Associate Vice President, Student Life

The California Institute of Technology (“Caltech” or “Institute”) seeks an experienced and highly collaborative student affairs professional to serve as associate vice president of student life (AVPSL). The AVPSL will be the senior most Institute staff member responsible for a comprehensive student experience portfolio delivered to approximately 1,000 undergraduate students and 1,400 graduate students. The AVPSL joins Caltech at a unique inflection point with a deliberate organizational effort to elevate and enhance the overall student experience. The AVPSL will be the first professional staff to hold the associate vice president position within the Institute, poising the AVPSL to collaboratively innovate and shape best student affairs practices. This is a tremendous opportunity for a dynamic, ambitious professional who has a deep commitment to shared governance with the expertise in understanding student development in a residential research institute.

Caltech is small and prizes excellence and ambition. Its size creates an unparalleled three-to-one student-faculty ratio on campus. Its extraordinary 323 professional faculty and their students are expanding understanding of the universe and inventing the technologies of the future, with research interests from quantum science and engineering to bioinformatics, from human behavior and economics to energy and sustainability, and ultimately the nature of life itself. There are extraordinary opportunities in research and STEM leadership as well as classroom learning resulting in one of the most rigorous and intense educational experiences in the American academy. The contributions of Caltech's faculty and alumni have earned national and international recognition, including 47 Nobel Prizes. 

Reporting to the vice president and faculty dean of students (VPFDS), and with dotted line reporting to the president, and serving as a liaison with the Student Experience committee of the Caltech Board of Trustees, the AVPSL will oversee approximately 90 staff in twelve units in the student affairs division including areas related to health and wellness, extra- and co-curricular activities, advising, and the residential experience.

The AVPSL joins a small and responsive student affairs leadership group that also reports directly to the VPFDS: the faculty dean of graduate studies, the faculty dean of undergraduate studies, the lead for finance and operations, and the dean of undergraduate admissions. The AVPSL provides strategic and operational guidance to foster co-curricular student life equal in caliber and creativity to Caltech’s academic and research experience, and to promote an environment of inclusion and belonging for all students throughout their Caltech experience. 

The AVPSL will develop an enhanced vision for Student Life at Caltech and a strategic plan to see it actualized. Integral to the success of the AVPSL is the ability to build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with colleagues in the office of the VPFDS, colleagues across campus, academic leaders, Institute senior leadership, trustees, student leaders, families, and alumni to ensure the overall success and wellbeing of Caltech’s student body. 

The AVPSL, working collaboratively, will: (1) foster and develop innovative, responsive programs that enhance student success, student engagement, build community, ensure wellness and well-being, and cultivate personal development; (2) review and update relevant student-related policies to ensure the best co-curricular experience for all students and to ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations, and Institute policies; (3) supervise and develop a talented, diverse, collaborative, and success-oriented group of student affairs professionals; (4) engage in a calm and confidential manner when student-related crises arise; (5) provide guidance to student leaders and other students engaging in leadership activities across campus; (6) represent the VPFDS as needed, (7) serve as the liaison to the Student Experience Committee of the Caltech Board of Trustees.

Compensation Range:  $310,000 - $330,000 annual

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters should be submitted below. Electronic submission of materials is strongly encouraged.

Kate Barry is leading this search with Stephanie Simon.

Caltech is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and will, whenever possible, actively recruit and include for employment members of underrepresented minority groups, females, disabled veterans, other eligible veterans, and otherwise qualified persons with disabilities. Caltech will hire, transfer, and promote based on the qualifications of the individual to ensure equal consideration and fair treatment of all.