Research suggests that 80 percent of decisions made in institutions of higher education in the United States are made at the department level. Of the approximately 80,000 department chairs, a full 20 percent leave their positions each year. The number one reason chairs list for leaving their chairpersonship is because of noncollegial, uncivil faculty members. In an ongoing 11-year study of more than 2,100 chairs that I and my colleague Richard Riccardi have conducted, managing conflict has consistently been the second or third most important skill/competency that chairs have said they needed to be an effective chair.
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
