Fitting Form to Function

A Primer on the Organization of Academic Institutions

Rudolph H. Weingartner

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2011
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9781442212008
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Administration

Institutions of higher education are not like corporations: they have multiple goals, not even limited to the central ones of teaching and research, nor are they organized hierarchically. One class of leading inhabitants, faculty members, are a cross between independent contractors and employees; another class, administrators, are a cross between bosses and colleagues. Fitting Form to Function discusses how such institutions are best organized; how decisions are best made at various levels; how administrators and faculty can effectively collaborate in giving shape to a university or college. The book takes up such topics as the office of the president, of the provost, the dean and the chairperson of a department. It considers how committees are formed to function effectively-from a faculty senate to budget and planning committees to those that advise on promotions and others that adjudicate when there are grievances. Fitting Form to Function is written in an informal style. No jargon, no footnotes, but sporting 27 recurring maxims, such as Maxim 1, In academic institutions, the forces of nature are centrifugal; organizational art must be used to create propensities toward coherence; Maxim 17, Boundaries are less likely to create solidarity among those who live within them than they constitute barriers for those residing outside them; and Maxim 23, 'A' people hire (or retain) 'A' people, while 'B' people hire 'C' people.

Table of contents

• Preface to the Second Edition
• Preface to the First Edition
• The Maxims
• One Preliminaries
• Two The President and the President’s Office
• Three Collaboration and Consultation: The Central Administration and the Faculty
• Four Primary Academic Administration: The Office of the Dean of a School
• Five The Office of the Provost, the Chief Academic Officer
• Six At the Edge of the Provost’s Realm
• Seven The Community College
• Eight Departmental Organization
• Nine Faculty Collaboration: Personnel and Educational Policy Decisions and Juridical Functions
• Ten Postscript on Change
• About the Author