How To Become An Academic Affairs Dean: What It Is and Career Path

What is an academic affairs dean and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an academic affairs dean. For example, did you know that they make an average of $45.46 an hour? That's $94,562 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 15,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAcademic Affairs DeanUS Average

Salary

7.4

Avg. Salary $94,562

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 4.33%

Black or African American 10.93%

Hispanic or Latino 14.06%

Unknown 4.00%

White 65.99%

Gender

female 41.69%

male 58.31%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an academic affairs dean

Explore academic affairs dean education requirements

Most common academic affairs dean degrees

Bachelor's

43.9 %

Master's

31.3 %

Doctorate

15.3 %

Start to develop specific academic affairs dean skills

Skills	Percentages
Oversight	11.16%
Persistence	7.97%
Curriculum Development	7.63%
Colleges	4.75%
Student Retention	4.47%

Complete relevant academic affairs dean training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New academic affairs deans learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an academic affairs dean based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real academic affairs dean resumes.

Research academic affairs dean duties and responsibilities

Provide oversight and administration of student and academic support services for the nursing university.
Provide direct oversight of online education and general education.
Work cooperatively with other offices and student groups in the implementation of various campus-wide multicultural activities and other major events.
Work cooperatively with other offices and student groups in the implementation of various campus-wide multicultural activities and other major events.

Prepare your academic affairs dean resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your academic affairs dean resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an academic affairs dean resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable academic affairs dean resume templates

Build a professional academic affairs dean resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your academic affairs dean resume.