Willamette University invites inquiries, nominations, and applications for the position of Dean of Students for Community Care and Inclusion. This position is a thought leader on student well-being inclusion, and brings an equity lens to the campus.
Reporting to the Vice President for Student Affairs, The Dean of Students for Community Care and Inclusion (DOS for CCI) is a high-profile, visible leader in the Division of Student Affairs who works creatively, energetically, and sensitively with the Willamette community to create environments and initiatives that support students’ holistic learning, health and wellbeing, sense of belonging and the development of equitable, inclusive communities that foster student success. The DOS for CCI oversees a portfolio of student affairs departments related to developing an inclusive, caring, engaged campus community which includes:
In addition to supervision of student affairs departments, primary areas of responsibility include direct oversight of student conduct and conflict resolution strategies, service as a deputy Title IX coordinator, emergency on-call protocols, and the student CARE team.
Most recently, Domanic Thomas served in the dean of students role before leaving to assume the position of vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment at Washington State University Vancouver.
The dean of students title has recently been changed to dean of students for community care and inclusion to reflect restructuring that adds diversity, equity, and inclusion programming/service areas to the supervisory responsibility of this position. The DOS for CCI partners with the vice president for student affairs (VPSA) in establishing a philosophical foundation for building a caring, engaged, and thriving campus community.
The new dean of students for community care and inclusion must possess an understanding of best practices in student affairs as well as in diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. As the division of student affairs becomes more complex, the DOS for CCI should be a thought leader and capable of innovative creative solutions in working strategically with students, faculty, and staff. The emphasis on equity and inclusion for students, staff, and faculty will be a priority for the dean as they will need to be an effective public voice in this role.
Willamette is in the process of moving the institution from a small liberal arts college that has graduate education to an institution that operates like a modern university. Willamette is merging with Claremont Graduate School of Theology and Pacific Northwest College of Arts. The student affairs unit will also look to develop greater partnerships with the Law School and Atkinson Graduate School of Management as these graduate schools have often operated separate from the larger university. In executing on this endeavor, the dean will be a co-leader with the vice president for student affairs to develop effective policies, protocols, and practice to ensure the fulfillment of this goal for the student affairs division.
Additional challenges and opportunities for the dean of students for community culture and inclusion as articulated by stakeholders are as follows:
At an appropriate interval after joining Willamette University, the following will initially define success for the dean of students for community care and inclusion:
The successful candidate must possess a master’s degree in higher education, counseling, social work or another appropriate field of graduate study, and a minimum of ten (10) years of progressive leadership experience. A terminal degree is preferred.
Candidates for the Dean of Students for Community Care and Inclusion position must have experience in one or more of the following areas in their portfolio: residence life and housing, student conduct, emergency response, multicultural affairs, or gender and sexuality center. The successful candidate will demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to diversity and inclusion, the ability to work collaboratively across the campus, and the aptitude to build and maintain strong relationships with students, faculty, and staff with an emphasis on dynamic communication and collaboration. They should possess demonstrated experience using a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens in delivering and assessing programs, services, trainings, and practice. The successful candidate will demonstrate experience with conduct/judicial systems in higher education and leadership for crisis/risk management. Other preferred qualifications include supervisory and budgetary experience; planning/organizational skills; experience in leading teams as well as advancing assessment and developing learning outcomes; knowledge of student development theory; and demonstrated strategic visioning skills.
Further qualifications as outlined in the institutional job description include:
Additional capabilities and attributes identified as important by Willamette stakeholders include the following:
The Division of Student Affairs at Willamette University fosters a healthy, inclusive learning community in which students discover their passions, develop valuable skills, and commit to responsible citizenship.
We achieve our mission by:
What we do:
We are a place to:
The Division of Student Affairs provides a broad range of student services and programs designed to enhance the learning experience of Willamette students. Learning is not only the province of the classroom, the lab and the library, but is also achieved in the volunteer or political project, the athletic field or court, in conversations at the Bistro, in residence halls and in numerous other places. Student Affairs aims to enhance and extend students’ total learning experience, working closely with students, faculty, and other administrators to achieve these goals.
The Division of Student Affairs has redefined its organization into the following operational areas that will guide its shared work/priorities:
The Office of Student Affairs is a safe place where students and their families can come when they need assistance in traditional and non-traditional ways. It is a conduit between students and their success: assisting in connecting students to resources, providing opportunities to engage in Willamette and the world around them, or providing a listening ear when they need to be heard. Transfer student support services are also available for those who are new to Willamette but not new to college.
