Job Overview

The University of Cincinnati (UC) seeks a leader to serve as the Inaugural Director of the newly formed Center for Public Health. The Director will play a pivotal role in establishing and leading the Center during a critical growth phase. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of public health at UC, guiding program development, faculty recruitment, interdisciplinary collaboration, and strategic growth across a complex academic environment.

Public health at the University of Cincinnati is a dynamic, interdisciplinary field that spans across the College of Medicine, College of Education, Criminal Justice, Human Services, and Information Technology. There are also a growing number of embedded concentrations and dual degree programs and initiatives spanning multiple colleges university wide. The new UC Center for Public Health unifies these efforts under a collaborative framework of shared governance. The Center serves as a central hub that eliminates fragmented efforts, streamlines decision-making, and fosters synergy among stakeholders. It will create a strong, cohesive identity for public health at UC, enhancing internal coordination, community engagement, institutional visibility, and national competitiveness.

The Center supports UC’s broader strategic goals by advancing public health education, research, and service. It will also provide a platform that enables colleges to maintain their autonomy while contributing to and benefiting from unified programs and shared resources. The Director will lead efforts to develop a foundational structure and policies and procedures necessary to launch and operationalize the center and its activities.

The Director will report directly to the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and work closely with leadership across UC’s colleges and administrative units. The ideal candidate will bring a visionary yet pragmatic approach to leadership, with a proven track record in managing educational programs in a matrixed academic or public health environment. This role is ideal for an academic leader who is passionate about public health and driven to build a nationally recognized program that integrates education, research, and community engagement.

Essential Functions

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for all public health academic programs.
• Oversee the planning and implementation of new academic offerings, including new concentrations and potential doctoral (DrPH) programs.
• Coordinate and integrate the Bachelor of Science (BS), Master of Public Health (MPH), and 4+1 programs across participating colleges.
• Lead efforts to attain joint accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH).
• Collaborate with academic units to recruit public health faculty aligned with each college’s strategic priorities.
• Drive undergraduate and graduate enrollment growth through unified marketing, recruitment strategies, and program excellence.
• Serve as a faculty member through teaching and/or research contributions to the field of public health.

Minimum Requirements

• Terminal degree (MD, PhD, PharmD, DrPH, or equivalent).
• Eligibility for faculty appointment at the Professor level.
• Distinguished track record in scholarship and academic accomplishment.
• Experience in academic affairs, curriculum, accreditation (including CEPH), or higher education administration.

Additional Qualifications Considered

• Significant management and operational experience in a complex academic organization, including financial/budgeting and strategic planning.
• Demonstrated ability to create and articulate a shared vision, persuade a wide range of audiences of its value, and engage others in its implementation.
• Extensive experience leading public health research initiatives, securing and managing grant funding, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.
• An expectation of achieving excellence in education by prioritizing academic rigor, student engagement, and curriculum development.
• An ability to attract, retain and develop outstanding faculty, students, and staff and to support them in building and sustaining programs of the highest caliber.
• Demonstrated ability in management, including strategic planning, budgetary, and operational management.
• An ability to build meaningful, sustained partnerships with various internal and external stakeholders, including community leaders; and a commitment to strengthening the center’s visibility.
• An entrepreneurial spirit and ability to innovate.
• Demonstrated experience delivering high-quality instruction in online or hybrid learning environments.
• An ability to actively listen and a genuine openness to learning from others; a natural communicator who values transparency, respect, and open dialogue; and the emotional intelligence to foster trust, build collaborative relationships, and cultivate broad-based support for decisions, plans, and initiatives.

Physical Requirements/Work Environment