Dean: School of Behavioral Health in at William Carey International University (WCIU)

Description: William Carey International University seeks a distinguished Christian scholar-practitioner, experienced behavioral health professional, and strategic academic leader to serve as Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
The Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU serves as the chief academic and administrative leader of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU and is responsible for developing a rigorous, ethically grounded, evidence-informed, culturally responsive, and Christ-centered academic community dedicated to advancing individual, relational, family, and community flourishing.
The Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU will provide strategic leadership for academic disciplines that may include counseling, counselor education, marriage and family studies, trauma and healing, pastoral counseling and care, behavioral health, human development, psychological well-being, and related fields.
Because behavioral health education carries distinctive ethical, professional, regulatory, and public-trust responsibilities, the Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU will exercise particular leadership over curriculum quality, faculty qualifications, ethical standards, professional accreditation readiness, student formation, professional disclosures, and clear differentiation among academic, pastoral, non-licensure, and licensure-oriented programs.
The Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU reports to the Provost & Chief Academic Officer and will play a central role in developing the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU as a respected center for behavioral health scholarship and professional preparation grounded in WCIU's commitment to whole-person and community flourishing.
Academic Scope of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIUDepartment of Marriage and FamilyWithin the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU, the Dean will promote rigorous education and scholarship addressing:

• Marriage and family relationships
• Family systems
• Human development
• Relational health
• Family resilience
• Parenting and intergenerational relationships
• Community and cultural influences on families
• Evidence-informed approaches to strengthening marriages and families

Department of CounselingWithin the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU, the Dean will provide academic and professional leadership for areas including:

• Counseling theory and practice
• Counselor education
• Trauma and healing
• Mental and behavioral health
• Human development
• Helping relationships
• Professional ethics
• Counseling research
• Culturally responsive counseling
• Professional preparation where applicable

Pastoral Care and Related Integrative ProgramsWhere assigned to the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU, the Dean will provide leadership for academic programs involving:

• Pastoral counseling
• Pastoral care
• Spiritual care
• Trauma-informed ministry
• Theology of health and healing
• Whole-person care
• Integration of theology, ministry, and behavioral health scholarship

The Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU will ensure that academic and public communications clearly distinguish pastoral-care education from programs intended to meet professional licensure requirements.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities1. Strategic Academic and Professional Leadership

• Establish and communicate a compelling academic vision for the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• Develop strategic priorities aligned with WCIU's mission, institutional strategy, and academic standards.
• Position the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU as a respected center for Christian behavioral health education and scholarship.
• Monitor developments in counseling, behavioral health, trauma studies, family systems, pastoral care, and related disciplines.
• Advise the Provost regarding opportunities, risks, professional standards, and resource requirements affecting behavioral health education.
• Establish measurable goals for program quality, faculty development, enrollment, student success, accreditation readiness, and sustainability.
• Foster a culture of compassion, academic rigor, professional responsibility, and continuous improvement throughout the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.

2. Curriculum and Academic Program Quality

• Provide oversight for all degrees, certificates, and courses assigned to the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• Ensure curricula reflect current scholarship, evidence-informed practices, ethical standards, and appropriate theological engagement.
• Lead development and systematic review of graduate and doctoral programs.
• Ensure appropriate integration of research, theory, professional practice, culture, ethics, and Christian worldview.
• Establish measurable student learning outcomes and systematic assessment processes.
• Ensure courses meet appropriate levels of graduate academic rigor.
• Monitor the accuracy of statements concerning professional preparation, certification, accreditation, and licensure.
• Recommend program revision, expansion, consolidation, or discontinuation based on evidence.

3. Specialized Accreditation and Professional StandardsThe Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU provides strategic leadership concerning professional accreditation and regulatory expectations relevant to programs within the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.

• Monitor applicable specialized accreditation standards and professional expectations.
• Assess institutional readiness before recommending pursuit of specialized accreditation.
• Develop appropriate implementation plans when specialized accreditation is authorized by WCIU.
• Ensure faculty qualifications, curricula, supervision, student outcomes, policies, and documentation satisfy applicable requirements.
• Collaborate with the Provost and Compliance regarding professional licensure disclosures.
• Monitor state-specific educational requirements where programs are represented as leading toward regulated professional practice.
• Ensure public representations of programs within the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU are accurate and transparent.
• Establish systems for continuous professional-quality improvement.

