Despite the uncertainty, overload, ambiguity, and other strong disincentives to be an academic chairperson, thankfully there are people like yourselves who are willing to step up to assume this critical leadership role. This participatory workshop will structure activities as well as time for personal reflection and planning to help chairs cope with the inevitable, and significant, stresses of the chair's role. Preferred personal modes of stress reduction, the power of a meaningful perspective, and key elements of a stress-resistant personality will be addressed.

Accreditation agencies, legislators, and donors increasingly call for academic departments to ensure, document, and demonstrate that their program curricula embody coherent courses of study that reflect statements of intended learning outcomes. This session presents a curriculum mapping model that will assist chairpersons to evaluate how intentionally and how coherently program curricula advance expected program learning outcomes and ensure that students receive appropriate instruction and assignments in the desired order so that learning outcomes are achieved.

This practical, interactive workshop addresses potential causes of conflict, effective strategies for resolving conflict, and mechanisms for preventing it from occurring in the first place. Participants will explore case studies and scenarios involving various types of conflicts, determine ways to resolve them, share their ideas, and reflect upon their responses in order to refine their techniques for resolving conflict.

Today over 600,000 part-time instructors are being employed regularly in North American colleges and universities, and their numbers continue to grow. Increasing scrutiny by accrediting associations, boards of trustees, and others require us to do more to ensure that each instructor assigned to a course is prepared and supported to deliver quality instruction. This session highlights the professional development needs of adjunct instructors, and effective, affordable initiatives that have been installed at diverse institutions to address those needs.

Faculty with negative student ratings results may seek assistance from department chairs to "get better results." This session will present research based on a nationally available student ratings instrument that not only asks students to rate the excellence of the teacher and the course, but also instructor behaviors, progress on learning objectives, and their own characteristics that influence learning. Chairs will be equipped with some research-based tools that will not only help faculty "get better ratings," but teach them about employing teaching methods that will facilitate student learning.

Due to faculty demographics that predict increased numbers of retirements, academic departments are likely to undergo a major turnover in the coming years. Because of resource limitations, in general, and salary compression, department chairs will need to be innovative in restructuring and refocusing their departments while maintaining quality and meeting the needs of the future. Careful planning in terms of the types of appointments required and what they will bring to the renewed unit will be instrumental in gaining the administrative support required.

This interactive paper session shows how chairpersons can facilitate the development of a shared meaning among faculty members of a department success. The methodology presented helps the chairperson and faculty make strategic choices that reflect mutual priorities.

The Politics of Securing Campus Budget Resources II is part two of a session that was given several years ago prior to the data collection phase of my dissertation research. My research examined the budget strategies, or influence efforts, of three reputedly exemplary chairpersons who sought campus budget resources to support their academic priorities. Many years later, the results of the study are in. In sum, the chairs in the study had a reputation for converting their relevant power resources into successful budget strategies. The presentation will discuss the key findings of the study, including the chairs' relevant power resources, practical applications based on the findings, conclusions, and specific recommendations to chairs for developing potentially successful budget strategies.

Creation is, perhaps, the most human of all traits. The desire to generate a creation from one's thoughts and desires can be traced to back to cave drawings, and tracked forward to blogs, Facebook, and the less-glitzy trend of establishing online academic journals. In the past decade, hundreds of such journals have appeared, some solely online, some a reflection of their print journal cousins, some partly online, with only abstracts available. Together, as a movement, these online creations and their editors have all faced a host of challenges, everything from justifying a need, defining a subject, and archiving content reliably, to establishing some form of a sustainable business model. The purpose of this research is to outline the current status of online journal publishing, and, more importantly, outline the critical challenges facing these new publishers and editors as they consider establishing new academic journals.

The department chair, being faculty and administration, frequently has difficulty prioritizing activities. Qualifying tasks into quadrants characterized by importance and urgency, as advocated by Covey [1], and others, is helpful. Occasionally we categorize our activities this way. Important tasks must be prioritized according to our value system. As such, prioritization is a decision. A decision analysis framework can help us process tasks consistent with our goals and values. A variant of multi-attribute decision analysis is used to link the tasks, or job functions, if you will, to the Department Chair's objectives. This is intended to accomplish two goals. One, this will add depth of understanding to the importance of many functions. Two, this will relate the functions, or categories of functions to an appropriate time allocation.

