December, 2006

Academic Leader - December, 2006 - Full Issue PDF
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Make Data-Informed Decisions with Help from Institutional Research
Institutional research can help guide everyday and strategic decisions that academic leaders make; however, data alone are not enough to base a decision on. Decisions must also take into account other factors that leaders should be knowledgeable about, says Mary Ann Coughlin, professor of research and statistics and assistant vice president for academic affairs at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

The Transition from Faculty to Administrator
Like many deans, Monte Finkelstein did not plan to be a leader. He began as a history instructor, gradually took on more leadership responsibilities, and came to his division deanship at Tallahassee Community College through his desire for challenges beyond the classroom and the retirement of the previous dean.

Think Before You Leap into a Partnership
“Partnering” seems to be a current buzzword in academe. The literature is full of success stories about the benefits of partnerships, but, warns John Orlando, instructional resource manager at the Norwich University School of Graduate Studies, not all partnerships succeed. “People assume that any partnership is like two people lifting a heavy weight—any amount of help I can get from the other guy is going to help me, even if he doesn’t contribute much. In reality, partnerships are more like marriages—if it doesn’t work, you could end up much worse off than you were before,” Orlando says.

Faculty Expectations Regarding Personnel Decisions
By Bob Cipriano, EdD, and Richard Riccardi
Two national surveys of recreation department chairs (in 2004 and 2006) and a national survey of full-time faculty members in recreation and leisure studies departments (2006)asked the respondents to rate important factors regarding the efficacy of faculty members. More specifically, the survey asked respondents to rate the most important factors for faculty members to possess to be awarded tenure, promotion in rank, and reappointment. The results of these studies are presented in this article.

Where Are the Boys?
By John N. McDaniel, PhD
Seasoned academic leaders of a certain vintage will remember wistfully that innocent paean to spring break, “Where the Boys Are,” crooned by Connie Francis, in those halcyon pre-protest early ’60s, when the ladies’ eyes would wander to the Florida coasts before they returned to the rigors of campus life. But that was then, and this is now. The beaches aren’t boyless, but the campuses increasingly are, and there are distressing defections to other venues of a nonacademic sort.