Pre-conference Workshops

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Standing on the Precipice: Selecting Strategies for Success and Survival

Presenters:

Al Seagren
Professor Emeritus and Director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE. (More)

Dr. Seagren was an administrator at the University of Nebraska for 32 years, serving as a chair, dean, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, and Vice President for Administration. For the past 15 years, he has been the coordinator of the online Graduate Program in Educational Leadership and Higher Education and professor teaching courses in the online ELHE program. Seagren has made numerous contributions to chairing departments, leadership education, and organizational development, and has contributed numerous book chapters and articles on department chairs and leadership. He has co-authored The Academic Chairperson Handbook (1990), The Department Chair: New Roles, Responsibility, and Challenges (1993), and Academic Leadership in Community Colleges (1994). He is a member of the advisory board for the Chair Academy for Leadership Development, the International Business Studies Program King Willem I College of the Netherlands, and the Campus Ministry for ELCA. He consults and leads workshops in the areas of leadership and department chairs, and he has been a visiting professor at institutions in Australia, China, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Daniel Wheeler
Professor Emeritus and former head, Department of Ag Leadership, Education and Communication, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE. (More)

Dr. Wheeler served as Coordinator of the Office of Professional and Organizational Development at Nebraska. He has degrees from Antioch College, Cornell, and SUNYAB. He made numerous contributions to faculty development, chairing departments and leadership. He co-authored The Academic Chairperson Handbook (1990), Enhancing Faculty Development: Strategies for Development and Renewal (1990), and he has contributed numerous book chapters and articles on faculty development and department chairs. Dr. Wheeler is a past president of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education and recipient of the prestigious Spirit of POD Award. He is a member of the advisory boards of the Academic Chairpersons Conference, Department Chair Newsletter, Council of Independent Colleges and Effective Practices for Academic Leaders. Dr. Wheeler is a Senior Fulbright Scholar in higher education. At Nebraska, he teaches graduate and undergraduate leadership courses. He consults and leads workshops in all of these areas in the United States and internationally.

If you are a seasoned chair looking for new ways to improve your leadership and your department or a new chair looking for processes to assist with your new responsibilities, this workshop is for you! Refresh your skills and learn methods of addressing a departmental vision while dealing with a new resource environment.

This interactive workshop will be focused on The 2nd Edition of the Academic Chair’s Handbook published in 2008. The book, written in the voice of 238 chairs on 94 campuses, reflects over 100 strategies used to deal with the issues of Vision and Direction, Developing a Positive Culture, Accountability, Resources, and Faculty.

The workshop will begin with an overview of the Four Dimensions of the book:

Be sensitive to the developmental growth of people and the organization;
Understand the departmental, institutional and disciplinary context in which this growth occurs;
Acknowledge that building is a process;
Recognize that chairs make a difference.

After the initial overview, participating chairs will use a checklist from the book to provide a framework to review departmental issues. Strategies, both immediate and long-term, related to seven main aspects will be examined and discussed. Those issues are:

Institutional/Departmental Context and Leadership Role of Chairs;
Building as a Process;
Create a Positive Interpersonal Work Environment;
Developing a Collective Vision and Dealing with Change;
Adapt to Funding and Resource Challenges;
Help New Faculty Become Oriented;

Registration Fee: $225 with main conference registration; $275 without main conference registration. (Space is limited to 25 participants)
Your registration fee includes:

All workshop materials, including The Academic Chair's Handbook, 2nd Edition
continental breakfast,
plated luncheon,
morning and afternoon refreshment breaks, and
certificate of attendance.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Department Chairs' Balancing Acts: Managing Stress, Time and Conflict

Presenter: Walter Gmelch
Dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco (More)

Dr. Gmelch served as Dean of the College of Education at Iowa State University and Interim Dean of the College of Education, Professor, and Chair of the Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology department at Washington State University. Currently, Dr. Gmelch also serves as Director of the National Center for Academic Leadership. Gmelch earned a Ph.D. in the Educational Executive Program from the University of California (Santa Barbara), a Master's in Business Administration from the University of California (Berkeley), and a Bachelor's degree from Stanford University. As educator, management consultant, university administrator, and former business executive, Dr. Gmelch has conducted research and written extensively on the topics of leadership, team development, conflict, and stress and time management. He has published numerous articles, books, and scholarly papers in national and international journals. Dr. Gmelch has authored three books on team leadership and two on management and stress. He has additionally co-authored three books on the deanship. Today, Gmelch is one of the leading researchers in the study of academic leaders in higher education, serving as editor of two journals and on the editorial board of six other journals including The Department Chair, Innovative Higher Education, Academic Leadership, and the Center for Academic Leadership Newsletter. Dr. Gmelch has received numerous honors including a Kellogg National Fellowship, the University Council for Educational Administration Distinguished Professor Award, the Faculty Excellence Award for Research, and the Education Press Award of America. In addition, he served in the Danforth Leadership Program and has been an Australian Research Fellow.

Many provosts and presidents contend the most critical role in the university is the department chair. Deans add that their success depends on the leadership capabilities of department chairs. However, department chairs represent one of the most complex, elusive, and intriguing management positions in America. It is unique, without common parallels in other organizations. Chairs typically begin their positions without leadership training, without a clear understanding of the time demands, without knowing the conflict inherent in the position, and without an awareness of the stress and demands on their academic careers and personal lives. This workshop will focus on strategies department chairs can use to balance leadership-scholarship and personal-professional challenges. Specifically, participating department chairs will:

explore "the call" to leadership and trade-offs in academic positions;
identify and manage common stress and time traps of department chairs;
explore how stress impairs and enhances performance;
learn how to manage their time management molecule;
develop skills and strategies for managing interpersonal conflict; and
balance their personal and professional lives.

Registration Fee: $225 with main conference registration; $275 without main conference registration.
Your registration fee includes: