This study reports on the job challenges and corresponding response strategies that department chairs at graduate and undergraduate colleges and universities encounter and rely upon. Literature and research related to marketing department chairs, marketing education, and marketing majors indicates that business schools have come under attack by business leaders who call for marketing chairs to emphasize teaching excellence, establish relationships with business, and develop a vision for the future. Communities are challenging business schools to provide an adequately prepared labor pool, and here too the ultimate responsibility falls on the department chair. A stratified random sample (n=100) out of a total population of 676 public four-year colleges and universities was surveyed for the study. The sample included 50 marketing department or division chairs from graduate institutions and 50 from undergraduate institutions. Analysis of the survey found that the primary challenges at both graduate and undergraduate institutions included faculty, curriculum, money, and quality issues. Primary response strategies for dealing with these challenges included developing partnerships, curriculum reviews, and seeking external dollars. Few significant differences were identified between the chairs from the two different types of institutions. (Contains 22 references.) (RH)