Thunderbird at Arizona State University invites nominations and applications for a visionary, entrepreneurial, innovative, digitally savvy, global leader and manager to serve as the next Vice Dean of the Thunderbird School of Global Management. This position is entirely unique in higher education with significant potential for leadership growth opportunities.

Thunderbird School of Global Management is the vanguard of global leadership, management, and business education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Ushering in the Thunderbird 4.0 era, is a new state-of-the-art Global Headquarters building that leverages the latest cutting-edge learning technology for students, faculty and Thunderbird alumni. https://thunderbird.asu.edu/virtual-tour is the most technologically advanced professional school building in the world, featuring a global digital forum, metaverse and digital sandbox classrooms, a full Hollywood production studio, robots, and an AR/VR/XR technology-enhanced language lab. https://news.asu.edu/20220404-thunderbird-school-open-new-stateoftheart-global-headquarters-during-75th-anniversary, students interact in multi-dimensional learning spaces that fully immerse them in their disciplines while allowing them to collaborate on a global scale. Thunderbird’s global footprint has also grown over the years as well, with operations now in Geneva, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, Seoul, Nairobi, Jakarta and nearly 15 others, Thunderbird’s Center of Excellence regional offices ensure that the School is now the world’s first truly “global multinational cross-sectoral management school,” committed to training the next generation of digital global leaders.

After being independent for 68 years, Thunderbird became part of https://www.asu.edu/ in 2013/14. ASU’s charter states that it is a “comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes but by whom it includes and how they succeed”. ASU is now a national powerhouse – the largest public R1 university in the United States – with increasing international reach and recognition – Thunderbird is a premier pillar of ASU’s global strategy. ASU has been ranked No. 1 “Most Innovative School” in the nation by U.S. News & World Report for eight years in a row, #1 for transdisciplinary research and is also ranked #1 in the United States and #2 in the World for SDGs Impact in the 2022-23 THE ranking – the ASU wide task force on SDGs is co-led by Thunderbird and the Global Futures Lab. ASU has 5 campuses in Arizona including the downtown Phoenix campus which hosts the new Thunderbird Global Headquarters. There are also two magnificent ASU locations in downtown Washington D.C. and downtown Los Angeles at which Thunderbird centers of excellence and degree programs are located, and various satellites in Hawaii, Vietnam, Egypt, Mexico, and Bermuda among others in addition to the Thunderbird Regional Centers of Excellence.

Thunderbird draws on a vast spectrum of disciplines of excellence to empower global and digital leaders and managers across sectors to advance inclusive and sustainable prosperity worldwide. More than 70 faculty serve 1600 students from across the globe. Thunderbird’s enrollments have more than doubled over the past three years and will grow to more than 4,000 students in the next five years. Over the past 75 years, Thunderbird has trained over 2 million professionals, including 250,000 women at the bottom of pyramid around the world. Thunderbird advances inclusive and sustainable prosperity and peace worldwide by educating and influencing global leaders and managers who maximize the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for business, government, society, and the environment. Thunderbird’s 50,000+ alumni are a global network of leaders, managers, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs spanning the private, public and non-profit sectors who advance inclusive and sustainable prosperity worldwide.

On January 20, 2022, Thunderbird, home of the world’s No. 1 ranked Master’s in Management, and Arizona State University (ASU), ranked No. 1 for innovation in the U.S., launched the Francis and Dionne Najafi 100 Million Learners Global Initiative. This initiative aims to offer digital, global entrepreneurship and innovation non-degree learning programs from these world-class accredited institutions in 133 different languages to individuals across the globe, at no cost to the learner. Women and young women will account for 70% of the 100 million learners that the program will reach worldwide.

Reporting to the Director General and Dean and Chief Operating Officer of Thunderbird, the inaugural Vice Dean will serve as the chief academic officer and will initially oversee the school’s academic and knowledge enterprises which include all internal academic units, administration, faculty and sponsored programs and centers. This individual will partner with colleagues across ASU – especially the EVP of the Academic Enterprise/Provost’s and EVP of the Knowledge Enterprise teams – to advance Thunderbird’s scholarly achievement and mission, to build collaborative and interdisciplinary endeavors amongst the faculty; to foster creative and innovative activity; and engage with the global Thunderbird community in attaining even greater international prominence for its programs, initiatives and impact. In coordination with the Director-General and Dean, the Vice Dean will provide strategic and intellectual leadership for Thunderbird, support student success and ensure successful AASCB accreditation and advance other accreditations (such as APSIA). The vice dean will actively promote an institutional culture rooted in global justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. They will continue the strong momentum of advancing and growing Thunderbird’s regional centers of excellence around the world and build innovative educational programs for both undergraduate and graduate students.

The new vice dean will possess an earned terminal degree and a strong record of accomplishment in teaching, research and service that merits appointment as a full professor in Thunderbird and ASU, ideally at the intersection of global professional affairs, global business, and global policy. Significant administrative and entrepreneurial experience will be a strong advantage. Organizational leadership skills to steward highly innovative, culturally and intellectually diverse, global and digital innovation oriented academic and knowledge enterprise will be critical for this role.

WittKieffer is assisting the Thunderbird School of Global Management in this search. Candidates will be reviewed on a rolling basis and materials will be accepted until the position is filled. All applications, nominations and inquiries are invited. Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or resume and a letter of interest.

Application materials should be submitted using WittKieffer’s https://apptrkr.com/3698972.

Nominations and inquiries can be directed to Jessica Herrington and Natalie Song at: https://tinyurl.com/6jpzmvrh

A background check is required for employment. Arizona State University is a VEVRAA Federal Contractor and an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by law.
(See  https://www.asu.edu/aad/manuals/acd/acd401.html  and  https://www.asu.edu/titleIX/.)

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