May, 2007

Academic Leader - May, 2007 - Full Issue PDF
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Dean Partnership: An Innovative Approach to Leadership
For six years, Cecilia McInnis-Bowers and E. Byron Chew served as dean-partners for the division of business and graduate programs at Birmingham-Southern College, taking shared leadership beyond a simple division of labor by working together on every decision, jointly advising students, and conducting each meeting and telephone call together.

Changes in the Academic Profession
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, between 2001 and 2003 only 54 percent of the faculty hired were appointed to full-time positions, and 35 percent of all full-time appointees were not in tenured or tenure-track positions. A very well-documented recent book (reference below) highlights these changes by describing three different kinds of faculty appointments.

Authentic Leadership and the Authentically Difficult Employee
By Jo Lobertini, EdD
As an academic leader, one of the most difficult challenges I have faced has been dealing with an authentically difficult employee—a seasoned staff or faculty member who does not stop repeating undesired behaviors that disrupt the department but that are not severe enough to warrant disciplinary action. These behaviors include all sorts of passive-aggressive actions, including lying, claiming not to have been told about deadlines, not taking responsibility for actions, blaming others, etc. In effect, this person is miserable and is making everyone else miserable.

How Administrative Experience Informs Learner-Centered Teaching
By Roxanne Cullen, PhD
When I announced my return to the classroom after 13 years of administrative work at the department, college, and vice presidential levels, the faculty welcomed me back into the fold with open arms. I had established myself as a distinguished teacher prior to entering administration, and I continued to teach sporadically while in administration; however, it had been more than a decade since I had been in the classroom full-time. As I conclude my first semester back in the classroom, I am now asking myself in what ways my administrative experience has informed my teaching. We expect that having taught is a necessary prerequisite for an administrator. How, then, can that administrative experience inform teaching? What am I now bringing to the classroom that I may not have had prior to being in administration?

Leadership: It’s Not Just for Administrators
Colleges and universities need leadership at every level, but often faculty are reluctant to lend their leadership abilities because the notion of them as leaders is often at odds with their perception of themselves as academics. “It’s not who we are. We’re people who challenge and question all the time. When we associate leaders with authority, most faculty shy away from that,” says Marlene Moore, dean of the college of arts and sciences at the University of Portland.

Parting Shot: The Student as College Customer: Do You Buy It?
By John N. McDaniel, PhD
A recent informal poll conducted by Magna Publications’ electronic newsletters Faculty Focus and Eye on Students asked, “Would you like to see student affairs work more closely with academic affairs on your campus? What is preventing—or encouraging—collaboration on your campus?” The replies from the academic affairs and student affairs respondents might be summarized with one big “Yes, but ...” But what? While some campuses are apparently making progress in building bridges between these two organizational units, the impediments cited fall into three main categories: (1) lack of communication, willful or not, (2) local politics, with a power imbalance that favors academic affairs, and (3) faculty indifference to student development because of lack of incentives.