January, 2008

Academic Leader - January, 2008 - New Issue PDF
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10 Recommendations toward Effective Leadership
By Willis M. Watt, PhD
David W. Leslie, chancellor professor of education at the College of William and Mary, notes that “colleges and universities have presented leadership conundrums…from the most varied perspectives…Yet this vast trove of purported wisdom remains somehow unsatisfying and desperately random” (Wergin, 2007, p. xv). That is to say, despite all that has been written about leadership, the question still remains: What does it take to be an effective leader?

Where Concept Meets Detail: How to Be neither a Micromanager nor an ‘Absentee Landlord’
By Jeffrey L. Buller, PhD
Academic administration must be characterized as one of those professions in which no one size fits all. Though there are those who believe that anyone whose Myers-Briggs profile is not ENTJ need not apply for a position of academic leadership, there will always be excellent administrators who are introverts as well as those who are extroverts, administrators who tend to respond emotionally to challenges and opportunities as well as those who invariably respond rationally, and administrators who are terrific visionaries as well as those who are better at building on a foundation already in place.

Creating a Safe Classroom for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Students
By Kevin Christophersen, MA
A greater number of students are coming to terms with their same-sex orientation at an earlier age. Many educational institutions offer gay-straight alliances and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (GLBTQ) clubs, and many administrators support policies that oppose bias based on sexual orientation. However, even though more GLBTQ students are out, discrimination, harassment, violence, and intolerance are still prevalent on campuses nationwide.

Counting Something Leads to Change in an Office or in a Classroom
By Gwen Hillesheim, EdD
During the past several months, for schools large and small, public and private, 501(c)3 and for-profit, there has been significant discussion at the national, state, accreditation agency, and institutional levels regarding accountability and transparency of institutions of higher education. These conversations are driven in part by the 2007 Spellings Commission Report decrying the traditional use of self-regulation in obtaining measurable results and the resulting hue and cry for postsecondary accountability and transparency. The differences between the past processes and possible future processes and requirements, as well as practical actions and solutions for schools, are detailed in this article.

The New Alphabet Affecting Provost Effectiveness
By Henry Smorynski, PhD
The role of the chief academic officer has been transformed over the past decade. High expectations for traditional leadership in areas of scholarship and collaboration with the faculty continue. However, while historical expectations require that academic administration be rooted in the faculty’s intellectual life, contemporary expectations challenge that fact as necessary but insufficient. The academic leadership position has rapidly evolved toward requiring many of the skills and perspectives of a chief operating officer. The question facing many campus presidents and faculties, as well as search committees, is this: How can these two sets of skills be found in one person?