How To Become A Student Development Dean: What It Is and Career Path

What is a student development 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 a student development dean. For example, did you know that they make an average of $33.43 an hour? That's $69,538 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 15,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreStudent Development DeanUS Average

Salary

5.4

Avg. Salary $69,538

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 4.32%

Black or African American 10.62%

Hispanic or Latino 14.04%

Unknown 4.00%

White 66.33%

Gender

female 45.80%

male 54.20%

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 a student development dean

Explore student development dean education requirements

Most common student development dean degrees

Bachelor's

50.5 %

Master's

25.2 %

Doctorate

11.7 %

Start to develop specific student development dean skills

Skills	Percentages
Student Learning	23.23%
Student Development	16.13%
Strategic Plan	13.21%
Program Development	11.19%
Program Reviews	8.04%

Complete relevant student development dean training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New student development 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 a student development dean based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real student development dean resumes.

Research student development dean duties and responsibilities

Produce, manage and evaluate all budgetary and programmatic aspects of a comprehensive career service program for students and alumni.
Research and provide updated information data about WCL alumni and donors.
Work cooperatively with other offices and student groups in the implementation of various campus-wide multicultural activities and other major events.
Safeguard course and syllabus alignment by performing ongoing examination review.

Prepare your student development dean resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your student development 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 a student development 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 student development dean resume templates

Build a professional student development 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 student development dean resume.