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The 91�㽶����Ƶ-St. Louis community is seeking an energetic and dynamic chancellor who: leads with integrity, empathy, and collaboration; champions students, faculty, and staff; effectuates UMSL’s mission of transforming the lives of its students; and boldly advocates for the institution while building a sustainable future.

The chancellor serves as the chief executive officer of the 91�㽶����Ƶ-St. Louis and reports to Mun Choi, president of the 91�㽶����Ƶ System. The chancellor provides strategic, academic, administrative, and external leadership of Missouri’s premier urban public research university.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic and Institutional Leadership

• Articulate and advance a clear, compelling vision aligned with UMSL’s mission as a metropolitan, land-grant, community-engaged R2 research institution, ensuring long-term stability and impact.
• Lead active planning to address enrollment challenges, demographic shifts, and funding constraints,
  while positioning UMSL for future growth and relevance.
• Champion data—informed decision making to guide strategy, resource, allocation, and institutional
  effectiveness in alignment with principles of shared governance and partnership with UMSL’s faculty,
  staff, students and alumni.

Academic Excellence and Student Success

• Foster a culture of academic quality, engaged research, innovation, and experiential learning that
  balances teaching, scholarship, and community impact.
• Advance student success, access, and completion, with a specific commitment to UMSL’s large
  population of first-generation, working, Pell-eligible, veteran, and culturally varied students.
• Support high-impact student programs, basic needs and mental health services, success coaching,
  bridge and college access, and workforce aligned pathways.

Faculty and Staff Leadership

• Uphold and strengthen shared governance, ensuing faculty and staff voices are incorporated
  meaningfully into institutional decision making.
• Invest in faculty and staff excellence through competitive compensation, research support, faculty line
  replenishment, in-service experiences and intellectual vitality.
• Address elements of faculty/staff morale, recruitment, retention and pay equity recognizing faculty and
  staff as foundational to student success.

Community Engagement and External Relations

• Serve as the institution’s chief ambassador, authentically telling UMSL’s story and strengthening its 
  reputation locally, regionally and nationally.
• Deepen partnerships with St. Louis’ civic, business, non-profit, governmental and educational partners, 
  advancing UMSL’s role as an urban anchor institution.
• Advance UMSL’s Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, ensuring engagement remains central 
  to institutional strategy.
• Actively pursue strong relationships and solicit advice and support from UMSL alumni.

Advocacy, Philanthropy, and Resource Stewardship

• Advocate effectively for UMSL within the 91�㽶����Ƶ System, the state of Missouri, and with 
  external stakeholders.
• Provide visionary yet pragmatic financial leadership, navigating constrained public funding while 
  identifying innovative revenue opportunities.
• Lead and support philanthropy, fundraising, and alumni engagement to attract resources aligned with 
  institutional priorities, including launching a comprehensive campaign.

The successful chancellor will show evidence of the following leadership attributes and personal qualities:

Leadership and Interpersonal Style

• Collaborative community-building, with a deep respect for shared governance and institutional history and
  culture.
• Visible, accessible and approachable to students, faculty and staff.
• Human-centered leader with strong listening, relational and trust building skills.
• Resilient and composed, maintaining credibility and momentum in political and financially complex environments.
• Decisive and motivating executive capabilities to drive impacts across the university’s missions

Values and Mindset

• Unwavering commitment to student success, access and excellence.
• Deep appreciation for UMSL’s distinctive mission.
• Integrity driven, transparent and ethical leadership.
• Respect for the institution’s array of disciplines, perspectives and leadership pathways.
• Optimistic, forward-thinking and energized by the opportunity to lead a young, ambitious and evolving
  institution.

Strategic and External Orientation

• Politically astute with the capacity to navigate state, system, and regional dynamics affecting an urban, public
  university.
• Compelling communicator and storyteller, effective with public audiences, donors, legislators and campus
  stakeholders.
• Highly effective advocate with the confidence and gravitas to represent UMSL’s distinctive needs and
  strengths.

Preferred Professional Experience and Qualifications

While no single career pathway defines success in this role, the ideal candidate will demonstrate many of the
following experiences and qualifications.

• An earned terminal degree or equivalent credentials appropriate for leadership of a complex, comprehensive
  research university.
• Demonstrated progressive senior leadership experience within higher education or business such as CEO,
  COO, Chancellor/President, Provost, Vice Chancellor/Vice President, Dean or comparable executive role.
• Demonstrated success and/or strong willingness to working within complex governance structures, including
  university systems and shared governance environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading or working closely with a public, urban, land-grant, research active (R2)
  institution.
• Demonstrated commitment to data-informed leadership and institutional effectiveness.
• Demonstrated familiarity with emerging higher education challenges, including AI, workforce alignment,
  online education and enrollment strategy.
• Demonstrated understanding of and appreciation for the distinctive role of urban, in-person and hybrid
  delivery campuses.

was founded, designed and built more than 250 years ago to serve as the centerpiece of a vast inland empire – a feat early St. Louisans surpassed. The city developed quickly and became the “gateway” to western American expansion.

St. Louis today is an exciting metropolitan region with more than 2.8 million people. As a large metropolitan area with access to a diverse and talented workforce, opportunities abound here.

The St. Louis region’s diversified economy is home to corporate headquarters and major business divisions across a wide range of industries. Global businesses find success here because they can recruit and retain talent across a wide spectrum of competencies and industries. Fifteen Fortune 1000 companies — seven of which are in the Fortune 500 — are headquartered in the St. Louis metro area, along with eight of Forbes’ largest private companies in America.

With a central location, infrastructure capacity, favorable cost structure and high-quality cultural and educational institutions, St. Louis’ $150 billion regional economy is broad and growing.

The multi-county region comprises hundreds of notable and diverse neighborhoods as well as dozens of world-class cultural and entertainment attractions.

Historic. Progressive. Diverse. St. Louis is an important national, economic and social asset. 

St. Louis is Missouri’s gateway to prosperity.

This position is eligible for University benefits. As part of your total compensation, the University offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental and vision plans, retirement, paid time off, short- and long-term disability, paid parental leave, paid caregiver leave and educational fee discounts for all four UM System campuses. For additional information on University benefits, please visit the Faculty & Staff Benefits webpage.

The 91�㽶����Ƶ is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To request ADA accommodations, please call the Office of Equity & Title IX at (573) 341-7734.