The author has performed an analysis on his own duties. The technique for this analysis of duties takes a broad approach, beginning with a personal mission statement and incorporating one's values. Because of the many functions chairs perform, the chair's activities are grouped into functional categories for the analysis. Each functional category is then related, by percentage of contribution, to the objectives. The results, which are simply arithmetic sums of products, are then evaluated with extra considerations given to the practical aspects of the chair's role.

The process and preliminary findings will be included in the presentation. The results indicate that time allocation changes are necessary to move toward optimization of objectives, and functional delegation will be essential. Specifically, the amount of time each week necessary for the teaching function is about twice what is justified by a value-based decision process. Not surprisingly, the majority of the time in a value-based decision analysis of the department chair functions should be devoted to program assessment. The author is actively engaged in making the changes suggested by the analysis, and preliminary results should be available after the fall 2008 semester.

No matter what regional agency accredits your college or university, they are all expecting to see evidence of assessment of student learning at the program level. This workshop will present a Quick Start guide for chairs of programs who have not yet taken steps to assess student learning in their programs, or chairs who inherited assessment plans that simply aren't working. The focus of the workshop will be on writing and measuring student learning outcomes at the program level.

What issues and challenges do female department chairs across disciplines in higher education experience? This topic needs attention, as research focuses on other leadership positions and gender-based leadership styles. Incorporated into the survey study to be discussed are relational and organizational aspects of leadership behavior. While this workshop provides insight into gender issues reported by practicing leaders, the discussion is broader with respect to the leadership challenges encountered within the domains of administration and scholarship. Few studies exist of how chairs see themselves and their challenges and workplaces. Here the presenter explores issues relative to the influences that led 121 female academic leaders to assume the chair position, rewards and benefits, administrative and scholarly aspects of their work, and lessons learned and advice. Focus is on the realities of department chairs who themselves need mentoring in order to increase their capacity to do their jobs well and to support their departmental colleagues. Mentoring support for department chairpersons appears to be greatly lacking. A case activity, supported by empirical evidence, will bring such crucial issues to the fore.

Managing conflict situations is probably the most challenging part of the chairperson's role. For many, this difficulty is compounded by a lack of training in conflict resolution, the unique challenges associated with management in academic settings, and double binds often present in situations of peer leadership. This hands-on workshop applies a systems perspective of viewing communication. It's designed to give participants an opportunity to consider and practice several reframing techniques to help manage difficult conversations in the future.

This session will focus on a campus-wide program designed to maintain the integrity of an educational institution by holding students responsible when they choose to plagiarize or cheat. This program was created to have a system in place for identifying and tracking students who choose to act in a dishonest manner, regardless of their major or the sequence of courses they complete. After four years of faculty and administrative work, a comprehensive program has now been crafted and is reaping results.

In strained economic times, resource sharing is one way to address ever-changing demands on higher education. Multi-institution program alliances can offer a cost effective, rapid response to workforce needs. This session will offer best practices for building effective and sustainable academic partnerships using two proven models: the national Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance and the regional Big 12 Engineering Consortium.

This session will provide an overview of the publishing process with an emphasis on books. There will be an overview of how it works, what publishers look for, and how authors might approach publishers. Participants will be encouraged to ask questions and participate in discussion.

In April 2003, the central leadership of Nova Southeastern University decided that the Center for Psychological Studies and the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, two formerly entirely independent academic units, would merge their administrative services systems. The aim of this merger was a reduction in cost. The term "administrative services" was defined as including all non-academic areas, ranging from human resources to finance, from technology to recruitment and admissions, and from development to facilities management. The concept of merging these functions made sense because both units were at the time relatively small in size, with budgets of approximately $4 million and $12 million, respectively. In many of the areas covered by the merger, there was in fact duplication of services, resulting in arguably rather bloated budgets supporting non-academic functions.

