Academic department chairs are middle managers in higher education that have unique positions within an institution. This study examined novice department chairs' leadership identity within eastern United States community colleges. Novice was defined as a person having three or fewer years of experience in the department chair position. The gap in…

Nine higher education institutional administrators who embraced and supported OER (Open Educational Resources) implementation on their campuses were interviewed. As a generic, qualitative, inductive study, the goal of the research was to uncover what motivated them to lend their time and energy to such an initiative; how they perceived the value…

The Netflix series, "The Chair," illustrates a dramatic portrayal of the role of the chair. The reality of the department chair's role is complex and becoming more so. The inherent structure of the department chair is rife with paradoxes. Following a brief overview of the leadership literature and a quick summary of "The Chair"…

Despite the abundance of research linking leadership behaviours to organisational effectiveness in various sectors, there is a lack of empirical studies that investigate how leadership behaviours influence performance in the context of research universities. The present study examined the effects of leadership behaviours on departmental…

In this chapter, we extend the conventional expectations of midlevel academic leadership to include emotional labor. To do so, we draw on examples salient to academic department chairs, who are the ultimate example of midlevel leaders: sitting between senior-level leaders and a cadre of disciplinary- and departmentally-based peers. After defining…

Leaders in higher education face increasing pressure to ensure their institutions are well-positioned to adapt to our changing world. As part of responding to these demands, a growing number of institutions have established dedicated teams of in-house experts to support this work and the culture change around it, broadly termed academic change or…

Processes of market-making and regulation are recalibrating the work of teacher education. While an established body of research has examined changes to the content and control of teacher education in the UK and internationally, the impact of audit-based accountability on the work of academic leaders is neglected. This study explores the career…

Climate studies that measure equity and inclusion among faculty reveal widespread gender and race disparities in higher education. The chilly departmental climate that women and faculty of color experience is typically measured through university-wide surveys. Although inclusion plays out at the department level, research rarely focuses on…

Heads of department (HoDs) are commonly made responsible for implementing gender balance change in academia. Research has found that they are often reluctant to take ownership of this problem. Our study found that department heads in Norway did take on a lot of ownership for gender balance change and we divided their leadership approaches with…

Learning more about the role of the academic department in LACs may improve faculty selection, development, support, and retention. Knowledge based on research about other institution types cannot be assumed to be generalizable to LACs. We know little about departmental contexts of faculty work in liberal arts colleges (LACs). The purpose of this…

In the competitive context of Division I (DI) intercollegiate sport, an unwillingness to undertake change can often reflect the attitudes of complacency on the part of stakeholders, that their institution is doing an adequate job in providing the optimal experience for its student-athletes, or resignation, that they can do no more to increase…

Leadership roles in higher education are still held predominately by white male leaders while women of color, especially, struggle to be recognized, hired, and/or appointed as leaders. In popular culture, though there have been films and television series that focus on student life on campus, there have been few representations of life as a leader…

Higher education institutions in Cameroon have undergone a major transformation (since the 1993 reforms) with a major objective to improve on the quality of graduates. However, concerns about leaders who are central to the implementation of these reforms have not been taken seriously. We live in a,multicultural context, especially in Cameroon with…

As institutions seek to shift into more advanced analytics and data-based decision-support, many institutional research offices face the challenge of meeting the office's current demands while taking on more intricate and specialized work to support decision-making. Given the great need organizations have for information that supports real-time…

Advancements in technology have altered the skills sets needed by the workforce. The demand for increased knowledge has created a skills gap in the nation's workforce. A large number of middle-skill jobs are left unfilled; jobs which require more than a high school education but less than a four-year degree. Community colleges have the ability to…