Leading Academic Change

Leading Academic Change
Author: Ann F. Lucas
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2000-03-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

"To ensure its continued validity, higher education needs to change, something it cannot do without the participation of department chairs. In this book, Ann Lucas has assembled some of the most thoughtful people in higher education to provide the 'line leaders' of higher education with the essential knowledge they need to bring those changes about." --Margaret A. Miller, president, American Association for Higher Education "Department chairs are typically amateurs, entering upon their position for a limited time with no formal training to prepare them for the many roles and responsibilities that the job requires. Both new chairs and more experienced ones will find in Leading Academic Change help in dealing with problems they are facing as well as inspiration and insights to go beyond minimum expectations and provide leadership for the future." --W.J. McKeachie, professor of psychology, University of Michigan "With practical advice and a platform of sound social science, Lucas offers a promising paradigm for chairs to move their departments from a federation of islands to a decision-making team." --Carla B. Howery, deputy executive officer, American Sociological Association For the 80,000 department chairs working on campuses across the nation, this visionary yet practical book shows how to manage academic change at the department level. It provides useful ideas and strategies on handling resistance to change, transforming departments into productive learning communities, and improving educational quality for students. In twelve incisive chapters, top academic scholars, authors, and consultants address topics and trAnds as diverse as service learning, technological change, curriculum renewal, faculty reward systems, and post-tenure review. They offer effective models to help department chairs and administrators work through the change process, including recommAndations based on real-world experiences. They also integrate the latest research with examples of best practices into a readable, accessible format. Whether you are a department chair, administrator, or a faculty member aspiring to improve your department, Leading Academic Change is the expert's guide to mobilizing faculty energy towards academic success.

How to Chair a Department

How to Chair a Department
Author: Kevin Dettmar
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2022-09-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1421445247

A practical, accessible handbook for chairing a department. Over the course of a typical academic career, most faculty will serve at least one term as chair of a department. It's a leadership and service role that's at the very heart of faculty satisfaction and student success, yet few receive any training on how to do the job. How to Chair a Department is a practical, accessible handbook for new and prospective chairs, providing both principles and practices for effective departmental leadership. Based on his dozen years of chairing departments, Kevin Dettmar provides invaluable advice on: • hiring tenure-track and visiting faculty • mentoring faculty colleagues at every stage of their careers • working with staff and other departmental administrators • managing department resources and budgets • meeting the needs of students • dealing with stress and conflict • connecting the department to the larger university or college as a whole • overseeing the department's curricula • maintaining a scholarly or creative profile • preparing for career moves after chairing a department How to Chair a Department demystifies this important faculty position and argues that the role of chair, though sometimes seen as a burden, can prove to be a genuine opportunity for personal and professional growth.

Academic Leadership

Academic Leadership
Author: Deryl R. Leaming
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2007
Genre: Education
ISBN:

As the responsibilities entailed in being a department chairperson are ever evolving, those who occupy the position must continually adapt and build upon their skills in order to meet new challenges and expectations. In the first edition of Academic Leadership, Deryl R. Leaming helped thousands of chairpersons navigate changes in higher education and effectively lead their departments. While maintaining its focus on practical application, this new edition has been significantly revised and expanded to address new aspects of the role of department chairs. Now organized into six parts, the second edition contains best practices and ideas from some of today's leading scholars. It also incorporates information on emerging challenges and expectations for department chairpersons, including Developing a departmental vision Working with constituents Retaining students Conflict management Mentoring faculty Post-tenure review Written to assist chairpersons in carrying out their duties, each concise chapter offers advice and practical suggestions for aspiring, new, and experienced chairpersons. Readers are provided with the expectations of the chair role as well as examples for handling specific tasks. In addition, this book encourages chairpersons to analyze their departments in order to effect improvement and develop their own approaches to solving problems. Featuring useful checklists, tables, and sample forms, this book also provides practical tools on the key areas of chair work—departmental management; interacting with faculty, students, and upper administration; financial matters; legal issues; assessment and evaluation. This invaluable resource will help guide chairpersons through the many responsibilities of their position.

The Department Chair Primer

The Department Chair Primer
Author: Don Chu
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2011-12-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118173449

If higher education is to fulfill its vital social mission, new department leaders must be prepared for their positions and get up to speed on the basics quickly, educating themselves about the role and continuing to learn on the job. In this second edition of his classic resource, Don Chu outlines the proven ideas and strategies new department chairs need in order to do their jobs well. Thoroughly revised and updated, The Department Chair Primer contains information that addresses the current pressures and challenges in higher education and offers practical suggestions for responding to them. Filled with illustrative examples, the book gets straight to the heart of challenges and issues. Each chapter details a particular problem, includes a brief introduction to the topic, and provides tips on how to deal with the situation. Covering a wealth of topics, The Department Chair Primer Explores the chair's role as department leader Offers suggestions for handling stress and conflict Includes information on budgeting, resource management, and development Contains strategies for professional development, people management, and working with challenging personnel Presents ideas for handling department communications, student development, and strategic positioning Written in a concise and accessible manner, The Department Chair Primer is an ideal resource for the busy new department chair.

