The Department Chair as Academic Leader

by Irene W. D. Hecht, Mary Lou Higgerson, Walter H. Gmelch, Allan Tucker

Overview

This important new work will help department chairs, faculty, and administrators understand and address the increasing complexity of relationships within higher education, as well as the growing influence of external factors. The Department Chair as Academic Leader is a completely updated revision of Allan Tucker's seminal contribution, Chairing the Academic Department, last published in 1992. This work reflects the approach used in the ACE Workshops for Division and Department Chairs and Deans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573561341
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/13/1998
Series:	American Council on Education Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

IRENE W. D. HECHT, senior associate, American Council on Education (ACE), is director of ACEs national programs for department/division chairs and deans. She is also president of Higher Education Associates, an independent higher education consulting organization. A former professor of history, Hecht has served as associate dean of faculty at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, Or.; dean of the college for Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Va.; dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Sangamon State University, Springfield, Ill.; and president of Wells College, Aurora, N.Y. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Washington.
MARY LOU HIGGERSON is a professor in the department of speech communication at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. She is a seasoned academic administrator with 19 years of experience as department chair, associate dean, and associate vice president for academic affairs. Higgerson is the author of Communication Skills for Department Chairs and coauthor of Complexities of Higher Education Administration: Case Studies and Issues. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
WALTER H. GMELCH is dean of the College of Education at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. |He is one of the leading researchers in the study of academic leaders in higher education and has written numerous articles, books, and scholarly papers. Gmelch holds a B.A. from Stanford University; an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley; and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The late ALLAN TUCKER was director, Institute for Academic Leadership, and professor of higher education, Florida State University, Tallahassee.

Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Roles and Responsibilities: Past, Present, and Future
The Academic Department: A New Geography
Roles and Responsibilities of Department Chairs
The Department and its People
The Chair and Department Members
Recruiting the Department's Constituents
Faculty Work and Workload
Developing and Evaluating Department Members
The Department and its Operations
The Department as a Collectivity
Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Student Advising
Resource Management for Chairs
Strategic Planning in the Department
The Department and the University
The Chair and the Dean
Legal Issues for Chairs
Evaluating the Department
The Chair and External Audiences
Epilogue
Index

Editorial Reviews

Every individual who currently holds the position of Chair or who desires to attain such a position should read, study, and reflect on how his or her performance measures up to the practices described by the authors. Each of its 14 characters is well-referenced, and in most cases, references are critically annotated to guide the reader toward a deeper understanding of such topics as faculty cultures and values, minorities on campus, communication skills, faculty and staff evaluation, team building, budgeting, legal issues, and fundraising. Practical yet seeking to hold academics and administrators to higher standards, The Department Chair as Academic Leader should accompany the appointment letter of every new department head. This volume provides thoughtful and helpful perspectives and suggestions regarding how to lead our new era. It acknowledges the new conditions in which higher education is moving and is a valuable resource for both old and new chairs.

Journal of Higher Education

Every individual who currently holds the position of Chair or who desires to attain such a position should read, study, and reflect on how his or her performance measures up to the practices described by the authors. Each of its 14 characters is well-referenced, and in most cases, references are critically annotated to guide the reader toward a deeper understanding of such topics as faculty cultures and values, minorities on campus, communication skills, faculty and staff evaluation, team building, budgeting, legal issues, and fundraising. Practical yet seeking to hold academics and administrators to higher standards, The Department Chair as Academic Leader should accompany the appointment letter of every new department head. This volume provides thoughtful and helpful perspectives and suggestions regarding how to lead our new era. It acknowledges the new conditions in which higher education is moving and is a valuable resource for both old and new chairs.

The Journal Of Higher Education

Four authors, academic leaders themselves, cover departmental challenges such as maintaining access to a widely varying population, using technology and other methods to improve instruction, rethinking curricula, and managing the department--all in an atmosphere of static of diminishing resources. Coverage includes such functional topics as budget management, fund-raising, long-term planning, department evaluation, part-time faculty management, development of teaching assistants, and faculty productivity monitoring. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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