This presentation will briefly outline how the merger was structured and how that structure was implemented. The focus of this presentation is on providing a first-hand experience report that can serve as a practical guideline for chairs and other university leaders who may be asked to merge services in order to reduce cost. This presentation will report on what worked and what didn't work in the process of merging, and briefly analyze reasons. Presentation participants will receive, and have the opportunity to discuss, a "tip sheet" listing the top five most important steps to take when conceptualizing and implementing an administrative merger, as well as the top five most damaging errors to avoid. The presentation will also provide the opportunity for discussion of how some of these errors could be rectified if in fact they were made.

This presentation will help participants discover how one Department. Chair and search committee designed a strategy for recruiting diverse faculty. Specific steps will be described so that others may replicate the approach. The presenter will discuss ways of building a hospitable climate that fosters support and collegiality so diverse faculty will stay at the institution.

Recruiting new faculty is one of the most important (and usually pleasurable) tasks of a department chair. In my department, we have filled seven positions over the last three years. In so doing, we grappled with the problem of deciding which candidate would be the most likely to succeed as a faculty member in our department. We also wanted candidates to be aware of our corporate expectations for them once they arrived and for them to be able to talk about not only what they have done, but what they expect to do should they become a part of the department. Our chief means of addressing the problem is through what we term a "Vision" seminar, which the candidate presents on the morning of the second day of an on-campus interview. We schedule an hour for this seminar, but we ask the candidate to talk for only 20-25 minutes, with the remainder of the session devoted to questions and answers to/from the candidate. Our goal is for the candidate to think of this session as an on-site visit for a grant to them for employment for the next five years, (i.e., until a tenure decision is made). The candidates often modify their presentations the night before they give them in light of interactions they have with faculty, staff, and administrators on the first day of their visits. This presentation has become the single most important part of the interview process. The presentations usually are far from the academic technicality found in presentations of research expertise. Those outside the immediate field can easily determine from the interactions and the material presented whether a candidate is a good match for the position and for the department. It has made our hiring process more efficient and more effective, and encourages both candidates and faculty to think about the tenure decision and its associated expectations long before it must be made.

The presenters will discuss how three department chairs in a College of Education cooperate in several areas: course scheduling, hiring, budget planning, curriculum planning, resource allocation, faculty evaluation procedures, and providing input on College and University priorities. By working together and presenting shared solutions to the College rather than waiting for the College to mediate, the Chairs have learned that the Departments and the College benefit.

The latest in diversity planning and programming at a university is the Inclusive Excellence model. Whether or not one's university has implemented this model, Chairs can promote diversity at the department level. Here we explore three areas: 1) recruiting and retaining minority faculty; 2) adding diversity-oriented courses to the curriculum; and 3) the value of diversity for assessment and accreditation. Workshop places emphasis on the Chair's ability to effect change and support diversity within universities and colleges of varying diversity plans.

This workshop reviews various models developed to define effective teaching and the sources of evidence beyond student ratings that may be useful in their evaluation. Additional considerations important to an effective evaluation process will also be discussed, including the purpose of the evaluation, evaluation schedules, the amount of evidence to use, processes for making judgments, time spent on evaluation, and clarifying responsibilities for preliminary and final judgments.

Obtaining grant dollars is one of the basic expectations of department heads and their faculty.  This workshop will take you through a process of searching and identifying federal, state and private funding sources; the basic components of a good proposal; and tips for crafting your proposal to be a cut above peer submissions. Bring your proposal ideas and the workshop will develop several of these ideas into competitive submissions.

Sue Maes has been teaching grant writing to both students and faculty for over a decade.  In an average year she brings in close to a million dollars in new revenue for the University.

This session will present a unique professional development program designed to introduce new faculty to the academic profession and the role of faculty member and fill in the gaps that today's doctoral education often do not address. New faculty orientation, coupled with a master teacher program are just two of many unique programs built to reach faculty and provide a rich tapestry of programming and experiences to assist faculty in a holistic manner addressing issues of teaching, research, and service. Learn how programs such as these may very well provide the foundation for institutional success in the future.

