If you are a dean or a department chair, you are probably spending some energy these days planning the meeting you will have with your faculty to mark the opening of the 2025–26 year. I have written on this topic before, back when I was a well-intentioned dean trying to help my faculty get a good start to what promised to be (and was) a difficult year. Now I am a faculty member anticipating that start-of-the-year meeting from a new perspective.
How Leaders Shape, Signal, and Build Cultures: A Discussion Guide for Academic Leaders and Their Teams
Among the many desired traits most prized in academic leadership, the ability to shape (or reshape) institutional culture is sometimes overlooked in favor of fiscal acumen, the ability to drive
Lisa Jasinski
May 4, 2026