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Dean, Cumberland School of Law

Employer: Samford University
Location: Alabama, United States
Salary: Salary Commensurate with experience
Date posted: Oct 26, 2021

Position Type: Administrative, Deans
Employment Level: Administrative
Employment Type: Full Time

SUMMARY:

Samford University seeks an exceptional leader to serve as Dean of the Cumberland School of Law in a Christian university environment. This is an exciting opportunity to lead an elite professional college within a prestigious private university, located within a thriving metropolitan area in a temperate and beautiful natural environment. With the leadership of President Beck Taylor, the University has adopted four strategic goals: (1) to emphasize student academic success as well as emotional, physical and spiritual well-being; (2) to enhance the Samford community through purposeful development of a collaborative, inclusive, and intellectually curious environment; (3) to extend Samford’s reach globally, culturally, virtually, and programmatically; and (4) to ensure the University’s future through responsible financial stewardship and carefully planned development. The new Dean will be an important partner in achieving these strategic planning goals as outlined in more detail at https://www.samford.edu/about/strategy-and-planning.

The next Cumberland Dean will continue Samford’s tradition of academic excellence by charting the future of the college in a time of significant change when traditional models of education are being tested and new opportunities for innovation exist. The new Dean will work with faculty and staff to articulate a vision of excellence for a range of programs.

Under the leadership of Provost Michael Hardin, the Office of Academic Affairs oversees ten different schools across the campus, including liberal arts and professional degree programs. Many of the graduate and professional programs are offered via hybrid and distance education formats. In Fall 2021, Samford had a total enrollment of 5,758.

The new Dean will have the opportunity to build partnerships and programs, identify opportunities that will advance the school and the University, and influence generations of new legal professionals.

ABOUT SAMFORD UNIVERSITY:

The mission of Samford University is to nurture individuals in their development of intellect, creativity, faith, and personhood. As a Christian university, Samford fosters academic, career, and ethical competency while encouraging social and civic responsibility and service to others.

Samford University is a premier nationally ranked Christian university. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and enrolls students from 42 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico and 22 countries.

Samford is the top-ranked university in Alabama in national rankings by The Wall Street Journal. U.S. News & World Report ranked Samford as one of the best universities for undergraduate teaching, ranking 37th in the nation. Samford also ranked 97th nationally for best value and remains the best value for a college education in Alabama. It ranked 136th overall among all national universities by U.S. News & World Report. The Wall Street Journal ranks Samford first in the nation for student engagement. Samford is ranked 34th in the nation among private universities and 115th among all public, private, and liberal arts colleges and universities analyzed for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance’s Best College Values list.

Samford offers numerous undergraduate and graduate/professional degrees through 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy, and public health.

Among Samford’s 53,917 alumni are more than 60 members of the U.S. Congress, eight state governors, two U.S. Supreme Court justices, one Secretary of State, four Rhodes Scholars, multiple Emmy, and Grammy award-winning artists, two national championship football coaches, and recipients of the Pulitzer and Nobel Peace prizes.

The university fields 17 varsity sports—eight men’s and nine women’s—that participate at the NCAA Division I level in the Southern Conference. Samford’s athletic teams earned a 99% Graduation Success Rate (GSR) by the NCAA in 2020, placing Samford 1st in the nation among all colleges and universities in the NCAA Division I level. Samford has an annual economic impact of $424.8 million on the state of Alabama.

ABOUT CUMBERLAND SCHOOL OF LAW:

The Cumberland School of Law was founded in 1847. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and operates with a mission to educate a diverse community of students with knowledge and practical skills, equipping them to become highly competent, ethical lawyers committed to professionalism and public service. Cumberland has approximately 440 full-time J.D. students. Almost 10,000 J.D. alumni serve their communities in every state and around the globe. It also offers L.L.M and M.S. degree programs that are fully online and attract professionals across the country.

Cumberland is nationally recognized for trial advocacy and quality instruction. The Princeton Review ranks the law school 4th in the nation for Best Quality of Life. U.S. News & World Report ranks Cumberland School of Law 8th in the nation for trial advocacy training. Cumberland is also ranked 3rd in the nation by the Trial Competition Performance Rankings. In fall 2020, the Cumberland Veterans Legal Assistance Clinic and the Cumberland Innocence Clinic were launched, and in spring 2021, the law school also started a Capital Defense Clinic and a Criminal Appeals Clinic.

POSITION:

The Cumberland School of Law seeks an exceptional leader as Dean. Reporting to Dr. Michael Hardin, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Dean is the chief academic and administrative officer of the school and serves as its chief executive officer, providing inspirational leadership and vision consistent with Samford’s excellent national and regional reputation. The Dean must exhibit leadership in wholehearted support of Samford's Christ-centered mission, in the pursuit of excellence in academic programs, including enhancing undergraduate and graduate student recruitment, and assisting students in working toward long-term career goals so that they will be successful after graduation.

