Associate Dean for Advancement - Grainger College of Engineering
University of Illinois

Associate Dean for Advancement - Grainger College of Engineering

The Grainger College of Engineering Office of Advancement at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seeks an experienced, strategic, and collaborative advancement leader to serve as its next full-time Chief Advancement Officer (CAO) and Associate Dean for Advancement. Joining the Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering, the CAO will provide strategic vision, leadership, and direction for all fundraising, alumni engagement, and advancement operations for the College.

The Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois is among the world's most prestigious and largest engineering programs. Our faculty, students, and alumni are world leaders in education, research, scholarship, and innovation. The Grainger College of Engineering is home to 10,000+ undergraduate and graduate students, supported by more than 400 faculty in 10 departments. With over 80,000 supportive alumni globally, this position is essential to cultivate relationships with donors across all of the departments in the College. Each department produces high-achieving and successful alumni who are the driving force in the world of engineering and beyond. Over the next five years, the college will direct and invest its resources to pursue six overarching strategic directions to achieve excellence in pursuit of our mission and vision. Our vision includes growing and diversifying our research enterprise to achieve unparalleled impact, fostering an inclusive environment in which our students are given the tools, programs, and experiences to excel in the 21st century, and in which our faculty and staff thrive. To learn more about our college and our strategic plan, please visit grainger.illinois.edu.

In June of 2022, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign closed its With Illinois Campaign, its most successful fundraising initiative ever. Publicly launched in 2017 with an ambitious $2.25 billion goal, the campaign recorded more than $2.65 billion in gifts and commitments and reached its initial goal fifteen months ahead of schedule. The Grainger College of Engineering exceeded their $550 million "With Illinois" goal by more than 21%. Fundraising efforts will continue with a focus on additional private resources towards student scholarships, faculty and staff support, capital projects, and other life-changing programmatic initiatives guided by the college's strategic plan.

Organizational Relationship

Based in The Grainger College of Engineering, the Associate Dean for Advancement reports jointly to the Dean of The Grainger College of Engineering and to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Advancement. The Associate Dean serves as the head fundraiser for the college and coordinates all alumni relations, stewardship, donor relations, communications, and related activities. The position leads an overall team of approximately 22 professionals.

Primary Function

Major Gifts (40%)

• Facilitate the Dean's engagement with a portfolio of the College's most important major donors and prospects. Regularly travel with the Dean to meet alumni, friends, corporations and foundations.

• Manage a personal portfolio of high-level major prospects, using a focused and accountable approach of strategy development and implementation. Oversee and provide direction for the College's overall prospect portfolio, and gift officer assignments, engaging the dean as appropriate.

• Manage the volunteer advisory boards by defining roles for advisory board(s) that support the priorities of the College. Identify recruits and orient board members, lead board meetings, and evaluate board performance. Prepare volunteers to participate in cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of major gifts as needed.

• Lead a major gift team tasked with identifying, cultivating and soliciting major donors; creating, coordinating and writing funding proposals directed at individuals, corporations and foundations; and ensuring consistent message throughout the College and its units. Encourage and facilitate collaboration with other advancement professionals across campus.

Strategy and Planning (35%)

• Plan and implement a comprehensive strategic plan and goals for the College's advancement program in support of the University's mission, vision, and goals.

• Provide guidance as the Dean's chief advisor in matters related to advancement.

• Build and maintain productive working relationships with academic department heads, associate deans, faculty and administrators throughout The Grainger College of Engineering in order to thoroughly understand their programs and priorities and to collaborate on engaging alumni and donors in support of advancement activities.

• Facilitate effective collaborative relationships with other advancement offices across campus, the Office of Institutional Advancement, the University of Illinois Foundation, and the University of Illinois Alumni Association.

• Work collaboratively with the Assistant Dean for Marketing and Communications, providing input and direction to the public relations and marketing programs for the College, and advance communications related to fundraising and engagement activities.

• Serve as a member of the Dean's Leadership Cabinet and the College Administrative Committee. Work with other College senior administrators and faculty to identify and define priority needs to be funded through private support.

Constituent Engagement (15%)

• In alignment with the strategic priorities of the College, oversee coordination of enhanced, comprehensive and meaningful alumni and corporate engagement activities that foster lifelong connections between the College and its constituents.