The Parent Information Network is located in the Office of Student Affairs, and is available to answer questions and address concerns that a student’s family may have. Oversight of the Code of Student Conduct and the conduct program is the responsibility of the Office of Student Affairs as well.
In addition to the Office of Student Affairs, the following departments and programs make up the Division:
Dr. Lisa Landreman became the vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Willamette University in July 2020. In this role she provides leadership to the Division of Student Affairs aimed at fostering healthy, inclusive learning communities and supporting students in the discovery of their passions, strategies to maintain their overall well-being, and commitment to care for the world around them. She oversees the work of several areas that include athletics, intramurals and recreation, residence life and housing, student activities—including Greek life, student clubs and organizations, and orientation, spiritual life, student conduct, the Bishop Health and Wellness Center, and supporting students in navigating difficult situations.
Some of Dr. Landreman’s prior experiences include serving as the assistant vice president and dean for student life at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, the associate dean of students at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, and as an adjunct faculty member in the Leadership, Policy & Education Program at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Her love of higher education began as a student at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse where she received her BS in social work, followed by her MS in Higher Education and Student Affairs from Indiana University. She received her PhD in Higher Education from the University of Michigan, where she served as a research assistant on projects that examined intercultural and liberal arts learning while also teaching courses in intergroup dialogue and Women’s Studies. She has also sailed on three voyages with the Semester at Sea study abroad program as the assistant executive dean and the dean of students.
Throughout her career Dr. Landreman has been an active educator on college student development and social justice issues in classrooms, in research and scholarship, and throughout student affairs. She has been an active member of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) and served on the Governing Board as the Director for Professional Development. In 2011, she was recognized as an ACPA Diamond Honoree for her significant contributions of leadership and scholarship to her institutions, to ACPA, and to students.
Influenced by its historic roots in The United Methodist Church, Willamette University is an independent, nonsectarian institution that embraces:
In 1834, missionary Jason Lee came to the Oregon Territory to establish a Methodist mission for Native Americans living in the Willamette Valley. One of the mission’s primary operations was a school designed to “educate and civilize” the Native children.
When the missionaries arrived, they encountered communities ravaged by deadly diseases that had been introduced only a few generations earlier by the first white traders who had come to the region. These diseases shattered communities that had flourished for millennia in the fertile Willamette Valley. Deeply moved by the misery of the Indigenous people they encountered, the missionaries offered health care, food, and shelter to several children who had been orphaned when their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles succumbed to these deadly diseases.
As was standard with most missionaries of the times, Lee and his followers failed to acknowledge that the Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest had settled the area thousands of years prior and that these advanced societies had been successfully hunting, fishing, and trading for generations. This lack of cultural understanding on the part of the missionaries contributed significantly to the failure of the mission school. While a few Indigenous persons took advantage of the education offered by the missionaries to learn English and hence become more effective treaty negotiators in the years that followed, most found little of value in what the missionaries had to offer. In the early 1840s, the missionaries began to shift their focus from serving the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest to serving the rapidly increasing number of white settlers.
As the first Protestant mission in the Pacific Northwest, Lee’s work was followed closely by church members who remained in New England. After two “reinforcements” of missionaries and supplies were sent west, the mission expanded. Some early missionaries traveled west to teach. Others came for reasons of commerce. In 1841, construction of the Indian Manual Labor Training School began on what is now the Willamette University campus.
Because of its failure to thrive, in 1844 the Methodist Mission Board closed the mission, and the building that had previously housed the Manual Labor School was sold to the trustees of the Oregon Institute to be used as a school for the children of missionaries and settlers. The building that remained on the University campus was renamed the Oregon Institute. It housed the first session of the legislature to meet in Salem and sheltered the first court in the territory under the auspices of the United States. It is this institute that finally became Willamette University. At a mission meeting, Jason Lee and his followers determined to use February 1, 1842, as the founding date for Willamette University.
Willamette University is closely associated with the beginning of law and government in the historical Oregon Territory, which now comprises Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. It educated many of the Northwest’s first leaders, artists, and business people. Willamette established the first law school (1883) and the first school of medicine (1866) in the Pacific Northwest, which later merged with the medical school of the University of Oregon.
During the University’s first half-century, its land holdings were gradually sold to meet other needs, with the result that much of the present Salem downtown is built on former University land.
Willamette was one of the earliest coeducational institutions in the United States, and its first graduate was a woman. Women were attending the School of Medicine as early as 1877.