The presentation describes the need for mentoring programs for tenured faculty, identifies best mentoring practices, and provides practical recommendations for chairs interested in developing a program. The data for the presentation are based on a unique mentoring program developed at the University of Missouri with funding from the National Science Foundation ADVANCE program. The ADVANCE program is designed to address the low representation of women and minorities at the faculty level in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. While targeting women, the program is open to men faculty. The presentation will describe the social science literature on the importance of mentoring at mid-career, explain the mentoring program developed at the University of Missouri, share the lessons learned and best practices, and provide recommendations for chairs interesting in developing mentoring opportunities in their own departments.

Research reveals that body language is the major component of first impressions and subsequently plays a major role in successful communication between faculty members, staff, and the department chair. It is important for leaders to distinguish between management and leadership, and to examine the differences and the interplay between these two aspects of the job of being a department chair. Coping with change is a major challenge for department chairs and change is one of the most dynamic and ever-present conditions in the work place. Framing the problems associated with change in specific ways can lead to more strategic problem solving.

Is it really possible to identify just three key determiners of effective decision-making? Books and articles offer an extensive array of practices and techniques for decision-making. Some offer as many as 50 strategies to help one decide. Inspired by interaction with an American expert on decision-making, the presenter has spent the last four years identifying what he believes are the three determiners of effective decisions: 1) be proactive, 2) be humble, 3) be not angry or afraid. These three determiners will be briefly discussed. Particular emphasis will be given to the one determiner that appears to hold the key to effective implementation of the other two. The presenter has consulted with universities and industry groups, and organized and led national workshops, on decision case studies. He currently teaches effective decision-making to undergraduates.

Tight budgets pose a serious challenge for chairpersons who are accountable for maintaining quality instruction and encouraging innovative pedagogy which is often more expensive to deliver. The authors present specific strategies that enable chairpersons to be successful in optimizing department performance despite limited resources.

As greater numbers of faculty retire, department chairs must recruit Boomer, Xer, and Millennial faculty to fill the vacancies. This session introduces participants to generational difference among faculty, highlights findings from The Tenure-Track Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey©, and offers suggestions for recruiting and retaining Boomer, Xer, and Millennial faculty.

When you were asked what you wanted to do when you grew up, did you answer “Write strategic plans?” Most of us didn't. And most of us didn't come into academia because we were passionate about priority setting. We were drawn because of passion for research, or teaching, or outreach, but now we are in positions where we can have a significant effect on many more people by developing strategic plans and aligning resources to a limited set of priorities. It isn't as sexy as discovering new findings or reaching a student at a teachable moment, but it is very important. This presentation is focused on helping individuals transition into administrative roles. It focuses on skill development, but also on where there might be bumps in the road. The lessons learned are from the presenter's six years of experience in administration and those she has learned from her colleagues. Particular attention will be focused on discussions of determining fiscal health, managing people, funding streams, self-care, and time management. Participants will be discussing points throughout the presentation

This session will focus on a campus-wide program designed to maintain the integrity of an educational institution by holding students responsible when they choose to plagiarize or cheat. This program was created to have a system in place for identifying and tracking students who choose to act in a dishonest manner, regardless of their major or the sequence of courses they complete. After four years of faculty and administrative work, a comprehensive program has now been crafted and is reaping results.

In these difficult times, higher education leadership is facing hard choices. Although the present trend seems to centralize authority and decision-making, an alternative is servant leadership. Participants will learn what constitutes servant leadership and its applicability.

The workshop, presented by a former dean and department chair, aims to raise awareness of the realities, difficulties, and potential pitfalls of the tenure process by use of humor and hypothetical cases. Humorous hypothetical examples, including excerpts from a play in which a tenure committee discusses God's case for tenure and Internet sites giving reasons both God and Socrates would be denied tenure, are used to raise awareness and stimulate thought about how academic culture shapes tenure decisions. The humorous hypothetical examples provide a basis for considering the different types of requirements, explicit and implicit, for gaining tenure, as participants generate lists of what a candidate must and must not do to achieve success in the tenure process. Participants then consider the "rightness" of several hypothetical tenure decisions, with the presenter raising a number of relevant issues about the decisions in each case. The workshop includes time for participants to reflect on what they as academic chairpersons will take away from the workshop, in addition to a summary of key points and recommendations.

