Academic Leadership

Creating a Culture of Excellence for Graduate Teaching Assistants

A colleague at another institution, “Bill,” recently contacted me with a problem. Bill’s program is under fire for low exam scores and cognitive learning achievement in one of its largest general education courses. Campus administrators had generated a variety of theories: Test items were biased against non-white students, the reading level of the required textbook was too high for this school’s population, classes were too large. Most upsetting to Bill was the speculation that his department was unqualified to teach the course!

Jennifer H. Waldeck, PhD September 25, 2017

Tips for New Online Faculty Deans: A Faculty Perspective

We know that strong leaders empower and genuinely care for those whom they lead. That empowerment and care is not expressed by the words they speak, but by their everyday interactions with the people around them.

In academic settings, leaders serve as models for how faculty can more effectively empower students. If these leaders are simply calling it in, then their faculty, especially new faculty, may experience dissatisfaction in the workplace and may eventually follow those negative examples. In the online world where facial expressions and body language are not visible, it is vital that online faculty deans adopt a ‘virtual body language’ that demonstrates a genuine interest in their faculty. Here are some tips for online faculty deans that may lead to a more positive faculty experience and even stronger faculty engagement and performance.

Noura Badawi, EdD September 22, 2017

Creating an Effective Faculty Mentoring Program

Recruiting and hiring new faculty is time intensive and expensive. Despite the difficulties, hiring decisions are clearly among the most important that academic administrators ever make. The success of college programs and universities is directly correlated with hiring the right people and then providing them with the essential resources to succeed and excel in their work.

Ken Alford, PhD, and Tyler Griffin, PhD August 11, 2017

Call for Proposals: 2017 Leadership in Higher Education Conference

If you serve in a leadership role on campus, here’s your chance to get involved in a conference developed just for academic leaders.

Brought to you by Magna Publications, producers of Academic Leader newsletter and the Teaching Professor Conference, the Leadership in Higher Education Conference is accepting speaking proposals for its 2nd annual conference, Oct. 19–21 in Baltimore.

Magna Publications January 12, 2017

Six Ways to Improve Your Department’s Teaching Climate

In the same way a classroom’s climate is created jointly by teacher and student actions, a department’s teaching climate results from collective contributions. Of course, department chairs and other administrators play key leadership roles, but they alone are not responsible for creating the teaching climate. We all contribute by what we say and do regarding teaching. Sometimes we say and do nothing, and this too becomes part of the culture.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD June 1, 2016

Call for Proposals: Leadership in Higher Education Conference

If you serve in a leadership role on campus, here’s your chance to get involved in a new conference developed just for academic leaders.

Mary Bart May 3, 2016

Weighing the Evidence of New Instructional Policies, Practices, and Behaviors

During a conversation about evidence-based teaching, a faculty member piped up with some enthusiasm and just a bit of pride, “I’m using an evidence-based strategy.” He described a rather unique testing structure and concluded, “There’s a study that found it significantly raised exam scores.” He shared the reference with me afterward and it’s a solid study—not exceptional, but good.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD February 17, 2016

Things I Wish My Department Chair Would Say about Teaching

I’m imagining that this department head works at an institution where budgets are tight, everyone works hard at recruitment and retention, and teaching is an important part of the institution’s mission. The wishes aren’t in any particular order.

Maryellen Weimer, PhD February 10, 2016

Managing Student Complaints

Knowing how to handle student complaints is an essential skill for department chairs. In an interview with Academic Leader, Patricia Markunas, chair of the psychology department at Salem State University, offered advice on minimizing the number of complaints and managing those that do make it to the department chair.

Rob Kelly September 10, 2015

Where Does Innovative Teaching Come From?

There’s a long-standing tradition of informal sharing of pedagogical innovation among K-12 teachers and a whole line of research on this phenomenon, which is known as teacher leadership. The same type of informal faculty leadership exists in higher education as well, but there is very little research on this topic, according to Pete Turner, education faculty member and director of the Teacher Education Institute at Estrella Mountain Community College.

Rob Kelly July 27, 2015

Academic Leadership

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