Today, Willamette University continues to push the frontier of higher education, aware of the influence of the first peoples of the Pacific Northwest. In its efforts to strengthen relationships with regional Native American tribes, the University has placed new energy in renewed partnerships.
Chemawa Indian School and Willamette University have begun a collaborative partnership with the support of the Lilly Project. In 2005, Chemawa administrators invited Willamette to assist in its long-term process of transitioning to a college preparatory curriculum. Willamette students now volunteer as tutors and mentors at Chemawa study hall. They in turn learn from the relationships they are building with Chemawa students and the teaching staff at Chemawa.
The Native American Enlightenment Association, a student organization, has worked with tribal elders to rekindle the annual campus Powwow. Funds have also been made available to bring Native American artists and speakers to campus. On Founders Day 2005, Willamette held a Ceremony of Renewal with regional tribes to acknowledge its Indian mission legacy and begin a new chapter in the mutual history of Oregon’s tribal communities and the University. At the ceremony, then President M. Lee Pelton announced the establishment of a lecture series to bring guests from Indian country to the campus and the broader Willamette Valley for dialogue, teaching, and learning. The Indian Country Conversations Series is coordinated in consultation with the University’s community-based Native American Advisory Council.
Willamette University has a responsibility to speak honestly about its earliest beginnings. Today Willamette University is committed to building a more inclusive and tolerant community.
Salem is the capital city of Oregon with a population of more than 160,000. Centrally located, Salem is 47 miles south of Portland and an hour from the Cascade Mountains and the ocean beaches. Salem is in the midst of sustained, steady growth. Ongoing preservation of historic downtown buildings, along with a downtown core master plan for residential and commercial development, ensures managed growth.
Salem is a diverse community with well-established neighborhoods, a family-friendly ambiance, and a small town feel. The commutes are short, the air is pure, and the parks are beautiful. Salem has abundant land for development, a ready and willing workforce, great training programs, and a city that works hard to make doing business easy.
Salem lies in the center of the lush Willamette Valley, surrounded by green pastures, fields of flowers, gardens, vegetables, orchards, and vineyards. Summer farmer’s markets overflow with locally-raised produce and hand-crafted products.
Salem offers a wide array of restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions. Area attractions include historic sites, museums, and events that appeal to a variety of interests. Sports tournaments, arts fairs, theater, and music abound. Several parks are within walking distance from the vibrant shopping district and historic downtown, inviting residents and visitors to enjoy the outdoors year-round.
The downtown area hosts more than 68 restaurants, independent and national retailers, a hotel, and two historic theaters. A variety of coffee shops are conveniently located inviting locals and visitors as they meander the historic district. Riverfront Park and the recently completed pedestrian bridge that connects Minto-Brown Island Park and Wallace Marine Park trails provide attractive environments for outdoor enjoyment. Improvements are under way in several historic buildings, streetscape, and public spaces, and new construction of an office building and residential rental units are also contributing to downtown vibrancy.
Willamette University provides rigorous education in the liberal arts and selected professional fields. Teaching and learning, strengthened by scholarship and service, flourish in a vibrant campus community. A Willamette education prepares graduates to transform knowledge into action and lead lives of achievement, contribution and meaning.
Deliver the highest-quality student experiences, expanding opportunities for all students to:
Expand access for bright, talented students who will contribute to a diverse Willamette community:
Recognizing that every student benefits enormously from engagement with a diverse community of academically-talented peers who also may be gifted in other ways (art, music, athletics, leadership), and that a number of prospective students who are most likely to benefit from and contribute to this learning community cannot afford the full cost of their educations, we must:
Demonstrate life-long value:
Our continued vitality requires us to better articulate the value of a Willamette degree to prospective students and others, including employers, and to strengthen our ties with alumni and others who share our values and will support our mission. To that end, we will:
Cultivate an authentic engagement with place:
Capitalizing on its strong historic and current institutional connections to Salem and Portland, the Willamette valley, area tribes, the state of Oregon, the Northwest region and the Pacific Rim (including both Asia and Latin America) establish Willamette as the independent university most engaged with the Northwest.
Willamette strives to be a leading and innovative university in the 21st century. The University’s prime location adjacent to the Oregon State Capital affords faculty and staff to create meaningful collaborations that help prepare students for careers as state, national, and global leaders. Willamette’s student-centered programs, distinctive cross-school collaborations, and forward-thinking leadership consistent with its values can also be seen in the following:
Forbes article about Willamette merger-and-acquisitions
Willamette named in “Colleges That Change Lives”
Willamette named best in PNW for economic diversity
Willamette introduces tuition transparency and increases access
Stephen E. Thorsett became the 25th president of Willamette University on July 1, 2011. He is an internationally recognized astrophysicist who brings to Willamette more than two decades of experience as a scholar, teacher, and academic leader.
