Creating a Strong Chair-Dean Partnership: What Deans Can Do, Part 2

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 deal with emergency situations. We also discussed the value, to both sides, of the dean’s conducting performance reviews of chairs that include conversations, based on annual faculty and staff reviews conducted by the chairs, about each member of the department. Finally, we suggested that deans provide rationales for policies and decisions so that chairs can accurately communicate them to faculty and staff and, as a form of chair development, follow their logic and mode of implementation while assessing the wisdom of both over time.