Chairing an Academic Department

"Academic leaders may be in the least studied and most misunderstood management position in the world," authors Gmelch and Miskin state. Although chairs come to the position for varied reasons, few come with any specific leadership training. Once in the position, they are critiqued, judged, and evaluated by both their faculty and administrators—groups which frequently have conflicting criteria.

Based upon their extensive study of the demands on and needs of chairs, the authors have distilled their findings into a practical and highly accessible volume to guide chairs in their growth. Despite the varied paths to the position, the authors state that all chairs find themselves in an environment distinct from their former facultly situation.

One of the most dramatic changes is that chairs need the ability to switch from one task or situation to another very quickly, and must develop a facility for refocusing. As chairs, individuals assume four basic roles: faculty developer, manager, leader, and scholar. Because of these roles and the need to quickly refocus, Gmelch and Miskin advocate becoming a swivel chair. They state: "To balance their roles, chairs must learn to swivel without appearing dizzy, schizophrenic, or ‘two-faced.’"

Walter H. Gmelch is Dean of the College of Education at Iowa State University and directs the National Center for Academic Leadership. 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 a half dozen others. During the 1990s he directed two national studies of 1,600 university department chairs in the United States, one study of 1,580 Australian department heads, another investigation of 1,000 community college chairs, and recently has completed an international study of 2,000 academic deans in Australia and America.

Val D. Miskin is Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Business at Washington State University. A former business owner, he is a frequent presenter and contributor to journals and has authored several books. Currently he teaches in the areas of strategic leadership and human resource management. He has conducted hundreds of leadership seminars and strategic management workshops over the years, and he regularly provides consulting services to both business and nonprofit organizations.