The Dean leads an administrative team currently comprised of associate dean, two assistant deans, and six directors. Within the University, the Dean serves as a member of the Deans’ Council. The Dean functions as a university leader and colleague in discussions around strategic issues such as recruitment, enrollment, and institutional investment. The Dean is expected to be a fair and active advocate for the full range of departments, programs, employees, and students in the Cumberland School of Law.

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

Moving forward, the Cumberland School of Law faces a range of opportunities and challenges that grow out of its size, impact, and centrality to the University’s identity and mission as a liberal arts university with professional programs. Those opportunities and challenges are as follows:

Leadership opportunity: Working synergistically with university leadership as Dr. Taylor initiates a new strategic plan for Samford, the new Dean will lead the school in the development of a new long-term strategic plan designed to chart future success. This effort includes focusing on degree programs that meet the demands of the workplace and anticipate future trends in legal education.
Diversity: Samford University has traditionally faced challenges in recruiting underrepresented students, faculty, and staff, despite ongoing efforts to create an inclusive, welcoming environment. Most recently Samford has made very intentional and significant advancements towards diversity including the development of the Task Force on Racial Justice. The new Dean will need to prioritize recruitment of a diverse student and faculty population by emphasizing Samford’s Christian mission, and its dedication to diversity through the implementation of its Diversity Action Plan.
Growth: The University is a traditional residential undergraduate liberal arts institution with many professional and graduate programs that are offered online, offsite, and in hybrid format within education. In particular, Cumberland is well positioned to take advantage of the current national upward trend in law school attendance, after several previous years of flat to downward trends. The opportunity for growth in high quality professional and graduate programs is a critical area for the new Dean to contribute to the University’s success.
Fundraising: Samford has a powerful network of dedicated supporters. Participating in outreach will be a priority for the new Dean who will have the opportunity to participate in university campaigns and, through strategic fundraising efforts, position the school to sustain and increase annual and other giving levels. The University has a talented Advancement Team that is prepared to offer significant support with an advancement officer assigned to the Cumberland School of Law.

Addressing these challenges will require a dean with long-term vision, broad intellectual interests, energy and creativity, an open-minded approach, an innovative spirit, the ability to form collaborative partnerships within and beyond the University at all levels, and the willingness to take on challenges that will affect the future of the School and University.

QUALIFICATIONS:

The University seeks a candidate of exceptional leadership and vision to lead the school, build its academic and research enterprise, and serve as ambassador to the legal community. The Dean will demonstrate a broad understanding of the direction of legal education. The successful candidate will have the reputation, stature, and credibility to attract strong faculty and students and to garner resources to strengthen the school and enable the achievement of its vision.

The Dean will focus on articulating the core mission of the Cumberland School of Law while also stimulating progress and innovation. The Dean will be a builder of partnerships and collaborations, an inclusive, visibly involved, and inspirational leader who will find and strengthen connections and bring others into creative dialogue. The Dean will be a passionate advocate for the school, a leader who embraces diversity, catalyzes ideas, creates positive energy, engages others to find solutions, and manages change skillfully.

The successful candidate will ideally come from a background of substantive leadership within higher education. Candidates must demonstrate evidence of wholehearted support of Samford's Christ-centered mission, the abilities to manage people, to make difficult choices, to understanding opportunity costs, and to collaborate with various teams. Commitment to diversity is necessary.

Criteria for the position are as follows:

A Juris Doctor (J.D.) or equivalent degree from an accredited institution;
A distinguished record of scholarly achievement that resulted in the achievement of the academic rank of tenured full professor or experience that is deemed by Samford as equivalent to the rank of full professor;
Demonstrated commitment to high-quality research, teaching, and diversity as important components of academic excellence and the mission of a private Christian university;
Personal and professional integrity, fair and just decision making, keen intellectual capacity and creativity, strategic focus, ability to set priorities and make tough decisions, ability to operate within a complex environment and to collaborate with multiple stakeholders;
At least five years of demonstrated strategic leadership, organizational management experience, and innovative transformation in an academic setting;
Demonstrated capacity to build relationships and to operate in a collaborative manner within the college and university;
Demonstrated ability to oversee budget and financial planning and to strategically manage a large, complex budget; and
Demonstrated success in external fundraising, development/external relations with the necessary energy and ability to work effectively with donors, alumni, and other constituents in resource development and advancement.

In addition, the preferred candidate will demonstrate the following qualities and characteristics:

Evidence of a commitment to promoting faculty and student success;
Success in advancing diversity and inclusion among faculty, students, staff, and external stakeholders;
Exceptional collegiality as reflected in a commitment to an environment of shared governance and participatory decision-making;
Exceptional management skills, including financial, administrative, and team-building skills; a commitment to transparency; and a strong sense of fiscal accountability, along with experience leading to successful accreditation efforts;
Exceptional communication ability to include listening skills, a passion for communicating the vision and mission of the college, and the ability to interact with all constituents across all levels; an open and transparent approach to communication;
An entrepreneurial and innovative attitude and orientation; a vision for the use of information technology in the school and experience with innovations in distance learning and new pedagogies; and
A high degree of energy, optimism, enthusiasm, and excitement about the possibilities for the Cumberland School of Law and a strong belief in its excellence.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT:

Dr. Mike Hardin, Provost and Vice President

Dr. Hardin came to Samford University in July 2015 from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where he served as the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration dean. Dr. Hardin had previously served as Culverhouse’s senior associate dean, associate dean for research, director of the University of Alabama’s NIH Alabama EPSCoR Agency and director of Culverhouse’s Institute of Business Intelligence.

