State educational accountability models are in transition. Whether modifying the present accountability system to comply with existing state and federal requirements or anticipating new ones--such as the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) Race to the Top competition--recording the experiences of state education agencies (SEAs) that are currently…

Discusses the obligations of spending donor money at the university level: stewardship, donors' expectations, how to get maximum benefit from the money, and best projects to support. (PA)

This Facilitator's Guide is based on What Education Leaders Should Know about Virtual Education, an online course designed by the Center on Instruction and the New England Comprehensive Center. The Facilitator's Guide demonstrates step-by-step how to build the course on a learning management system (LMS) and provides instructions on all phases of…

Change itself often threatens efficiency. This is ironic, given that organizational changes are frequently made because of a need for increased efficiency. Academic departments within a wide variety of institutions are wrestling with this irony on a daily basis. Expanding systems and staffing, and adoption of new computer systems, all intended to…

Promoting academic departmental productivity requires vision, passion, and sensitivity while coping with the rapid pace of change. This paper presents 10 proven strategies for managing some common challenges faced by academic department chairs: (1) building a sense of family purpose; (2) establishing mechanisms to assure accountability; (3)…

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…

Ways are discussed for making faculty assessment an integral part of a department. Suggestions relate to developing career plans, specifying goals, identifying skills, conducting regular reviews, and locating assessment within the departmental and institutional culture. Guidelines and procedures are illustrated with sample letters and third-year…

Tells stories, somewhat fictionalized, that may help English chairs frame the discussion on curricular revision. Describes the institutional and management issues chairs need to explore when they think about initiating the curriculum debate. Considers departmental structural issues, campus structural issues, organizational issues, and a set of…

Addresses the "community" within an English department. Considers what image of the department the author can have that allows the possibility of forgiving one another. Discusses what metaphors describe the department: a lifeboat; a hive; a monastery; an ecosystem; or a minefield. Considers how metaphors account for the best and the worst things…

Discusses what it means to work in and chair an English department in a University of Excellence. Clarifies what a university dedicated to excellence means in his experience. Suggests that the effort to show excellence is fundamentally about making an account, a narrative that inspires public credulity. (SG)

A revision of one published in April 1985, this checklist yields useful information for preparing self-study reports. Questions are categorized as follows: data on community and institution; goals and priorities; curriculum; faculty; teaching; students; operational activities; and resources. (Contains one reference.) (LB)

Suggestions for a new language department chair are presented. They include the following: assemble teams to help; be accessible; learn administrative details; make decisions; create a procedures manual; be chair of all the department; and be an individual. (LB)

A discussion of conflict in academic departments describes current philosophies in conflict resolution, including a principled approach emphasizing positive benefits. Structures within organizations that inherently create conflict are identified, and various strategies for dealing with conflict are outlined based on one theory of response modes.…

A discussion of college faculty renewal looks at the word's etymology and at concrete ways for departments and their administrators to promote quality faculty research. It also describes four archetypal examples of faculty in need of research renewal, each related to literary history and the workings of a research committee. (Author/MSE)