Time Management for Department Chairs

Time Management for Department Chairs
Author: Christian K. Hansen
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2011-06-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118087259

"Department chairs who have asked themselves the question 'Who knows where the time goes' should ask Christian Hansen for the answer. His book, Time Management for Department Chairs, will help chairs maximize the investment of their most important resources their time, focus, and energy." Don Chu, author, The Department Chair Primer "Department chairs take note: Hansen's Time Management for Department Chairs can change your life in just three hours. Written by a seasoned academic chair, the author offers practical ideas and strategic advice about how to increase your day-to-day effectiveness (and sanity) by using proven approaches to managing expectations, organizing tasks, running meetings, monitoring communication, controlling calendars, avoiding interruptions, containing crises, and everything else in between. If you want to learn how to strike a better work-life balance, this book should be at the top of your reading list!" Christine Licata, senior associate provost, Rochester Institute of Technology "It's about time the resource department chairs have the least of and what faculty want the most! Christian Hansen's book is filled with insights, techniques, and artful strategies to help chairs maximize their time while working effectively with faculty and balancing their personal and professional lives. This book is a life saver!" Walter Gmelch, dean, University of San Francisco

Working with Problem Faculty

Working with Problem Faculty
Author: R. Kent Crookston
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2012-07-30
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118283120

Working with Problem Faculty When asked to name their number one concern and problem, department leaders overwhelmingly said that it was dealing with difficult people. Now R. Kent Crookston draws on the wisdom of seasoned department chairs, the academic literature, and his own experience as a department head and dean to shed new light on this perennial problem. Working with Problem Faculty outlines a practical six-step process that aims at improving an entire department and charts a clear course for dealing with problem faculty by Clarifying values and expectations Following policy Building trust with colleagues Evaluating yourself and your perceptions Listening Taking appropriate action By following these six steps, department chairs are able to challenge problem faculty with consideration, confidence, and effectiveness. "Anyone seeking practical help in dealing with difficult people will appreciate this book. Using relevant examples, Crookston describes a six-step process for managing people who might appear to be unmanageable." Mary Lou Higgerson, vice president for academic affairs emeritus, Baldwin Wallace University "Crookston has done his homework. After careful research and decades of personal experience Dr. Crookston shares a practical, insightful, and crucial handbook for addressing the most formidable challenge all leaders face. And best of all, he doesn't just advise on how to act when things go wrong, he gives proactive guidance to ensure that things go right." Joseph Grenny, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Change Anything and Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

The Essential Department Chair

The Essential Department Chair
Author: Jeffrey L. Buller
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2012-01-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118123743

THE ESSENTIAL DEPARTMENT CHAIR This second edition of the informative and influential The Essential Department Chair offers academic chairs and department heads the information they need to excel in their roles. This book is about the "how" of academic administration: for instance, how do you cultivate a potential donor for much-needed departmental resources? How do you persuade your department members to work together more harmoniously? How do you keep the people who report to you motivated and capable of seeing the big picture? Thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded, this classic resource covers a broad spectrum of timely topics and is now truly more than a guide it's a much-needed desk reference that tells you "everything you need to know to be a department chair." The Essential Department Chair contains information on topics such as essentials of creating a strategic plan, developing and overseeing a budget, key elements of fundraising, preparing for the role of chair, meeting the challenges of mentoring to increase productivity, and creating a more collegial atmosphere. The book also explores the chair's role in the search process, shows how to conduct a successful interview and what to do when it's time to let someone go. And the author includes suggestions for the best practices to adopt when doing an evaluation or assessment. The Essential Department Chair, Second Edition, contains a wealth of new, realistic case studies to equip leaders in this pivotal position to excel in departmental and institutional life.

The Professor Is In

The Professor Is In
Author: Karen Kelsky
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2015-08-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0553419420

The definitive career guide for grad students, adjuncts, post-docs and anyone else eager to get tenure or turn their Ph.D. into their ideal job Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success. They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.’s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers. Now, for the first time ever, Karen has poured all her best advice into a single handy guide that addresses the most important issues facing any Ph.D., including: -When, where, and what to publish -Writing a foolproof grant application -Cultivating references and crafting the perfect CV -Acing the job talk and campus interview -Avoiding the adjunct trap -Making the leap to nonacademic work, when the time is right The Professor Is In addresses all of these issues, and many more.

The Essentials for New Department Chairs

The Essentials for New Department Chairs
Author: Carolyn Allard
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2011-10-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118196732

As a new department chair, you face many challenges?chief among them that you likely received little or no formal training in academic leadership. You may feel that you face these challenges alone, but in fact a wealth of information and time-tested techniques have been collected over the years from experienced academic administrators. For the first time, this booklet brings together some of the best guidance and strategies that have appeared in The Department Chair, resulting in a collection that is highly relevant to a new chair?s work. The advice contained in these pages can help you build the skills necessary to successfully lead your department. This booklet is full of practical advice that can be put to use immediately, and each article is concisely written so you won?t have to spend valuable time searching for a solution or technique. Whether you?re looking for information on how to work more effectively with your dean, how to better manage your time, how to conduct successful department meetings, or how to best facilitate change, this booklet will help?it covers all these topics and more, from the basics to the specifics. This booklet is structured to provide guidance in four critical areas: chair as leader, getting started, managing conflict, and helping faculty and students thrive. The articles were selected to provide you with timely, comprehensive information. They detail effective practice and represent the best, most innovative thinking on topics and situations you will regularly encounter. This essential resource will become your personal guide as you navigate the responsibilities of your new role as department chair.

The Academic Chair's Handbook

The Academic Chair's Handbook
Author: Daniel W. Wheeler
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2008-04-18
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The Academic Chair's Handbook Every aspiring, new, and experienced chairperson will benefit from this rich resource of many integrated and well-tested strategies that foster faculty development and their own development. —Larry A. Braskamp, professor emeritus, Loyola University Chicago This second edition of The Academic Chair's Handbook provides an updated, comprehensive, and practical guide for academic department chairs and division heads at both two- and four-year institutions. This essential resource includes new material on a variety of topics such as technology, funding and resources, departmental climate and quality, assessment, and accreditation, and describes several strategies department chairs can use to build a positive work environment that fosters professional growth of both faculty and chairs. The book's self-assessment inventory can help determine which strategy is most appropriate for a particular situation. While the strategies are upbeat, positive, and developmental, they clearly address the often harsh political realities involved in chairing academic departments.