New training helps department chairs
Archived article from Oct 29, 1999
By Pam Orel
Joseph Seneca, university vice president for academic affairs, has held several challenging jobs. But he doesn't hesitate to name the one that proved the toughest to master.
"The hardest job that I ever had was being a department chair -- but it ultimately proved to be one of the most rewarding," said Seneca, former chair of the economics department at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences-New Brunswick.
"A department chair has to be a creative leader, a mentor to new faculty, an advocate in dealings with other administrators, a motivator and manager, a diplomat and an effective fund-raiser, a space planner, a budget analyst and a public spokesperson."
Seneca gave the keynote address at an Oct. 15 pilot workshop designed to help new department chairs consider the connections between being a leader and an administrator while also being a scholar and teacher.
The workshop is the initial step in a new Academic Leadership Program. It was developed by a planning committee that included Barry Qualls, humanities dean of FAS-New Brunswick and former chair of the English department; Barbara Bender, associate dean for academic support and graduate student services with the Graduate School-New Brunswick; Karen Stubaus, executive associate for academic affairs and personnel; and Brent Ruben, executive director of the Rutgers Office for Organizational Quality and Communication Improvement. Ruben is also a professor of communication with the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies.
The leadership program, under the auspices of the university vice president for academic affairs, is among the recommendations of the Rutgers Academic Leadership Committee, created as a part of Rutgers' participation in a national program on leadership sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Michigan University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California-Berkeley are also creating new initiatives to boost the administrative and leadership skills of department chairs.
"This is a recognition of the complex role a chairperson plays in the leadership of an academic unit and in meeting the needs of faculty, staff, students and other key groups," said Ruben.
Panelists, many of them veteran chairs or former chairs, said at first they felt ill-prepared for the demands or the complexities of the job.
"There were so many administrative tasks I didn't know about, and I had worked at Rutgers for years," recalled Qualls.
"We are trained as scientists, and not everyone comes to the chair's post with a background in administration," said Lena B. Brattsten, professor and interim chair of the department of entomology at Cook College.
"Choose what to give up," advised Tom Montville, professor and chair of the department of food science. "Professors are fully employed before they become chairs. Being chair displaces something else in your life. Don't, by default, let it be something you love.
"Never underestimate the collective intelligence of the faculty," Montville added. "As a group, your colleagues are a tremendous resource."
Other plans for helping new chairs include:
--A Web site listing important administrative deadlines as well as names of contacts and resources for resolving problems.
--A mentoring project that would link newly appointed chairs with veteran or former chairs in other disciplines.
--A series of luncheon meetings, called the Academic Leadership Forum, that will be open to both new and veteran chairs and will foster collective learning and interdisciplinary exchange on the chair's role.
The first such gathering, to focus on legal challenges that chairs sometimes confront, is set for Nov. 30. Speakers will include David Scott, university counsel, and Barbara Lee, professor and chair of the department of human resource management, School of Management and Labor Relations, and director of Rutgers' Center for Women and Work.
For more information about the initiative, contact Ruben at ext. 2-1420 or via e-mail at Ruben@rci.rutgers.edu.
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