Explores the issue of survival as department chair, examining three interrelated threats to the chairperson's well-being: role conflict, changes in collegial relationships, and job- related stress. Considers reasons for accepting appointment and some practical matters for chairs who serve in a term appointment. (PA)

States that, because teaching and scholarship are expected of all faculty, the broad roles that seem unique to the chair are academic and administrative leadership, resource acquisition and allocation, and constituent relationships/boundary spanning. Comments on and amplifies these requirements and discusses some tensions that arise for the…

Relates one educator's experiences spanning 16 years as a department chair in both public and private universities. Considers what the role of a chairperson should be. (PA)

Examines the qualifications and administrative responsibilities of department heads as listed in "Spectra," the Speech Communication Association's monthly newsletter. Finds that over 75% of the listings indicated the doctorate or other terminal degree as a requirement; over half wanted previous administrative experience; nearly 70%…

Discusses assessment with a focus on the speech communication discipline. Addresses the challenge communication administrators and educators continually face. (PA)

Discusses components of credibility for academic departments from the local (on campus) view and from the cosmopolitan (disciplinary) perspective. (SR)

Describes the management of academic departments in a university in Beijing (People's Republic of China). Discusses university structure and the role of academic chairpersons within this structure, how faculty are motivated through reward systems, and the role of politics in Chinese universities. (SR)

Questions survey results which find oral communication education alive and well in higher education. Argues that those outside the discipline need to be educated about the nature of speech communication education and that a concerted effort must be made by faculty and administrators to reinforce the academic credibility of the discipline. (PA)

Studies characteristics of hybrid speech/theater departments that describe themselves as highly cooperative and collegial. Presents perceived advantages and disadvantages of having a combined speech/theater department and results of questions pertaining to administrative difficulties in combined departments. Discusses alternative theories about…

Describes the author's experiences finding an administrative home for theater departments, whether seceding from a communication arts department, or combining with other arts areas to form a new department. Offers recommendations and advice. (SR)

Extends the information from the 1994 Speech Communication Association (SCA) Graduate Directory, using the directory as a database. Generates cumulative and summary data. Recommends the inclusion of such data to extend information in the next graduate directory. (PA)

Describes how the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona faced elimination and survived by using a wide range of response options and by providing objective data in response to "faulty logic and spurious analysis." (SR)

Discusses specific activities for instituting participatory democracy as well as the benefits these activities have for departments that elect to engage in them. Uses the Communication Studies Department at San Jose State University as an exemplar. Highlights some projects to show one direction in which the public sphere seems to be changing. (PA)

Describes how the Speech Communication Department at the University of Nebraska was targeted for elimination and survived. Addresses why it is necessary for the communication discipline to take an advocacy role, and provides thoughts about how departments can defend themselves from future attacks. (SR)

Discusses experiences with responsibility-centered management for communications programs at Indiana University-Bloomington. Points out three problems with university fiscal planning which bear directly on communications programs. (SR)