Associate Dean of Nursing, Clinical Excellence

Associate Dean of Nursing, Clinical Excellence

Rasmussen University

Mokena/Romeoville, IL

The Dean of Nursing Clinical Education provides leadership and oversight for clinical relationships and the education components of nursing programs across the market. This role partners with Academic Nursing Directors, nursing leadership, faculty, and external healthcare organizations to ensure the delivery of high-quality clinical learning experiences that support student success, workforce readiness, and clinical excellence.

A key responsibility is cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with clinical partners to secure, expand, and optimize clinical practicum opportunities while ensuring mutual value, regulatory compliance, and alignment with organizational and academic objectives. The Dean is responsible for developing and implementing initiatives to strengthen clinical education quality, evaluating the effectiveness of clinical placements and learning experiences, and identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.

Through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, the Dean monitors clinical education outcomes, assesses market needs, identifies gaps in clinical learning and site utilization, and leads high-impact initiatives to enhance student placement capacity, preceptor engagement, faculty support, and overall program quality. The Dean must possess a comprehensive understanding of nursing education, clinical practice environments, partnership cultivation, accreditation and regulatory requirements, and performance improvement methodologies to advance clinical excellence and strengthen academic-practice partnerships across the market.

Responsibilities:

Clinical Education & Learning Quality

• Provide leadership and oversight for the quality, consistency, and effectiveness of the clinical learning experience across assigned prelicensure nursing programs and clinical sites.
• Ensure clinical learning experiences align with program outcomes, course objectives, regulatory requirements, accreditation standards, and established clinical education expectations.
• Monitor the quality and effectiveness of clinical instruction and student learning experiences through regular review of clinical outcomes, faculty feedback, student feedback, and site performance.
• Conduct and/or oversee faculty observations in clinical settings to assess teaching effectiveness, student engagement, clinical judgement development, and adherence to program expectations.
• Partner with Deans and nursing leadership to address faculty performance concerns and develop targeted coaching, support, and improvement plans as needed.
• Ensure clinical faculty are appropriately prepared, oriented, and supported to deliver high-quality clinical learning experiences.

Clinical Partner Relationships

• Develop and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with clinical agency partners to support high-quality student learning experiences and long-term clinical placement capacity.
• Serve as a key point of contact for clinical partners, responding proactively to concerns and ensuring timely resolution of issues affecting students, faculty, or clinical operations.
• Collaborate with clinical partners to evaluate effectiveness of student placements and identify opportunities to strengthen clinical learning experiences.
• Monitor clinical site capacity, quality, and utilization in partnership with academic and operational leaders to support current and future enrollment needs.
• Represent the nursing program professionally with clinical partners and cultivate relationships that support student success and workforce development.

Student and Faculty Performance & Concerns

• Monitor student and faculty performance and progression in clinical settings, using data and feedback to identify students or faculty who may require additional support, intervention, or remediation.
• Provide leadership in addressing student or faculty clinical performance concerns, including professionalism, clinical judgement, patient safety, skills competency, and achievement of clinical outcomes.
• Partner with stakeholders to develop and implement individualized plans to address student or faculty performance concerns.
• Ensure student or faculty clinical concerns are documented, communicated, and addressed consistently in accordance with university policies and program expectations.
• Escalate significant student or faculty performance, patient safety, or clinical partner concerns to appropriate academic leadership and support timely resolution.

Clinical Operations & Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with academic leadership to establish standardized expectations and processes for clinical education across campuses and programs.
• Review clinical performance trends and feedback to identify opportunities for continuous improvement in curriculum delivery, faculty practice, clinical site selection, and student preparation.
• Support the evaluation and onboarding of new clinical sites and faculty to ensure readiness to provide appropriate learning experiences.
• Ensure clinical education practices support compliance with applicable accreditation, regulatory, and professional standards.
• Collaborate across academic and operational teams to proactively identify risks and implement strategies that strengthen the quality, consistency, and scalability of clinical education.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of initiatives designed to improve student clinical performance, retention, progression, and readiness for professional practice and licensure.

Reporting Relationships:

• Copied from job description if included. If job description format is old, leave this section off.

Requirements:

• MSN required, DNP preferred.
• Unencumbered Nursing License in the state where market sits.
• Minimum 5-7 years of progressive leadership experience in nursing education, clinical education, healthcare leadership, or related field.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing academic practice partnerships with healthcare organizations or clinical agencies.
• Knowledge of nursing education standards, accreditation requirements, state board regulations, and clinical compliance expectations.
• Experience overseeing clinical placement processes, clinical learning environments, and student practicum experiences.
• Experience in faculty recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, coaching, and professional development.
• Strong understanding of curriculum implementation, student outcomes assessment, and clinical competency evaluation.
• Knowledge of healthcare systems, workforce development trends, and evolving clinical practice environments.
• Ability to travel within the market and to partner with clinical sites as needed.
• Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) Nursing Professional Development (NPD-BC) or other relevant certification preferred

Benefits & Compensation:

Rasmussen University offers a robust total rewards program that includes a competitive compensation and benefits program. These offerings are meant to support your well-being, offer recognition opportunities and provide personal and career growth resources and support.

Our defined compensation structure is market competitive and is built to reward performance. A reasonable estimate of the current range for this role is $85,300.00 to $119,400.00. We take a number of factors into account when determining individual starting pay, including but not limited to: job and level hired into, location, skill set; experience and training; peer compensation and other business and organizational needs. This range is subject to change.

Pay is just one component of our total rewards package. We offer a choice of plans for Medical, Dental and Vision, a 401(K) retirement plan with employer matching, employer paid basic life insurance, AD&D, and numerous voluntary plan options. We also have a continuing education benefit available for full-time employees offering a 100% tuition reduction on courses taken within our family of brands*, a robust learning management system and individual development planning. We are committed to supporting an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives.

• Some programs not available to residents of all states.

About Us:

Rasmussen University, a university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, an institutional accreditation agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (www.hlcommission.org), is dedicated to changing lives and the communities it serves through innovative educational programs. As a pioneer in career-focused education since 1900, the University is defining a new generation of higher education that focuses on competency-based education, technology and transferable skills. Rasmussen offers undergraduate and graduate programs online and in person at 20 campuses around the country. The University is designed to lift and support its students every step of the way, from each student's first credential to their last. Rasmussen is dedicated to global enrichment, serving the underserved, and meeting the evolving needs of diverse students, communities, and economies. Rasmussen encourages its students, faculty, and staff to strive for academic excellence, community enrichment and service to the public good. Rasmussen is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Public Education, Inc. (Nasdaq: APEI). For more information about Rasmussen University, please visit www.rasmussen.edu.

It is the policy of Rasmussen University to afford equal opportunity to all qualified persons. We treat all qualified individuals equally as to their recruitment, hiring, assignments, advancements, compensation, and all other terms and conditions of employment. Rasmussen University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, or physical, mental, or sensory disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.