Being a Chair, Head, or Director

Arlene Carney
August 20, 2009
 Why?

• Reasons for becoming a chair, head, or

director
 Four Roles of Department
Chairs
• Faculty developer
• Manager
• Leader
• Scholar
•
•
•
Gmelch & Miskin, 1993
 Transitions to Leadership

• From solitary to social

• From focused to fragmented
• From autonomy to accountability
• From manuscript to memoranda
• From private to public
• From professing to persuading
•
 Gmelch & Seedorf, 1989
 Transitions to Leadership

• From stability to mobility

• From client to custodian
• From austerity to prosperity

Gmelch & Miskin, 1993

 Survival Guide Advice: Know
Yourself
• Know why you took the job
• Know your goals (2-3 to accomplish
over your term)
• Know what pushes your buttons
•
•

Gunsalus, 2006
 Survival Guide Advice

• Know your colleagues

• Set boundaries
• Listen well
• Key sentences
•
•

Gunsalus, 2006
 Key Sentences for
Complaints
• “What action do you seek from me?”
• “Now that I have listened carefully to
you, I need to find out what the other
people involved have to say. I’ll get
back to you after I do that.”
• “You need to do what you need to do.”
•

Gunsalus, 2006
•
 Work-Life Balance

• Critically important to newer generation

of faculty
• Starts at the department level
– Class & meeting scheduling
– Release from teaching in a
semester when a child is born or
adopted
– Culture of acceptance of family
demands
 Chair as “Person in the
Middle”
• Responsible to the faculty and staff
• Accountable to the dean
• Balancing act
 Problem Issues

• Seek help
• Follow procedures set by the University
or college
• Don’t improvise on procedures