The Essential Department Chair: A Practical Guide to College Administration(Jossey-Bass Resources for Department Chairs)

This book is the quintessential manual for what department chairs must know to excel at the many administrative tasks assigned to them on a day-to-day basis. For instance, how do you cultivate a potential donor for much-needed departmental resources? How do you interview someone when your dean assigns you to a committee searching for an administrator in a different academic area? How do you fire someone? How do you get your department members to work together more harmoniously? How do you keep the people who report to you motivated and capable of seeing the big picture? This book is about the "how" of academic administration. Based on a series of workshops given by the author in the area of faculty and administrative development, each topic deals concisely with the most important information chairs will want to have at their fingertips when faced with a particular challenge or opportunity. Intended to be a ready reference that chairs turn to as needed, this book emphasizes proven solutions and stresses what chairs need to know now in order to be most successful in their administrative positions.

Table of Contents:
About the Author. Introduction. PART I: CHAIR. Hiring. 1 How to Write Job Descriptions and Position Announcements. 2 The Department Chair's Role in Successful Faculty Searches. 3 How to Interview Candidates for Administrative Positions. 4 How to Let Someone Go. 5 How to Write Outstanding Letters of Recommendation. Mentoring Challenges. 6 Sharpening Focus. 7 Increasing Productivity. 8 Promoting Collegiality. 9 Dealing With Chronic Complainers. 10 Helping to Resolve Personality Conflicts. 11 Coping With the Passive-Aggressive Faculty Member. Evaluation and Assessment. 12 Tips for Conducting Effective Faculty Evaluation Sessions. 13 How to Write First-Rate Faculty Evaluations. 14 The Department Chair's Role in Assessment. 15 The Department Chair and Post-Tenure Review. 16 The Department Chair's Role in Internal and External. Program Review. Budget. 17 What Every Department Chair Needs to Know. About Fundraising. 18 What Every Department Chair Needs to Know. About Budgeting Leadership. 19 Finding Your Administrative Style. 20 Career Planning for Department Chairs. 21 Chairing Small Departments. 22 Chairing Large Departments. 23 Five Case Studies in Decision-Making. PART II: DEPARTMENT. 24 Departmental Ethics and Politics. 25 Setting Annual Themes for the Department. 26 Setting Course Rotations and Schedules. 27 Building Strong Connections Beyond Your Department. 28 A Departmental Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. 29 Developing Colleague-Based Support for Teaching, Scholarship, and Service. PART III: FACULTY. 30 Designing and Implementing a Successful First-Year Faculty Experience Program. 31 Helping Faculty Members Create Successful Resumes. 32 Helping Faculty Members Document Excellence in Teaching. 33 Helping Faculty Members Improve Course Syllabi. 34 Ten Ways to Promote Creative Learning.

About the Author :
Jeffrey L. Buller is vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Mary Baldwin College. He began his administrative career as honors director and chair of the Department of Classical Studies at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa before going on to assume a series of administrative appointments at Georgia Southern University. Dr. Buller has published widely oh Greek and Latin literature, Wagnerian music drama, and higher education administration, including a large number of articles that have appeared in The Department Chair. Serving from 2003-2005 as the principal English-language lecturer at the International Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany, he is widely know as an entertaining and popular speaker on such topics as literature, opera, and academic administration.