• Ensure that the College's significant stewardship program is functioning at the highest level. Provide strategic leadership to ensure appropriate processes and procedures for gift documentation and acknowledgement, stellar fund management processes and outstanding donor recognition and reporting.

• Develop strategies and tactics to share the College's vision, mission and goals with important external stakeholders, including alumni, friends and parents through public relations, communications, and marketing efforts.

Management and Budget (10%)

• Plan and administer the budget for the advancement office to ensure operation within fiscal constraints.

• Set policy, procedures, and best practices for the College's advancement program inspiring innovation and collaboration across its functions. Determine appropriate staffing levels in consultation with the Dean. Oversee the development of programs to recruit, hire, mentor and evaluate advancement staff.

• Maintain familiarity with current academic issues in higher education. Retain knowledge and understanding of the specific programs, degrees and strengths of the College.

• Perform other duties as assigned.

Impact in Your First Year

At Advancement at Illinois, we value our employees and provide resources to help you continually learn and grow. We foster a strong, collaborative community of people who are driven by their ability to make a difference.

Within 3 months, you'll:

• Understand the Dean's strategic vision and priorities for the College

• Build positive relationships with the College's key internal faculty, staff, and external constituents as well as with leadership and peers in Advancement

• Assess the structure, resources, capabilities, and bandwidth of your advancement office/team as well as individual and collective progress to goals

• Become familiar with the overarching structure of Advancement at Illinois and the alignment between central Advancement services, the University of Illinois Foundation, and the University of Illinois Alumni Association

• Attend professional development and networking activities for newcomers within Advancement

• Meet your College's assigned Prospect Development Analyst and begin to dig into your team's portfolios as well as your own

Within 6 months, you'll:

• Begin cultivating relationships with the College's key prospects/donors/alumni

• Partner with stewardship and donor relations, events, alumni relations, and communications colleagues on department and college-wide initiatives and funding priorities

• Be able to share multiple meaningful impact stories of transformative gifts

By the end of the first year, you'll:

• Continue to develop and enhance a trusting and collaborative team culture

• Cooperatively set annual performance goals/metrics with your staff, portfolio management team, and Performance Management

• Partner with Talent Management and Performance Management teams for individual and team coaching, professional development, retreat, and goal-setting opportunities

• Build a robust network of colleagues across campus

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.

• A minimum of ten years of advancement experience, preferably in a higher education environment.

• A minimum of five years of management experience, which may overlap with advancement experience.

• Ability to work in a highly self-directed, proactive, and creative manner.

• Ability to maintain a travel schedule of 30-40% including some evenings and weekends.

• Superb oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree.

• Knowledge of the principles of advancement, fundraising and administration in a university environment.

• Completion of Plus Delta Discipline of Frontline Fundraising program or similar training in academic advancement best practices.

• Advanced knowledge and/or experience working in the major components of advancement including development, communications and public relations, alumni engagement, and special events. Advanced knowledge of planned giving fundraising vehicles.

• Experience supervising and managing a large professional team.

APPOINTMENT INFORMATION

This is a full-time academic professional position appointed on a 12-month service basis. The expected start date is as soon as possible after the closing date. Applicants may be interviewed before the closing date; however, no hiring decision will be made until after that date. Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience, while also considering internal equity. Salary range starts at $200,000. Employees hired into this position will be expected to work onsite on a full-time basis with some flexibility for hybrid work if within a commutable distance from the Urbana campus.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES AND DEADLINE INFORMATION

Ap plications must be received by 6:00pm (CT) on January 20, 2023 . Apply for this position using the "Apply Now" button at the top or bottom of this posting. Please upload your cover letter, resume, and names/contact information for three references. Applications must be submitted through https://jobs.illinois.edu to be considered. For further information about this specific position or nominations for the position, please contact Philippe Geubelle (geubelle@illinois.edu). For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137 .

The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify .

Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply and may request a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (2008) to complete the application and/or interview process. Requests may be submitted through the reasonable accommodations portal , or by contacting the Accessibility & Accommodations Division of the Office for Access and Equity at 217-333-0885, or by emailing accessibility@illinois.edu .

Requisition ID: 1013389
Job Category: Administrative
Apply at: https://jobs.illinois.edu