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Student affairs dean skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Suzanne T. Ortega

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical student affairs dean skills. We ranked the top skills for student affairs deans based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 12.8% of student affairs dean resumes contained student affairs as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a student affairs dean needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 student affairs dean skills for your resume and career

1. Student Affairs

Here's how student affairs deans use student affairs:

Manage and direct campus departments including Dining Services, Residential Life, the Campus Store and the Division of Student Affairs.
Administer strategic vision, effective leadership for Division of Student Affairs and the overall campus community that consist of 1,900 students.

2. Student Life

Student life refers to the way of living of a student in college, school, or any other educational institute. It involves managing friendships and other relationships, extracurricular and sports activities, and education.

Here's how student affairs deans use student life:

Oversee the quality delivery of services that ensure student engagement, student development and student life.
Managed functional areas of student life and housing, recruitment / retention, and counseling.

3. Student Conduct

Here's how student affairs deans use student conduct:

Worked in collaboration with Student Conduct Resolution team to investigate and resolve student complaints and misconduct, including Title IX investigations.
Managed student conduct, policies, procedures and served as the Student Complaint Officer.

4. Title IX

Title IX is a federal civil rights law in the United States of America that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives federal money. It states that no individual would be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, because of sex, in the United States.

Here's how student affairs deans use title ix:

Serve as a member of the Title IX team.
Monitored overall implementation of Title IX Compliance, including coordination of training, education, and communications.

5. Student Services

Here's how student affairs deans use student services:

Reviewed budget and directed appropriations of student services unit.
Selected to the DeVry National Student Services Committee as an expert in legal issues for Student Services.

6. Student Learning

Here's how student affairs deans use student learning:

Tracked and evaluated student learning on class, course, program, and institutional levels.
Developed and implemented Student Learning Outcomes and assessment for Orientation and Advisement.

7. Enrollment Management

Enrollment Management refers to the strategies and procedures many universities and colleges employ to fulfill a variety of enrollment goals. The enrollment goals differ by university, however managing who is enrolled determines how financial aid is distributed and what the price of admissions will be.

Here's how student affairs deans use enrollment management:

Collaborate with Enrollment Management to develop and deliver orientation and registration programs.
Worked closely with the Office of Enrollment Management and Career Services.

8. Student Development

Here's how student affairs deans use student development:

Provided overall direction, supervision and coordination of six departments within the Division of Student Development.
Trained and evaluated residential staff, security personnel, orientation leaders and student development employees.

9. Colleges

A college is a learning environment, an academic institution primarily for degree acquisition. It is targeted at running advanced programs and educational classes for professional degrees. Vocational education is also part of the syllabus in some colleges.

Here's how student affairs deans use colleges:

Served as Accreditation liaison to the Commission on College of the Southern Association of Schools and colleges.
Directed academic quality within Colleges of Business and Management and of Engineering and Information Sciences at undergraduate and graduate level.

10. Strategic Plan

Here's how student affairs deans use strategic plan:

Collaborated with faculty/staff in major decisions and strategic planning directions.
Contributed to strategic planning, decision making, and budgeting functions as a member of the President's Cabinet.

11. Financial Aid

Financial aid refers to cash released to an educational institution to help a student pay the school fee. The issuance of financial aid, whether scholarships, grants, or loans, aims to make access to education affordable to all students irrespective of their backgrounds.

Here's how student affairs deans use financial aid:

Collaborated with the admissions and financial aid departments to recruit student athletes and provide scholarship incentives.
Provided financial aid counseling to undergraduate and graduate students, reviewed financial aid awards for accuracy and repackaged as needed.

12. Persistence

Here's how student affairs deans use persistence:

Work collaboratively with Executive Committee and all other departments on achieving school objectives for enrollment, persistence and average registered credits.
Promoted strategies and programs designed to positively impact student persistence.

13. Student Organizations

Student organizations are commonly found in colleges or universities. Students join together and organize a club, event, or other activity in order to meet other students with similar interests. This may be a sport, leisurely activity, or academic pursuit that students wish to discuss; however, there may also be student organizations to raise awareness and funds for a particular disease or cause.

Here's how student affairs deans use student organizations:

Manage 6 departmental accounts and 40 student organization accounts totaling approximately $100,000.00.
Managed the budgets for Residence Life, Student Activities and Student Organizations.

14. Multicultural

Here's how student affairs deans use multicultural:

Work cooperatively with other offices and student groups in the implementation of various campus-wide multicultural activities and other major events.
Advocated for the interests and concerns of multicultural students; facilitated opportunities for open and reflective dialogue.

15. Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is an often necessary skill in business, employed for processes such as contract negotiations, legal matters, and even personal, emotional situations and conflicts. It is the ability to find and create an appropriate and peaceful solution to some sort of dilemma or argument in which two or more parties are involved. The resolution itself must benefit and satisfy all parties and this is what makes it so difficult to reach a peaceful point sometimes.

Here's how student affairs deans use conflict resolution:

Directed conflict resolution programs for students.
Provided crisis management and conflict resolution for all functional areas of the college.

What skills help Student Affairs Deans find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What type of skills will young student affairs deans need?

Suzanne T. Ortega

President, Council of Graduate Schools

Young graduates entering the workforce will need to be highly adaptable to a changing environment. This isn't a new trend, but the pandemic has made it even more important. They will also need to be able to work collaboratively. The workplace has become increasingly team-based, even in a college setting, and knowing how to work with people from other backgrounds and across disciplines is imperative. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, young graduates will need to keep their "learner mentality." The workforce is changing, and employees need to be ready to expand upon existing knowledge and learn new skills throughout the course of their careers; this includes proficiency in new learning technologies and teaching pedagogies that meet the needs of online and hybrid classrooms. It is highly likely that the flexibility in course content and methods of delivery will continue for years to come.

Do you want to know more?

List of student affairs dean skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a student affairs dean resume and required skills for a student affairs dean to have include:

Student Affairs
Student Life
Student Conduct
Title IX
Student Services
Student Learning
Enrollment Management
Student Development
Colleges
Strategic Plan
Financial Aid
Persistence
Student Organizations
Multicultural

Conflict Resolution
Alumni
Residence Life
Crisis Management
Student Support
Social Justice
Student Engagement
Student Programs
Career Services
Strategic Direction
Community Organizations
Oversight
Student Body
Student Government Association

Orientation Program
Support Services
Student Handbook
Classroom Management
International Student
Student Housing
Ministry
Problem Resolution
Professional Development
Student Satisfaction
Greek Life
Student Code

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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