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What are the demands of being a dean? What leadership development do deans need as they progress through their academic careers? How are their responsibilities changing? What are institutions looking for in applicants?This book identifies the range of leadership skills required, and illuminates the process of building leadership capacity, by drawing on interviews with over 50 sitting deans, both women and men; on the insights derived from conducting professional development seminars for several hundred deans; and on the authors’ 48 years of collective experience in eight different deanships.The abundant examples and accounts of individual deans’ leadership successes and failures, and the...
Dr. Gmelch follows a sensible, pragmatic sequence of presentation in this book. . . . This book would be a definite asset for all academic libraries. In fact, I would urge departmental chairs and deans to issue it to each graduate student completing their program and entering higher education and each new assistant professor joining the faculty. --Academic Library Book Review Anxiety, frustration, and strain leading to stress and burnout. Who hasn′t felt these pressures to some degree? Stress is a common feature of academic life--and not always a bad thing--according to education professor Walter H. Gmelch, who has studied faculty stress for 15 years. "Positive" stress can actually help ma...
Executive Summary This briefing explores the demand for, and development of, academic departments as teams. With nearly 80 percent of all administrative decisions in universities taking place at the department level, there is a growing realization that team leadership at the department level may be more critical now than ever before. The academic leader's challenge is to create a dynamic collective culture. This briefing begins with a definition of academic teams and analyzes the team's dimensions, such as size, skills, diversity, common purposes, and accountability. Next, the briefing guides the reader through the four stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, and performing. However, because barriers to teamwork are embedded in the structural, cultural, and political fabrics of universities, the next section helps academic leaders to assess the readiness of their departments for teamwork. The final sections discuss the faculty-based model for building effective teams through leadership, goal alignment, decision-making, conflict management, and faculty excellence.
Authors Gmelch and Miskin have focused their academic careers on supporting and training chairs for one of the most challenging jobs in academia. Both have written extensively and have conducted training workshops throughout the country. Here they focus their efforts on the specific skills needed by chairs in order to effectively lead their departments. In the first chapter, authors Gmelch and Miskin, clearly assert their concern for chairs and for their work: The time of "amateur administration"--where professors play musical chairs, stepping occasionally into the role of department chair--is over. Too much is at stake in this time of change and challenge to let leadership be left to chance...
College Deans is based on the National Deans Survey, which was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Academic Leadership and included 800 deans from all U.S. 4-year academic institutions. The book consists of two main sections: 'Deans: Their Campuses and Colleges' and 'Dimensions: Duties and Challenges.' The first section describes the deanship in general, the national study in particular, and the background of current academic deans. It then gives a profile of deans: who they are and where they work. The second section of the book discusses the position of dean itself. This section looks at academic leadership in general and, more specifically, at what deans in this study believe were their primary roles and responsibilities, where role ambiguity and conflict came into play, and how they characterized stress and its relationship to job satisfaction. In addition, this section has a separate segment devoted to gender-related issues and a final chapter that highlights the most pressing challenges deans see in the near future.
"Developed from the author's extensive background in administration, organizational communication, and conducting training sessions, this book presents communication strategies tailored to the specific responsibilities and contexts of the department chair's position. The strategies are applied in real-life case studies that develop critical thinking and communication skills. Practices, questions, prompts, and analyses walk the reader through the case situations to possible solutions to problems. This is a practical and engaging resource for anyone who communicates with multiple constituencies"--Back cover.
"Educators, academics, or business persons will find this book convenient and irreplaceable--a must to have on hand, whether writing for the first time or after years of experience. Arthur Asa Berger's guidelines and suggestions are suitable for all types of written work. . . . The entire book is a good example of practicing what you preach in that he writes with style, economy, and purpose. Read and apply Berger's writing skill techniques to enhance the effectiveness of your next writing project." --Canadian Home Economics Journal When academics speak of their writing, they are almost always referring to their books and articles. Yet, in their scholarly career, more time and effort will be ...
Committees are indispensable to the governance of higher education, yet there is seldom guidance to faculty and administrators on how committees should be conducted or how to maximize committee obligations. This is the first handbook on how both to manage committees and how to engage effectively as members to achieve departmental or broad institutional goals, and how participation valuably contributes to individual learning and advancement.Based on empirical research, organizational theory, and interviews with faculty and administrators, Dr. David Farris provides an informative and vivid examination of the dynamics of committee work, addresses the planning, conduct, roles, composition, and d...
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 re...