When the New York Times ran a story in 2021 about our skateboarding research, it highlighted skateboarding as a site of safety, community, and agency
“Stop thinking,” the petite Vietnamese nun instructed the small group of retreatants. We sat cross-legged in a circle on the floor in the enormous meditation hall at Magnolia Grove Monastery
Your department has just hired a new tenure-track professor, and for them, it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Now what? New faculty joining a department may feel an array
In higher education, the expectation that faculty maintain a teaching philosophy is customary. As faculty transition into academic leadership roles, sometimes unexpectedly, the same narrative description is needed to
The work of a dean is challenging, and many deans are appointed to their positions without any formal training. Deans often learn how to hire faculty, conduct performance reviews, develop
In the first two articles in this series, I focused on building on faculty strengths and improving the curriculum as core areas to which a new department head should devote
Although it has been almost three years since the pandemic forced many departments to change course mid-semester, higher education institutions are still feeling the impact. This article describes lessons my
Coaching is often lauded as a skill excellent leaders need to empower their people and create healthy, productive work environments. Carla B. Swearingen’s 2020 article explores in detail what coaching
This fall, for the first time in a long time, I am teaching a class taken only by first-semester, first-year students. A required general education course that includes a lot
Last month I discussed ways to build on faculty strengths. This month, I take a close look at questions that new and continuing department heads will want to ask about
