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The Shakespeare requirement
\"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune keep hitting beleaguered English professor Jason Fitger right between the eyes in this ... sequel to the cult classic of anhedonic academe, the Thurber Prize-winning Dear Committee Members. Once more into the breach...\"--Dust jacket flap.
Book
How to Chair a Department
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.
eBook
The Department Chair as Transformative Diversity Leader
With the imminent demographic shifts in our society and the need to prepare students for citizenship in a global, knowledge-based society, the role of the academic department chair in creating diverse and inclusive learning environments is arguably the most pivotal position in higher education today. In the United States, increasing minority student enrollment coupled with the emergence of a minority majority American nation by 2042 demands that academic institutions be responsive to these changing demographics. The isolation of the ivory tower is no longer an option. This is the first book to address the role of the department chair in diversity and addresses an unmet need by providing a research-based, systematic approach to diversity leadership in the academic department based upon survey findings and in-person interviews. The department chair represents the nexus between the faculty and the administration and is positioned uniquely to impact diversity progress. Research indicates that more than 80 percent of academic decisions regarding appointment, curriculum, tenure and promotion, classroom pedagogy, and student outcomes are made by the department chair in consultation with the faculty. This book examines the multidimensional contributions that chairs make in advancing diversity within their departments and institutions in the representation of diverse faculty and staff; in tenure and promotion; curricular change; student learning outcomes; and departmental climate. The scope and content of the book is not limited to institutions in the United States but is applicable to academic institutions globally in their efforts to address the access and success of increasingly diverse student populations. It addresses institutional power structures and the role of the dean in relation to the appointment of chairs and their impact on the success of chairs from non-dominant groups, including female, minority, and lesbian/gay/transgendered individuals who serve in predo
eBook
Gender representation in Canadian surgical leadership and medical faculties: a cross-sectional study
Background
Over the past two and half decades, Canadian medical school students have become majority female, and the medical workforce is therefore increasingly comprised of female physicians. Whether this change, however, has been reflected in the gender balance within medical school faculty positions and leadership has not been well studied in Canada.
Methods
This cross-sectional study examined the genders of full-time faculty members from the most recently available AFMC data, the current heads of departments of medicine and surgery from department websites and confirmed with respective universities.
Results
Overall, women held 40.5% of full-time faculty positions in Canadian faculties of medicine. Female representation decreased with increasing academic rank, from 57.8% of instructors to 50.8% of assistant, 39.2% of associate, and 28.1% of full professors, respectively, with the greatest rate of increase over the past decade among full professors (0.75% per year). The heads of departments of family medicine were majority female (67%), and heads internal medicine at parity (50% female), consistent with numbers of practicing physicians. However, the heads of surgical divisions were majority male (86% overall). Accounting for the gender balance of practicing surgeons, male compared to female surgeons were 2.9 times as likely to be division head (95% CI 1.78–4.85,
p
< 0.0001).
Conclusions
Women remain underrepresented in Canadian faculties of medicine in leadership positions. Leadership in departments of surgery has particularly low female representation, even relative to the proportion of practicing female surgeons within the respective discipline.
Journal Article
The impact of transformational leadership on classroom interaction in UAE secondary schools
Department heads play a critical role in executing school plans, particularly in adopting contemporary instructional methods, integrating technology, assessing student progress, and maintaining high standards of classroom interactions. They facilitate essential interactions within the classroom, spanning teacher-student, student–student, and student-content interactions, aligning with transformational leadership practices. This study explores the influence of department heads' transformational leadership on classroom interaction, mediating teachers' teaching experience in enhancing leadership capacity. Using a straightforward random sampling procedure, 374 teachers from 226 privately owned secondary schools were selected. Descriptive statistics were employed to represent the extent of department heads' engagement in transformational leadership practices. Findings indicate that teachers' role in clarifying activities and assignments to encourage classroom involvement received the highest average rating, emphasizing the importance of diverse instructional approaches. The study reveals a significant, positive influence of teachers' years of experience as a moderating factor in the relationship between department heads' transformational leadership and classroom interaction. A positive correlation was observed between student–teacher interactions and department heads' use of transformational leadership practices, with teachers' experience levels shaping these relationships. Notably, the study suggests that teachers' experience partially affects this phenomenon. The research concludes with recommendations for policymakers and educators to leverage their pedagogical expertise in fortifying the impact of school leadership on heightened student participation within the classroom.
