48 ORGANIZING ACADEMIC COLLEGES: A GUIDE FOR DEANS other non-A&S colleges reveals a similar jumble of who holds such positions). The number of A/ADs varies among colleges within an institution, and titles vary even among colleges comprising Arts and Sciences disciplines within the same institution. A review of CCAS member colleges with at least two assistant or associate deans reveals some 10 percent of associate deans use the title of senior with at least one of their associate dean positions, and two percent of colleges use a senior or related qualifier with at least one of their assistant dean positions. In some cases, multiple senior associate deans can be found within one college, and there can be one senior associate dean in a division assignment with the other division A/ADs not bearing the senior qualifier. The majority of individuals holding the title of associate dean are tenured faculty members. The backgrounds of people holding the title of assistant dean are more varied. Scrutinizing the classi- fication of assistant deans at thirty-five CCAS institutions reveals that the majority (79%) of these positions is held by professional staff (71%) or non-tenure track faculty (8%). Assistant, associate, or full professors hold the title of assistant dean 21% of the time. In short, people without tenure dominate the ranks of assistant deans in CCAS colleges. The majority of A/AD positions held by professional staff have external relations or development functions as the following ex- amples illustrate: University of Miami (Development), University of Washington (Advancement), Stanford (External Relations), and Cornell (Alumni Affairs). It makes sense to empower staff members in these positions with titles that serve to elevate the perception of their status as they are tasked with raising the profile of the institu- tion. Donors feel more privileged to work with a Senior Associate Dean of the College as compared to an Assistant Dean or even a Director of Development. Whereas titles for development staff may not have any structural meaning internal to the university, titles of perceived status are unlikely to do any harm as they aid the staff member with external constituents. Assignment of Functions to Associate and Assistant Deans As one may deduce from our findings on A/AD titles, associate deans who are faculty members have a variety of functional assign- ments. These assignments can be divided into distinct categories such as research, faculty affairs, academic affairs, student affairs, facilities,andplanningandeffectiveness(Table3.3).Severalfunctions Misunderstanding how these titles are used is common. Recently, I requested changing the title of a professional staff member to assistant dean, and an HR staff member informed me those titles were reserved for faculty lines. I pointed out that a professional staff member in the college of engineering already had the title of assistant dean; the paperwork went through quickly after that. —BSD