dean

The word “dean” means a senior official at a university or college, often heading a faculty or overseeing student affairs. In plain terms, a senior academic or church official, or the most senior/experienced member of a group.

“Dean” is pronounced deen (/diːn/ in IPA).

Here is “dean” used in a sentence: “The dean of the law school opened the ceremony.”

“Dean” is a noun.

The word “dean” comes from Latin. From Anglo-Norman deen, ultimately from Latin decanus (originally "head of ten"), a doublet of the word doyen.

“Dean” is a fairly common word in modern English.

“Dean” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a senior official at a university or college, often heading a faculty or overseeing student affairs.

A dean is a senior official at a university or college who typically heads a faculty or school, or oversees an area of student life. Duties often include leading academic staff, setting policy, managing budgets, upholding standards, and handling student affairs such as admissions, discipline, and welfare within their part of the institution.

A professor is a senior teacher and researcher focused on a subject area. A dean is an administrative leader who heads a whole faculty or oversees student affairs. Many deans are also professors, but the role of dean is chiefly about management and leadership rather than teaching or research.

A dean usually leads a single faculty, school, or area such as student affairs. A provost is a higher, institution-wide officer, often the chief academic officer overseeing all the deans. In short, the provost sits above the deans in the academic hierarchy of a university.

Common types include the dean of a faculty or college who leads its academic departments, the dean of students who oversees student welfare and conduct, and the dean of admissions. Some institutions also have an academic dean or dean of research, each responsible for a defined slice of university life.