Most academic leaders face the same challenge of getting important tasks completed under time constraints in an environment of frequent interruptions. Leaders often spend an excessive number of hours on the job possibly resulting in stress, burn out, and other unhealthy situations. The workshop will focus on strategies and best practices for taking control of the available time and getting the job done while maintaining a low stress level and a healthy and enriching personal life. Additional focus of the workshop will be on defining short-time and long-term goals, preparing "time budgets," managing priorities, and eliminating "time wasters." Participants will be introduced to hands-on tools and will be actively involved throughout the workshop.

Chairs confront innumerous challenges with few resources and little time to address the daily administrative decisions, as well as the larger strategic demands of their role as department leader. Technology is often defined as a tool for teaching (i.e., to infuse technology in the classroom or distance learning offerings) and/or research (to secure appropriate hardware and software for faculty research). Technology usage for leadership and management in academia is often an afterthought. Despite the availability of several free or very inexpensive technologies, we, faculty administrators, seem behind the curve in adopting useful technologies that may help us enhance our complex work.

This session will focus on a campus-wide program designed to maintain the integrity of an educational institution by holding students responsible when they choose to plagiarize or cheat. This program was created to have a system in place for identifying and tracking students who choose to act in a dishonest manner, regardless of their major or the sequence of courses they complete. After four years of faculty and administrative work, a comprehensive program has now been crafted and is reaping results.

This presentation will focus on ways in which service can be measured and working with senior and junior tenure-track faculty to determine appropriate levels of service and the various ways in which service can be demonstrated. Junior faculty members, in particular, require mentoring to achieve a manageable balance in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service to position them for successful tenure/promotion decisions. In addition to discussing the various types of service and how service can be measured and evaluated on annual reviews, the presentation will also address the importance of pre- and post-tenure annual review conferences with faculty.

Recognizing the need to support new faculty, a collaborative was developed across several departments and programs, joining inexperienced and experienced faculty in a cohort group to explore the intricacies of professional life in a university setting. In a semi-structured environment, the group met monthly to collectively address the challenges of balancing both effective teaching and active engagement in scholarship and research. Aside from empowerment that comes from knowledge, participants gained confidence as they became enculturated into university life. Additionally, the collaborative nature of the cohort inadvertently helped to dissipate the whisper culture that sometimes undermines the work of an organization.

While the recent, major movements in higher education have focused on aspects of undergraduate student learning, the research and scholarship component has continued to thrive and become even more prominent. Institutions that identify their primary mission as undergraduate education are increasingly expecting a research component to be part of the faculty advancement process. As these added expectations grow, chairs will have to address faculty time and accommodations, provide incentives for participation and effort in scholarly work, identify activities and value for all faculty, and adjust merit and advancement criteria. Strategies for initiating and expanding the new agenda as well as future issues that will emerge will be presented. Catalyzing change in departmental cultures will also be discussed.

This presentation will present and then explore with participants the common findings of seven different research studies on women's leaders' communications patterns, core values, and management behaviors practiced with followers for effective and respected leadership. Two of the studies are ethnographies of the leaders of academic institutions; two others are case studies of several women leaders who have risen "above the glass ceiling." The correlations found in the studies to finding and projecting your own unique leadership voice, based on a set of uncompromised core values, as well as the practices of mentoring and networking will be explored. A representative group of the authors of this research study will take session participants through an exercise, which combines self-analysis and goal setting, in order to better understand and effectively apply the aspects of their own unique leadership voice to their department chair roles and practices.

How have college students changed over the last decade, and how does that impact the manner in which an academic department chair works? How do you mentor faculty to work with a new generation of students? What are some simple strategies for meeting the needs of students immersed in technology? Are office hours still necessary in the e-mail age? How do you handle the new breed of “helicopter” parents? This presentation will address ways in which an academic department chair can organize, function, and grow to serve the “millennial” generation with an eye on simple strategies that capitalize on students' strengths.