The College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management (HRSM), ranked No. 1 in sports science in the country, is searching for a new dean.
Matt Brown was named interim dean on Aug. 1, 2020, and will serve until a permanent dean is found.
The previous dean, Haemoon Oh, served for five years beginning in 2015. He decided not to reapply for the position, but he is still part of the HRSM's faculty.
Provost William Tate said he wants to find a dean who has the ability to fundraise, build partnerships with companies to provide students with opportunities for jobs and internships and make "sure these students have a great academic experience."
Tate selects the dean from a pool of candidates given to him by a search committee.
"What you're really looking for is somebody who is going to give a spark to a really great group," Tate said. "Clearly, things like sports management, at the very top of the field across the country and across the globe. And so, you want someone who can build on that."
The search committee put together by the provost's office is led by Dean of Libraries Tom McNally and is made up of faculty members and graduate students from the HRSM, in addition to Julian Williams, USC's vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion.
Williams said the committee is "cross-sectional" and "engaged," and it "cares very much about [the] position."
"We've got some really great conversation about the type of leader we're looking for ... and where we think the college is at now in terms of some of the things that we've talked about around diversity, student enrollment, morale and all of those things, as well," Williams said.
Williams said he wants the new dean to "bring a level of intentionality" when it comes to creating a rich and diverse community at the college. To do this, Williams said he wants someone who can focus on recruiting and retaining Black students and other students and faculty of color.
"As I think about the number of Fortune 500 companies, what's happening in sports and sports management from an activism perspective, conversations about race and gender, sexual orientation and difference, I just think there's a number of really exciting courses that our students would be excited about engaging in that a new dean could help to foster, bring about and create, bring a faculty that can help do that," Williams said.
A key component of a dean candidate for McNally is the ability to manage the three different focuses within the college, he said.
"As a dean, you'd really have to balance the three and make sure you gave adequate attention to each area. Make sure that you really understood the potential and the issues and how to put the resources where they're going to do the best so that all three areas rise together as you build the future," McNally said.
The target date for applications for the position is March 8, and on-campus interviews for the new dean will begin in early April. The new dean should begin on July 1.
"If we find somebody who can raise money, build partnerships and take seriously the academic enterprise and help it get better, we're winning," Tate said. "That's going to be a great dean."