Immediately preceding his arrival at Willamette, Thorsett was a professor and former chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz). He also served as the dean of its Division of Physical and Biological Sciences, leading a unit roughly comparable to Willamette in terms of budget and numbers of faculty, staff, and students. In addition to traditional math and science departments, his division included a nationally-recognized graduate certificate program in science writing, and he led the development of the successful California Teach program supporting future K–12 teachers. As dean, he hired nearly 50 new faculty who won dozens of national awards as distinguished young scholars. It is the support of this next generation of faculty leaders that Thorsett notes as his most important and rewarding contribution to UC Santa Cruz.
During his academic career, Thorsett taught broadly in both physics and astronomy and has authored or co-authored more than 100 scientific publications, focusing on the late stages of stellar evolution. His work examines radio pulsars, general relativity in binary star systems, neutron stars, planets orbiting pulsars, and highly energetic gamma ray bursts. Among his many accomplishments, Thorsett co-discovered the oldest known planet, popularly dubbed “the Methuselah planet.” As students, he and four friends wrote a graduate physics textbook for Princeton University Press that remains in print, and he has edited three scientific conference volumes.
Before moving to UC Santa Cruz, Thorsett worked as an assistant professor of physics at Princeton University and a research fellow at Caltech. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and received the Fullam Award of the Dudley Observatory. He also earned a number of fellowships and other honors while completing his master’s and doctorate in physics at Princeton and his bachelor’s in mathematics with honors at Carleton College, from which he graduated summa cum laude.
Thorsett grew up in Salem. He is the son of Karen and Grant Thorsett, a long-time Willamette University biology professor. Thorsett attended Salem public schools, and graduated from South Salem High School, where four years at the slow end of the cross country team led him to a lifetime of running.
He is married to Rachel Dewey Thorsett, an astrophysicist and an affiliated scholar in physics at Willamette. Thorsett and his wife have one daughter, Laura, who is a recent graduate of Harvard College.
For more information: Willamette 2019-2020 Fact Book
Willamette professors stand out nationally for their dedication to teaching, distinguished scholarly work and positive influence on students’ lives. Faculty engage, challenge, guide, and collaborate with students, both in and out of the classroom—creating relationships that continue long after graduation.
Willamette faculty are an accomplished group—11 of the 27 Oregon Professors of the Year are from Willamette’s undergraduate program, a record unmatched by any school on the West Coast. Two Arts & Sciences faculty have also received the Medical Research Foundation Mentor Award; biology professor Gary Tallman (2011), and exercise and health science professor Peter Harmer (2016).
Graduate faculty are equally distinguished—the Aspen Institute recognized the achievements of faculty at Atkinson Graduate School of Management, and the College of Law’s faculty include some of the country’s most respected legal scholars as well as talented lawyers and jurists.
Willamette Colleges:
Academics Quick Facts
Willamette University strives to provide a highly-valued, well-rounded, and comprehensive benefits package that enables its community of educators to prepare graduates to transform knowledge into action and lead lives of achievement, contribution and meaning. Current benefits include:
For a detailed look at Willamette University benefits, visit the website at https://willamette.edu/offices/hr/benefits/index.html
Review of applications will begin February 8, 2021 and continue until the position is filled.
To apply for this position please click on the Apply button, complete the brief application process, and upload your resume and position-specific cover letter. Nominations for this position may be emailed to Laura Puckett Boler at lpb@spelmanjohnson.com. Applicants needing reasonable accommodation to participate in the application process should contact Spelman Johnson at 413-529-2895.
We are sensitive to how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting work and personal lives, and will offer the utmost flexibility throughout the interview process. The search committee expects to conduct interviews virtually for the safety and well-being of all involved.
Visit the Willamette University website at https://willamette.edu
Employment at Willamette University means being part of a community that values education and its impact on the world, is friendly, supportive, and increasingly diverse. Believing that diversity contributes to academic excellence and to rich and rewarding communities, WU is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty, staff, and student body. We seek candidates whose work furthers diversity and who bring to campus varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds.
Willamette University’s educational facilities, activities and employment opportunities shall be offered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, marital status, veteran status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or status with regard to pregnancy, disability or age. Willamette is firmly committed to adhering to the letter and spirit of all federal and state equal opportunity and civil rights laws, including but not limited to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, and their implementing regulations.