Dr. Hardin’s service as a Culverhouse professor of quantitative analysis, business and statistics was widely credited for establishing the University of Alabama as an internationally known resource in the field of data analytics. His Culverhouse career followed his numerous administrative and faculty appointments at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in biostatistics, biomathematics, health informatics and computer science.

Dr. Hardin holds a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics from the University of Alabama, M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Alabama, M.S. in Research Design and Statistics from Florida State University’s College of Education, B.A. in Mathematics from the University of West Florida, B.A. in Philosophy from the University of West Florida and M.Div. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

This avid advocate for the liberal arts is also a leading scholar in analytics and knowledge discovery, big data, data visualization, data warehousing, machine learning, statistical classification models, data management and collection methodologies, research design, information and biostatistics. He is an instructor and consultant for the SAS Institute in the areas of business analytics and time series analysis. He has served as a Scholar in Residence for Loyola University, Visiting Professor at Ireland’s Trinity College, and is a member of numerous professional associations, including the Biometric Society and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. Dr. Hardin is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association (ASA), one of only four in the state of Alabama. ASA Fellows, nominated by member peers for outstanding contributions to statistical science, represent only one-third of one percent of the organization’s worldwide membership.

Dr. Hardin has authored or co-authored more than 150 papers in various journals, edited numerous professional journals, authored multiple book chapters, presented more than 250 abstracts at national meetings and given more than 150 invited lectures or talks. For 25 years he served as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant reviewer and participated as Investigator or co-Investigator on more than 100 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/NIH-funded projects. He has served as a consultant for other national healthcare and financial organizations and was among the inventors receiving a U.S. patent licensed to MedMined, a Birmingham-based firm dedicated to controlling hospital infection rates and improving patient care.

Dr. Hardin has served on more than a dozen professional, civic and philanthropic boards, ranging from the Business Council of Alabama to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. He and his wife Anna Kathryn have two married children.

LOCATION:

Samford University is located in picturesque Homewood, Alabama, 10 minutes from downtown Birmingham. Birmingham is the centerpiece of a thriving region and state that embraces the spirit of innovation, progress, and growth. Home to global leaders and performers in medical research, banking and automotive industries, the city is known as one of the nation’s most livable. Here you find one of the country’s top academic medical centers and some of the foremost health care centers in the world, along with nationally ranked public high schools and some of the best private education in the nation. Nestled amongst its 99 historic neighborhoods is a vibrant downtown, a world-class culinary scene and more green space per capita than any other city in the nation. Residents of the region enjoy a variety of amenities, including one of the finest art museums in the nation, a 122-acre zoological park, and multiple urban green spaces including a 67.5-acre botanical garden. Family members of all ages find here the elements that contribute to a safe and enjoyable lifestyle.

ABOUT ZRG PARTNERS:

Founded in 1999, ZRG is a global executive search and talent advisory firm with an innovative approach leading to the optimization of the leadership selection process. ZRG blends traditional best practices with proprietary, technology-driven data and analytics – “Leadership found a better way.” There is a reason why ZRG has been named the fastest-growing executive search firm in the world three out of the last four years – our process, our tools, our experience, and our collaborative culture, which are the DNA of our firm. This is what separates us – our ability to help our clients make great hiring decisions using data and analytics in tandem with superior search acumen.

ZRG’s Education Practice provide strategic talent acquisition and selection focus in academia, senior administration, athletics, philanthropy, marketing and communications, research, medicine, human capital, technology, and more.

APPLICATION PROCESS AND CONTACT

Review of applications will begin January 21, 2022. Application materials should include cover letter, curriculum vitae, application for faculty position, and faculty applicant Christian mission statement.

“Application for Faculty Position” can be found at: https://www.samford.edu/departments/files/Human_Resources/application-for-faculty-employment.pdf

“Faculty Applicant Christian Mission Statement” can be found at: https://www.samford.edu/departments/files/academic-affairs/Faculty-Applicant-Christian-Mission-Statement.docx

Please submit all materials in PDF format to: ZRG Partners.

All conversations and applications are held in strictest confidence and should be submitted directly to CumberlandDeanofLaw@zrgpartners.com Inquiries and questions concerning this search may be directed to Gene Head and/or Stephanie Franklin, the consultants supporting the search. Subject: Samford University, Dean of Cumberland School of Law.

GENE E. HEAD, JR., Managing Director

ghead@zrgpartners.com

+1.205.902.9029

STEPHANIE L. FRANKLIN, Senior Associate

sfranklin@zrgpartners.com

+1.817.360.5338

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