February, 2008

Academic Leader - February, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
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Coping with Fads in Administrative or Management Techniques
By Jeffrey L. Buller, PhD
If you’ve worked in higher education long enough, you’ve already had this experience. A supervisor or member of your institution’s governing board calls an administrative retreat, and there, following the inevitable icebreakers, brainstorming, and team-building exercises, you are presented with the “bold new paradigm” that is to determine how you are to reorganize your unit, “reconceptualize” your leadership style, or modify every policy and procedure that is already in place. Someone, it seems, has been reading a management book and has bought into a new approach to how you should do your job.

Addressing the Tension between Leading and Managing
By Jerry Pattengale, PhD
As academic administrators we constantly attempt to keep our feet under us while simultaneously charting the future—the tension between managing and leading. Our jobs become even more complex with new mandates in areas such as student retention, technology, and assessment, and in the light of the Spellings Report and revenues tied to State Performance Standards.

Increasing Faculty Diversity
By Charles Harrington, PhD, and Billie Jo Hunt
Whether at a small private liberal arts college or a large public research university, academic leaders have long recognized the need to increase faculty diversity. Arguments for diversifying faculty are as compelling as those for student diversity, which extend beyond the obvious reasons of equity. Faculty diversification fosters educational equality.

Evaluating Campus-wide Attitudes on Leadership
By Andrew Wulff, PhD, and Ric Keaster, PhD
In the last few years there has been increased recognition of the role of leadership in the academic environment. Courses in leadership principles and theory are now offered in disciplines other than business administration, management, and military officer training programs such as ROTC. Furthermore, undergraduates are encouraged to become more involved in their communities and to consider the responsibilities attendant upon owning a university baccalaureate degree. Additionally, development of leadership skills is an important aspect of successful engagement in on-campus activities. The Center for Leadership Excellence at Western Kentucky University was established in part to study best practices in leadership training and to serve as a focus for the increased assimilation of these practices into all aspects of the university.

Learning and Leadership
By Michael Harris, PhD, and Roxanne Cullen, PhD
Most current literature on leadership claims that leadership can be taught. Kouzes and Posner, authors of The Leadership Challenge and Academic Administrator’s Guide to Exemplary Leadership, indicate that the myth that leaders are born inhibits leadership development.