Although workshops on academic leadership frequently devote sessions to the topic of “work-life balance,” that phrase is really misleading. It seems to imply that we’re either working or living but never doing both at the ...
Almost every institution of higher education has a strategic plan, but how many institutions actually make use of that plan? According to Wayne Smutz, dean of continuing education and extension for UCLA, not many. Yet ...
In a recent national survey, nearly 3,000 American academic leaders identified problem behavior of employees as their top concern. Lackluster performance was the most common problem; bullying and being passive-aggressive were less common but the ...
It’s increasingly common for colleges and universities to offer programs designed to help chairs, deans, and other academic administrators become more effective. Sometimes falling under a center for teaching and learning, at other times existing ...
If asked to define minefield, most people would recite something similar to an area set with explosive devices or landmines. All would agree that minefields connote a sense of risk and danger. As a faculty ...
“Our goal was to make sure students on campus understood that they would be working in a global environment,” says Karen Kashmanian Oates, Peterson Family Dean of Arts and Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. As ...
It is quite possible that the three largest explosions you can create occur if you drop an atomic bomb, set off a hydrogen bomb, or utter the words “students are customers” in the presence of ...
Although not often in mind at the outset of life as an academic department chair, the time will come for all academic department chairs to exit their administrative roles. What prompts the departure’s timing can ...
A recent phenomenon practiced by a number of successful businesses, but almost unknown at colleges and universities, is the creation of a position known as chief listening officer (CLO). The CLO is responsible for monitoring ...
Both large and small educational institutions feel compelled to respond to internal and external stakeholders about MOOC development, and for those institutions unable to partner with an organization such as Coursera or edX, there can ...