The New Department Chair

100 Daily Reflections for Mindfully Designing Your Term

W. Benjamin Myers

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2024
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798881805104
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Administration

The New Department Chair: 100 Daily Reflections for Mindfully Designing Your Term, written by a chair with over a decade of experience at three universities, consists of 100 reflections about being a department chair. Using theory, personal stories, and practical advice, readers are provided with 100 opportunities to think through how they approach the complicated responsibilities of being chair. Topics include the precarious nature of academic management, the emotional labor of the position, advocacy, diversity and inclusion, budgeting, imposter syndrome, department meetings, bullies, social media, working with deans, enrollment management, and others. This collection serves as both a guide and a mentor in print for chairs as they wrestle with the complexity of their roles. It's not a manual but instead an invitation to engage the position with purposefulness and direction.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Your New Professional Identity
• 2 You Don’t Have to Be a Reluctant Chair
• 3 Understanding the Chair Position at Your University
• 4 Changing Relationships with Your Colleagues
• 5 The Power Paradox: Leading without Levers
• 6 The Slippery Slope of Accommodation
• 7 Chairing from a Beginner’s Mindset
• 8 The Art of Information Management
• 9 Boundary Spanning (Betwixt and Between)
• 10 A Chair’s Inbox
• 11 Department Meetings as More than Agenda Items
• 12 Creating an Agenda for a Department Meeting
• 13 Cultivating Constructive Dialogue in Department Meetings
• 14 Effectively Participating in College-Wide Chairs’ Meetings
• 15 Setting Goals
• 16 The Power Paradox of an Academic Middle Manager
• 17 Big-Picture Budgeting
• 18 Your University’s Budget Model and Where You Fit In
• 19 Budgeting Strategies and Tactics
• 20 Grade Appeals as Pedagogical Process
• 21 Becoming Privy to Department Drama
• 22 Informational Asymmetry, Confidentiality, and Managerial Trust
• 23 You Are Chair of Students, Not Just Faculty
• 24 Networking with Other Chairs
• 25 Agenda Interrupted
• 26 Advocacy and Influence from the Middle
• 27 Writing Memos for Resource Allocation Requests
• 28 Student Misconduct
• 29 Inappropriate Faculty Behavior
• 30 Unilateral Versus Multilateral Decision-Making
• 31 Focus on Where It Counts: The Pareto Principle and Demanding Faculty
• 32 Generous Leadership and the Power of Sharing Recognition
• 33 The Emotional Labor of Being Chair
• 34 The Visible Chair
• 35 When to Address Problems with Collective Policies
• 36 When to Address Problems with Private Conversations
• 37 Mentoring Junior Faculty
• 38 Working with Senior Faculty
• 39 Supporting Part-Time Faculty
• 40 The Art of Annual Reviews (The Big Picture)
• 41 Strategic Approaches to Annual Faculty Evaluations
• 42 Do Not Play Politics with Your Course Schedule
• 43 Course-Scheduling Strategies
• 44 The Summer Schedule
• 45 Your Department’s Social Media Presence
• 46 Digital Dilemmas
• 47 Academic Bullies
• 48 Practical Advice for Handling Academic Bullies
• 49 Committee Assignments
• 50 Classroom Teaching Observations
• 51 Your Department’s Approach to Online Education
• 52 Imposter Syndrome
• 53 Your Relationship with Your Dean
• 54 Your Relationship with Your Dean Continued
• 55 Your Relationship with Your Office Associate
• 56 Your Relationship with Your Provost
• 57 Supporting International Faculty
• 58 Assembling a Search Committee
• 59 Candidate Selection and Search Committee Processes
• 60 Your Increased Legal Liability
• 61 Strategies for Navigating the Legal Aspects of Being Chair
• 62 Hallway Diplomacy
• 63 Keys to Relationship Building in Your Department
• 64 Approaching Virtual Meetings
• 65 Effective Strategies for Virtual Meetings
• 66 Status-Based Inequality in Your Department
• 67 Fundraising and Interfacing with Donors
• 68 Departmental Culture
• 69 Your Blind Spots
• 70 Inclusivity, Diversity, and Departmental Culture
• 71 Enrollment Management
• 72 Recruiting New Students
• 73 Retention
• 74 Transfer Students
• 75 Students Switching Majors
• 76 Crisis Communication
• 77 Public-Facing Events and Public Speaking Anxiety
• 78 Your New Raise
• 79 Formal Discipline
• 80 One-on-One Meetings
• 81 Maintaining Your Scholarly Agenda
• 82 Higher Ed in Flux: Chairing through Uncertain Times
• 83 Your Department Website
• 84 Beyond Reluctance: Chairing toward Unexpected Opportunities and Growth
• 85 Contemplating the Pursuit of Upper Administration
• 86 Embracing Feedback: Learning to Listen and Adapt
• 87 The Value of Classroom Engagement
• 88 Leading Meaningful Assessment
• 89 Gossip, Trust, and Leadership
• 90 Chairing through the Tenure Process
• 91 Justifying Your Decisions
• 92 The Calculus of Change
• 93 Parent Complaints
• 94 Balancing Academic Leadership and Academic Management
• 95 The Academic Cycle
• 96 Performing as Chair
• 97 Summer and End-of-the-Year Planning
• 98 Authenticity and Pragmatism
• 99 Effective Communication
• 100 Lessons Learned and Paths Forward
• Index
• About the Author