University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Application Process:

Click "Apply Now" and login or create an applicant profile. Upload the following required documents:

1. Letter of application addressing qualifications specific to this job description.
2. Resume or CV.
3. Names and contact information of at least three (3) professional references. This document can be attached in "Additional Attachments." 

For additional information please contact Search Committee Chair, Dr. Lisa Franzen-Castle, Associate Dean, lfranzen2@unl.edu.

Job Summary:

The College of Education and Human Sciences (CEHS) is actively seeking an experienced and highly motivated Assistant Dean of Business and Fiscal Affairs with demonstrated experience leading business and financial operations in a complex organization. CEHS is a one-of-a-kind college comprised of seven academic departments that cross a wide range of content areas all focused on improving people's lives, including Child, Youth and Family Studies; Educational Administration; Educational Psychology; Nutrition and Health Sciences; Special Education and Communication Disorders; Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education; and Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design. Further, numerous partnerships extend the CEHS mission beyond campus, through centers such as the Barkley Speech Language and Hearing Clinic, the Couple and Family Clinic, the Buros Center for Testing, the Kit and Dick Schmoker Reading Center, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, the Counseling and School Psychology Clinic, the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, the Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases through Dietary Molecules, and the Ruth Staples Child Development Laboratory.

This position is a senior leadership role that reports directly to the Dean of CEHS to provide support for all matters regarding business and financial operations of the college and the college units. The Assistant Dean operates as the chief business and financial officer of the College. The Assistant Dean maintains operational support and financial reporting systems that ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the business function for the college and its departments, programs and initiatives. Responsibilities include budget preparation, financial reports, and business cases; conducting impact and cost/benefit analyses; and identifying funding strategies. Additional responsibilities include oversight of College facilities as well as the management of the College’s human resource activity as it pertains to the appointment of faculty and staff. The Assistant Dean oversees an annual state and research budget in excess of $50 million. Further, the Assistant Dean will be expected to implement, monitor and adjust best business practices across the college.

The Assistant Dean is supported by three full-time Business Center Managers and the CEHS Business Center. Together, the Assistant Dean, Business Managers, and Business Center serve the entire college and maintain high levels of customer service and quality to the administration, faculty, staff, and students of the college. In addition, the Assistant Dean is responsive to the needs of central university offices and compliance related to all business and financial affairs. The incumbent must be an experienced, multi-faceted, and creative business professional with a thorough understanding of the complexities of a multi-funded academic- and research-oriented organization and have strong supervisory and management skills. This is a special, twelve-month appointment, starting as soon as feasible. 

About Us:

CEHS was formed in 2003, by combining Teachers College and the College of Human Resources and Family Sciences. In the more than 20 years since its founding, the newly imagined college has successfully merged and found its own identity. Approximately 2,300 undergraduate students, 850 masters and doctoral students, and more than 380 faculty and staff members are part of the college community. Although interests vary widely, the unifying commitment to address the physical, intellectual, social and economic well-being of individuals, families, schools and communities as they function in Nebraska and throughout the world guides the teaching, research, extension, and service of the college.

The college seeks a collaborative business leader with a commitment to data-driven decision-making as well as maintaining a collaborative, respectful, and positive work environment. The college recently welcomed a new Dean in July 2025, whose priority is developing sound and sustainable fiscal strategies to help college programs increase student impact, external partnerships, and national prominence. The Assistant Dean will be a key part of a collaborative leadership team that will guide the college to enact these priorities. The ideal candidate will be a business strategist interested in being a part of a vision-focused leadership team at an exciting moment for the college.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is a Research I land-grant institution categorized by the Carnegie Foundation as having “very high research activity.” It has a distinguished tradition of teaching, creative activity and research, and outreach, and is a member of the Big Ten. With a current enrollment of approximately 25,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, it is designated as the principal research and graduate institution in the state, and is the flagship campus of the University of Nebraska system.

Lincoln, Nebraska is the quintessential college community, with its university set in the middle of a dynamic downtown area consisting of restaurants, coffee houses, movie theaters, clubs, bike trails and urban residences. It has high-quality public schools and a good cost of living.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance, management, or a related field.
• At least six (6) years of significant managerial experience in a professional business environment.
• Experience with complex financial and accounting systems and business intelligence tools. 
• Strong organizational skills.
• Must demonstrate superior written and oral communication skills with the ability to communicate compassionately and efficiently with employees at all levels of the organization.
• Must demonstrate the ability to solve complex problems and analyze data and other information. 
• Must have or acquire knowledge of university business policy.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office is required, as is the ability to generate reports quickly with the ability to visualize data for appropriate audiences in powerful ways.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in accounting, finance, business administration, public administration, or a related field. 
• More than eight (8) years of managerial experience in a professional business environment. 
• Strong preference for direct University of Nebraska-Lincoln experience or other higher education institutional experience.
• Demonstrated experience in changing fiscal strategies in response to innovation, change, and growth. 

Additional Information:

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its programs, activities, or employment. See https://equity.unl.edu/notice-nondiscrimination/.