Sessions

Few chairs planned to serve as administrators, managers, or chairs when they were in graduate school or starting their academic careers. Most job descriptions for department chairs are simply lists of activities for which the chair is responsible, suggesting that chairs are task- oriented managers who schedule courses, handle students’ complaints, order equipment, prepare reports […]

(Lunch on your own)

Department and division chairs occupy a pivotal role in the administrative structure of a college or university. The job often has been described as “leading from the middle.” How does the chair learn to lead? What are the potential challenges in the role of leader? How can the chair influence faculty colleagues within and beyond […]

Department and division chairs occupy a pivotal role in the administrative structure of a college or university. The job often has been described as “leading from the middle.” How does the chair learn to lead? What are the potential challenges in the role of leader? How can the chair influence faculty colleagues within and beyond […]

Good data can inform decisions about revisions to existing academic programs, help determine new curricular directions, and suggest strategies for attracting students to the major. How can departmental or divisional level data—including data from learning-outcomes assessments, program reviews, campus satisfaction surveys, enrollment trends, and national surveys such as the National Survey of Student Engagement—be used […]

The department or division operating budget is often viewed as a simple set of line-item allocations. Chairs will learn what a budget is (and isn’t), the different types of budgets, how their unit budgets fit into the larger institutional picture, effective practices for budget management, how to support colleague chairs in the budget process, and […]