, steady, and decisive leadership during high-stress recovery phases.
• Exceptional capacity to practice a collegial, highly empathetic leadership style while simultaneously utilizing Dean-level authority to remove structural barriers for students.
• A sophisticated understanding of trauma that recognizes how local, systemic, and geopolitical crises (such as international conflict, displacement, or community violence) uniquely manifest within a highly diverse student population.
• Must demonstrate a high degree of psychological endurance and emotional intelligence. The incumbent routinely handles sensitive disclosures of severe grief, community trauma, and acute crisis. Commitment to professional self-care frameworks is mandatory.

Note: please submit a cover letter and resume with your application. All offers of employment are contingent upon a criminal background check and education verification satisfactory to Brown University.

Benefits of Working at Brown:

Please review additional information on the Benefits of Working at Brown.

Recruiting Start Date:

2026-06-15

Job Posting Title:

Associate Dean/Director, Brown Office of Resource, Support and Engagement (Brown RiSE)

Department:

Campus Life & Student Services

Grade:

Grade 12

Worker Type:

Employee

Worker Sub-Type:

Fixed Term (Fixed Term)

Time Type:

Full time

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

37.5

Position Work Location:

Hybrid

Submission Guidelines:

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any staff position at Brown University you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Brown University is a registered employer in the following states: Rhode Island, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Washington, D.C. All remote work must be performed in a state in which Brown is registered to do business.

Still Have Questions?

If you have any questions you may contact employment@brown.edu.

Brown is an E-Verify Employer.

EEO Statement:

Brown University provides equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law, in the administration of its policies, programs, and activities. The University recognizes and rewards individuals on the basis of qualifications and performance. The University maintains certain affirmative action programs in compliance with applicable law.