Dean, Faculty of Design

Dean, Faculty of Design - Toronto, ON

• Share This

20 / 09 / 23, Canada’s largest and oldest art and design university, is a vibrant community of bold, curious, and compassionate artists, designers and scholars who are imagining and creating a joyful, equitable, and sustainable world. The University is an internationally renowned hub for art, design, digital media, research, innovation and creativity, and arts administration. It embraces collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to change-making through art, design-thinking curriculum, and research, making OCAD U a local, regional, national, and global leader in art and design.

OCAD University acknowledges the ancestral territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabeg and the Huron-Wendat, who are the original owners and custodians of the land on which we live, work, and create.

Students benefit from hands-on studio learning in small classrooms and have access to state-of-the-art shops and studios for both traditional and digital creation. Alongside a diverse and supportive team of instructors and peers, students gain employable skills. Graduates work in a variety of sectors such as advertising, urban planning, environmental design, gaming, film, animation, publishing, illustration, graphic design, product design and consultancy, material-based design, visual arts, and arts administration.

As OCAD U continues to drive impact as a leader in art and design education, the institution is seeking its next Dean to lead the Faculty of Design. The Faculty of Design at OCAD U pursues the creation of equitable impact in the imagining of a joyful, creative, and inclusive society through design and is primed to continue bolstering its influence at local, national, and global levels.

Reporting to the Vice-President, Academic & Provost, the Dean of Design is responsible for the leadership of the Faculty’s educational and research development, facilitating community and institutional partnerships, enhancing the student experience, and aligning the goals of the Faculty of Design with the University’s Academic and Strategic Plan and its seven overarching priorities. The Dean extends the capacity of faculty through championing their vision, needs, and evolution. Additionally, the Dean develops and implements strategic priorities and initiatives to advance decolonization, equity, and sustainability, and promotes positive transformation and change within the Faculty of Design.

Working collaboratively and in close consultation with the Deans of the Faculty of Art, Faculty of Arts & Science, and School of Graduate Studies, the Dean of Design promotes effective management of the University’s academic programs, research, outreach, supports its educational goals, and enriches University life. The Dean promotes excellence in research, professional practice, and teaching within the Faculty.

To excel in this role, you should demonstrate profound expertise and rich experience within your specialized field. Your educational background should reflect a foundation rooted in a studio-based environment, and you should be widely acknowledged as a leading authority in your subject or professional domain. As the preferred candidate, your substantial record in teaching, research, and professional accomplishments should span across one or more of the Faculty's program areas, enabling you to effectively and innovatively advance equitable impact within the realm of design.

As an accomplished educator and successful postsecondary education administrator, you have a proven track record of strong leadership, program and faculty advocacy, curricular development, and administrative experience. You walk the talk when it comes to decolonization, sustainability, and social justice, with a keen and demonstrated understanding of how to embed these core principles into academic programming, organizational culture, creative practice, and the student experience.

You are caring, compassionate, and committed to supporting, mentoring, and coaching others in the Faculty and across the institution. You are a dynamic communicator, an adept problem solver, and have excellent facilitation and negotiation skills that you use to foster collegial and respectful consensus-building. You have significant experience successfully planning and managing a budget and excel in a fundraising capacity by nurturing meaningful, reciprocal relationships and partnerships. You have an advanced degree in design or other related discipline, or equivalent.

If you are interested in shaping the experiences of the next generation of creatives, as part of a forward-looking academic institution, we’d love to hear from you. Please email any questions to Mike Young (). To apply, please visit .

As an institution committed to art, design, digital media and related scholarship, OCAD University (OCAD U) recognizes the profound and essential value that diversity brings to the creation, reception and circulation of creative practices and discourse. OCAD U understands that valuing diverse creative practices and forms of knowledge are essential to and enrich the institution’s core mission and vision as an art and design university with a local and global scope.

As an employer committed to employment equity, we encourage applications from members of equity-seeking communities including women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, and persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities / expressions.

We encourage members of designated equity-deserving groups to self-identify within the voluntary Applicant Questionnaire.

In order to alleviate the under-representation of racialized and Indigenous tenure-track faculty and academic administrators, priority in hiring will be given to qualified racialized and Indigenous persons who self-identify as such in the application process. This initiative is a special program under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

OCAD U is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier free experience to applicants with accessibility needs. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage during the recruitment process. Please contact People & Culture for more information or refer to OCAD U’s Policy of Accommodation in Employment for Persons with Disabilities.

All qualified persons are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority. While we thank all candidates for their interest, only those short-listed will be contacted.