Being an effective chair has always been a challenging task. However, lately the game has intensified. Assorted higher education rating rituals have fueled competition that has many presidents scrambling to lay claims for distinction. The pressure trickles down to the sometimes hapless chair, who can no longer settle for doing merely a good job but must now try to achieve greatness and must guarantee that others in his or her charge are achieving greatness too.
Keys to Effective Program-Level Assessment By Rob Kelly
Effective program-level assessment requires faculty investment in the process because it’s too large a job for one person and because individual faculty members have knowledge and insights about their courses that others don’t have. Part of getting faculty buy in is making the process meaningful to them and reminding them of its benefits.
The Dangers of Dry Promotions By Jeffrey L. Buller, PhD
Any but the most modest level of budget cuts lead to layoffs, hiring freezes, benefit reductions, and furloughs. But institutions sometimes try to preserve morale in times of crisis by promoting faculty members without increasing their salaries. These dry promotions, as they are called, began to be widely discussed as early as the 1950s [see, for example, Harris (1952) 103, Whitehill (1955) 186, and Yoder (1956) 602]. In 1963, a writer under the pseudonym of “Hamilton Waring” (the names taken from two popular brands of household blenders) warned prospective faculty members against working for any college or university where dry promotions have been common. (Waring (1963) 145.) Nevertheless, during the recent financial crisis, some institutions once again reverted to this practice, perhaps on the assumption that an increase in rank could serve as its own reward. The dangers of dry promotions can be significant, and academic leaders are well advised to engage in this practice only if they’re fully aware of the risks involved.
Trying Times and Departmental Cohesiveness By Rob Kelly
Cheryl Stevens had been chair of the chemistry department at Xavier University of Louisiana (in New Orleans) just two weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck. The storm seriously disrupted operations, damaged equipment, and displaced faculty and students. Maintaining the department was seriously challenging proposition. Here’s her story and her advice on getting through (hopefully not so) challenging times.
Higher Education: Exporting Middle-Class Dreams By Jeffrey Ross, EdD, and Jann M. Contento, PhD
Community colleges, we believe, have become the protectors of the American middles [we have borrowed the contextual use of this term from the American novelist John Updike]. Although this is not consciously intended, community colleges have evolved into places of great tension—tension between developmental (remediation), academic, and vocational/occupational demands; tension between traditional (face-to-face) and online course offerings—and tension among local “stakeholders” concerning staff salaries, travel expenses, baccalaureate training, and bond elections.
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