This chapter describes characteristics of department chairs and identifies various tasks and challenges that they face during their time in office.

This monograph provides a compilation of scholarly literature written about academic deans. The premise on which it rests suggests that changes external to the academy have affected the nature of the academic deanship and will continue to affect it for the foreseeable future. The book considers four questions about the academic deanship. The first…

This digest considers four questions about the academic deanship. The first is what are deans and what do they do? The position of dean did not gain universal acceptance in U.S. higher education until 1913. Deans continue to be predominantly white and male, and are generally in their mid-fifties. Strong scholarly credentials distinguish most…

College deans serve as both extensions of the presidency (through the provost) and extensions of the faculty. This puts them in situations confounded by ambiguity and role conflict. A discussion of the impact of this role conflict and ambiguity on deans, particularly the resulting high turnover and low productivity, suggests policy implications…

Discusses the role of the academic dean and its conflicting pressures of administration and scholarship. Reports on the first phase of a study exploring the sources of stress experienced by 825 deans in both Australia and the United States. Analyzes findings in terms of a four-component managerial stress model and provides tables detailing deans'…

The "Teaching/Learning Project" at Miami-Dade Community College (Florida), a process of dramatic institution-wide change, is described, focusing on the leadership, collaboration, and coordination required to bring about desired changes. Examination of leadership roles include those of the change agent (project director), champion…

This 4-year study of 12 community colleges examined the institutional policies and administrative practices that encouraged or discouraged effective faculty behaviors. The study focused on faculty and administrative subcultures and the learning environment that they help to create in these open-door institutions. The study found that different…

This paper addresses the evolution of the kinds of challenges that deans have met over time and examines perceptions of today's deans concerning their ability to deal effectively with current challenges. A sample of deans (n=695) in the colleges of education, business, liberal arts, and nursing at 360 public and private institutions was surveyed…

This paper, which examines mentor relationships of academic deans, is part of a study conducted by the Center for Academic Leadership at Washington State University between October 1996 and January 1997. The study sample consisted of 1,370 deans (response rate 60 percent) at 360 public and private institutions, and the survey gathered information…

Development of the concept of quality within higher education, at both government and institutional levels, is traced, focusing on differences in state and institutional approaches and concerns in the pursuit of quality. Miami-Dade Community College (Florida) illustrates one approach. Relative impact of different approaches on the public interest…

Evolution of "quality" in higher education as an institutional concept is traced, and differences between approaches at the institutional and state levels are explored. Contrasting approaches in Florida and Illinois are examined, particularly in the case of Miami-Dade Community College (Florida). Contribution of the different approaches…

This paper examines various career paths leading to deanship and considers the implications of the findings for women and minorities who aspire to this position. The paper is part of a larger study of academic deanship conducted by the Center for Academic Leadership at Washington State University between October 1996 and January 1997. Data for the…

This study identified and compared the environmental pressures and work-related stresses that impact the chairs of academic departments at universities in Australia and the United States. Surveys were mailed to every department chair at all 40 Australian universities (1680 chairs) with a 51 percent response rate. Surveys were also mailed to a…

This policy brief examines the fundamental principles that undergird the current Total Quality Management (TQM) movement, describes application examples and discusses application problems particular to higher education. An opening section reviews the basic premises of TQM and differentiates between two perspectives on the approach: the first see…