Journal Article
Implementing the global model of the research university in a national context: perspectives of deans and departments heads
PurposeThis article aims to explore the implications of means–ends decoupling at the state level for the implementation of the global model of the research university by the deans and department heads. Means–ends decoupling at the state level implies that the policies and practices of the state are disconnected from its core goal of creating public welfare.Design/methodology/approachData that form the basis of analysis were collected through twenty-four semi-structured interviews with deans and department heads from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences who were in their positions during 2010–2014, at two Ukrainian universities.FindingsApart from means–ends decoupling at the state level, which resulted in institutional complexity, case universities also sustained means–ends decoupling at the organisational level, which led to cultural complexity. Institutional and cultural complexities experienced by the deans and department heads, as well as their practices and values deviated from the global model of the research university, entailed them sustaining means–ends decoupling at the individual level. The degree of means–ends decoupling maintained by the deans and department heads at the individual level varied depending on organisational, disciplinary and individual cultural dimensions.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the policy development and implementation studies highlighting how mismatches in policies at both state and organisational levels hinder the achievement of the intended outcomes.
Journal Article
Working with problem faculty
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
eBook
Rhetoric and Reality in Middle Management: The Role of Heads of Academic Departments in UK Universities
There is a dissonance between the formal role of head of academic department represented in institutional discourses and the reality of heads’ working practices. This paper provides insight, from the perspective of heads, about how the role is experienced and enacted in one institution. Data are derived from 20 semi-structured interviews with heads of department in a teaching-focussed university in the UK. The findings show that there is autonomy in how individual heads structure, manage and lead their departments, and so the role is performed in significantly different ways. Nevertheless, for all heads, the development of a clearer institutional mission, vision and strategy had meant that the scope for strategic initiatives at departmental level was more circumscribed, and there was a significant issue for many heads about how to make the time and space available for this aspect of the role, given the competing operational demands. Derived from these findings, the paper informs practice by making recommendations about how heads of department may operate more effectively. We suggest that a mesopolitical lens, exploring how social practices are shaped by specific disciplinary and departmental contexts and cultures, may provide a productive perspective on the role of middle leaders and managers.
Journal Article
Performing excellence and gender balance in higher education
Universities are expected to strive for excellence but also for gender balance. Narrow interpretations of excellence in universities hinder women’s advancement in academia. In this paper, we ask if there are ways that these policies may be reconciled. Excellence is an “empty signifier” that must be filled with meaning. We have investigated how Heads of Departments enact “excellence” and gender balance in hiring processes in four Norwegian universities. Many HoD argued for broadening excellence criteria and framed excellence as a
collective
rather than an individual concern. This allows for reconciling top-down institutional demands for excellence and diversity while catering to local needs. Thus, our paper suggests that in a context where increased diversity among faculty is called for, this may open up a space for critical reflection about the criteria for assessing academic quality.
Journal Article
Institutional governance and management systems in Sub-Saharan Africa higher education: developments and challenges in a Ghanaian Research University
This article examines the developments and challenges of higher education in developing countries. Using a thorough qualitative interview of deans, directors and heads of Department of the University of Ghana, this paper draws on their analysis to discover unexplored issues that affect the universities in developing countries. The study identifies weakness in institutional policies and infrastructure deficiency of higher education in Ghana as key challenging factors. Findings also show congestion of students in academic facilities of learning, teaching overloads and lack of research facilities as key factors hampering academic development in higher education. Therefore, the work advocates for the development of policies that take into account the institutional realities in the field of higher education. Governmental policies aimed at enhancing higher education in developing economies must first improve the existing institutional set up for their chance of success.
Journal Article