I was recently watching the Emmy-winning HBO series Succession, and something one of the characters expressed struck a chord with me. Roman Roy, one of the heirs to a media conglomerate dominated by television news, ...
Like many others in the trenches of academia, we’ve chaired, taught, and advised in a small, understaffed, underfunded, and oversubscribed program. While other understaffed and oversubscribed departments limped along, ours notably thrived, resulting in strong ...
As traditional revenue streams continue to wane, academic leaders at colleges and universities are increasingly expected to acquire new sources of support. While fundraising is nothing new for colleges and universities, those tasked with these ...
In part 1 of the current series we discussed the dean’s setting aside time to meet one-on-one with chairs to aid in their development as chairs, address ad hoc concerns, gain information, offer advice, and ...
In two recent articles, we outlined several ways that chairs can lighten their general workloads and facilitate the work of their deans, thereby strengthening their partnership. Chairs contribute to the partnership by making student success ...
At the University of Maine, my colleagues and I have conducted a lot of research on faculty mentoring. The campus-wide Rising Tide Center—funded originally by a National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant—has helped implement several kinds ...
Colleges and universities differ from most other organizations in that not everyone longs to be in charge. At corporations, government agencies, and even non-profits, staff members all seem intent on clawing their way up the ...
Despite a great deal of research on course evaluations, institutional policies and practices are not always well informed by that research. Faculty are often not as informed as they should be either. Anecdotal evidence, myth ...
So far in this series on end-of-course ratings we have discussed how to frame a conversation with a faculty member who receives average ratings semester after semester and how to have a productive conversation with ...
In Part 1 of this two-part series on strengthening the relationship between chairs and deans, we discussed prioritizing student success and satisfaction, capitalizing on the institution’s greatest investment—the faculty— and developing a vision that goes ...