4. Faculty Recruitment, Credentialing, and Development

• Recruit distinguished scholars and practitioners with appropriate academic and professional credentials.
• Ensure faculty expertise and credentials are appropriate to assigned courses and programs.
• Mentor and evaluate Department Chairs assigned to the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• Oversee faculty performance and professional development.
• Support appropriate continuing professional competence.
• Encourage faculty scholarship, publication, research, conference participation, and professional leadership.
• Recruit faculty with expertise in counseling, family systems, trauma, behavioral health, pastoral care, and culturally responsive practice according to program needs.
• Develop emerging academic leaders within the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• Address academic, ethical, or professional-performance concerns promptly and appropriately.

5. Ethics and Professional FormationThe Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU will establish a culture in which professional ethics and the dignity of persons are foundational to behavioral health education.

• Promote ethical reasoning throughout curricula.
• Ensure students receive appropriate preparation concerning confidentiality, informed consent, professional boundaries, cultural responsiveness, and ethical decision-making.
• Promote trauma-informed educational practices.
• Ensure appropriate mechanisms exist for evaluating student professional dispositions when applicable.
• Promote respect for the dignity, agency, culture, and lived experiences of persons receiving behavioral health services.
• Collaborate with WCIU leadership regarding serious professional-conduct concerns.
• Ensure ethical considerations inform field-based, research, clinical, and applied educational experiences.

6. Trauma, Healing, and Human FlourishingThe Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU will provide distinctive intellectual leadership for WCIU's engagement with trauma, healing, resilience, and whole-person flourishing.

• Encourage interdisciplinary scholarship concerning trauma and recovery.
• Promote trauma-informed approaches to teaching and professional preparation.
• Encourage attention to the effects of violence, displacement, poverty, disaster, conflict, family disruption, and other forms of adversity.
• Promote culturally responsive approaches to healing.
• Encourage dialogue among behavioral science, community practice, pastoral care, and Christian theological reflection.
• Ensure trauma-related education within the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU remains evidence-informed and ethically responsible.

7. Research and Scholarship

• Develop a culture of rigorous behavioral health research.
• Encourage scholarship related to counseling, trauma, family systems, pastoral care, resilience, human development, and community well-being.
• Support faculty publication and scholarly presentations.
• Promote ethical research involving human participants.
• Encourage culturally informed and internationally relevant scholarship.
• Support graduate and doctoral research where applicable.
• Develop opportunities for collaborative and applied research.
• Encourage scholarship that contributes to prevention, healing, resilience, and flourishing.

8. Strategic and Professional Partnerships

• Establish relationships with counseling organizations, healthcare organizations, churches, ministries, NGOs, community organizations, universities, and appropriate professional associations.
• Develop partnerships that expand experiential learning, research, and professional engagement.
• Evaluate proposed experiential or clinical partnerships carefully for academic quality and student protection.
• Create opportunities for faculty and students to engage contemporary behavioral health challenges.
• Represent the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU in appropriate academic, professional, ecclesial, and community settings.
• Ensure partnerships align with WCIU policies and applicable professional standards.

9. Enrollment and Program Growth

• Collaborate with Enrollment to develop recruitment strategies specifically for programs within the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• Monitor enrollment, persistence, progression, completion, and student achievement.
• Analyze educational and workforce trends relevant to new program development.
• Ensure enrollment growth remains consistent with faculty, supervision, academic, and other resource capacity.
• Develop appropriate educational pathways for students seeking ministry-oriented or professional behavioral health preparation.
• Support responsible growth without compromising academic or professional quality.

10. Student Success and Professional Readiness

• Establish expectations for academic excellence and professional conduct.
• Monitor student learning and progression.
• Promote mentoring and professional formation.
• Ensure students understand the scope and limitations of credentials for which they are being prepared.
• Ensure appropriate intervention when students demonstrate academic or professional deficiencies.
• Promote culturally responsive preparation for serving diverse populations.
• Develop graduates who demonstrate intellectual competence, ethical judgment, compassion, and professional maturity.

11. Budget and Resource Stewardship

• Develop and manage the annual operating budget for the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• Align faculty staffing with enrollment, course delivery, and program requirements.
• Evaluate costs associated with specialized accreditation, professional training, supervision, technology, and new program development.
• Recommend strategic investments.
• Identify appropriate grant and partnership opportunities.
• Exercise responsible stewardship of WCIU resources.

12. University Leadership

• Serve as an active member of WCIU's academic leadership team.
• Collaborate with fellow Deans and University leaders.
• Provide expert counsel concerning behavioral health education.
• Contribute to strategic planning and institutional effectiveness.
• Support faculty governance and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• Represent the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU internally and externally as requested by the Provost.

Teaching and Professional Engagement

• The Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU is expected to remain engaged with scholarship and professional developments relevant to the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU.
• The Dean may teach within the Dean's area of expertise as assigned by the Provost, taking into consideration administrative responsibilities.
• Where applicable, the Dean is expected to maintain appropriate professional credentials or continuing professional competence.

Faith and Mission IntegrationThe Dean of the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU shall cultivate an academic environment in which Christian faith and behavioral health scholarship engage one another with intellectual honesty, theological depth, and professional responsibility.

• Demonstrate a personal commitment to Jesus Christ.
• Support WCIU's Statement of Faith.
• Model Christian character and servant leadership.
• Affirm the dignity and worth of every person.
• Promote compassionate engagement with suffering, trauma, relational brokenness, and human vulnerability.
• Encourage theological reflection concerning healing, reconciliation, hope, relationships, community, and human flourishing.
• Ensure Christian theological commitments are integrated with behavioral science in academically responsible ways.
• Prepare students in the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU to serve diverse populations with humility, wisdom, cultural sensitivity, and professional integrity.

Requirements:

• Agreement with WCIU’s Statement of Faith: www.wciu.edu/statement-of-faith
• A demonstrated, vibrant Christian faith compatible with the mission of William Carey International University.

Education

• Earned doctorate from an appropriately accredited institution in counseling, counselor education and supervision, psychology, marriage and family therapy, behavioral health, pastoral counseling, clinical mental health counseling, or a closely related discipline.

Experience

• Significant successful higher education teaching experience.
• Progressive academic leadership experience.
• Demonstrated expertise in behavioral health or a closely related discipline.
• Evidence of scholarly or professional achievement.
• Experience with curriculum development and academic assessment.
• Knowledge of ethical and professional standards affecting behavioral health education.
• Demonstrated ability to lead faculty and academic programs.
• Excellent strategic, organizational, interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Academic record appropriate for appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible academic leadership experience.
• Previous service as Dean, Associate Dean, Department Chair, Program Director, or equivalent.
• Appropriate professional licensure or certification relevant to the candidate's disciplinary background.
• Experience with CACREP or another applicable specialized accreditor.
• Experience developing graduate behavioral health programs.
• Experience supervising graduate or doctoral research.
• Record of peer-reviewed scholarship.
• Expertise in trauma-informed education, counseling, family systems, or related fields.
• Experience integrating Christian theology and behavioral science.
• Experience with online graduate education.
• International or cross-cultural behavioral health experience.

Core Leadership Competencies

• Behavioral Health Leadership - Demonstrates advanced understanding of behavioral health education and professional practice environments.
• Ethical Judgment - Exercises careful judgment concerning student preparation, public trust, professional standards, and human well-being.
• Professional Accreditation Leadership - Understands specialized accreditation and develops sustainable systems for academic and professional quality.
• Evidence-Informed Leadership - Promotes curricula, scholarship, and decision-making grounded in credible evidence.
• Trauma-Informed Leadership - Understands how trauma and adversity affect individuals, families, organizations, and communities and promotes appropriate educational responses.
• Compassionate Leadership - Responds to human suffering with dignity, empathy, wisdom, and appropriate professional boundaries.
• Faculty Development - Recruits and develops outstanding scholars, practitioners, and academic leaders.
• Cultural Responsiveness - Ensures programs within the School of Behavioral Health at WCIU prepare students to engage diverse individuals and communities respectfully and effectively.
• Christian Servant Leadership - Integrates Christian faith, scholarship, integrity, humility, and service in academic leadership.

Working Conditions and Physical Requirements

• Work at a desk in an office or home-office setting; Sit at an office desk for extended periods of time.
• Work for extended periods of time at a computer, requiring the ability to send and receive information with necessary optical, auditory, and manual dexterity.
• Use a keyboard and mouse to enter, retrieve or transfer words or data information and/or move from screen to screen on the computer to view information.
• Strong written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills; comprehend and speak English.
• Display the reading skills necessary to proofread written material.
• Ability to participate in virtual meetings and University events.
• Occasional travel may be required.