The Division of Information and Academic Services (DIAS) is a large service division (over 400 staff) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). In 2002 it supported a novel one-month rotation of roles by the three department directors. The rotation was conceived as an important professional development opportunity for each of the directors and…

Quality assurance is an important subject in modern universities. After discussing several theoretical aspects of quality and quality assurance, the authors conclude that the care taken by heads of academic departments or directors of academic schools in the process of quality assurance may be regarded as one of the key elements of ensuring good…

This study examined the career behaviors of department chairs in higher education and investigated possible context variables which may correlate with specific identified patterns of career movement. A total of 808 department chairs from 101 institutions were sent a questionnaire survey. The participants were distributed over eight Biglan model…

Published by National Open Education Association, Center for Open Education, Box 6345, Norfolk, Virginia 23508.

General fund resource allocation and utilization in 27 academic departments at the University of California, Santa Barbara, during 1977-1984 were examined. A two-step research methodology was employed to provide a comprehensive analysis of possible budgetary determinants. The first step entailed a pooled multivariate regression analysis with eight…

Both smaller and larger school districts allocate 3 percent of total budgets, or $4.00 per pupil, for program evaluation. Of this $4.00, $3.00 is spent on outcome or process evaluation, 60 cents on program planning/needs assessment, and 40 cents on dissemination/utilization. Findings are from an evaluation budget procedures survey of evaluation…

A survey was conducted to determine current practices in selecting/electing division chairmen at community colleges nationwide. An inquiry was sent to 58 colleges asking how division/department chairpersons were chosen, to whom they were accountable, term length, the advantages and disadvantages of the system in use, and which system (election or…

The perceived environments of departments in five graduate fields were studied in a longitudinal study of a large sample of students. Students' perceptions of the administrative, peer, academic, and general environments of the departments were examined by an extensive questionnaire. The "environments" of the fields differed in plausible ways, each…

This publication presents and discusses the program priorities identified by 63 program managers from 10 of the 11 divisions of the New Jersey State Department of Education. The individual program priorities were prepared in response to eight overall objectives established by the State Commissioner of Education. For the purposes of analysis, the…

Introduction of faculty development programs into a university through department chairs and deans rather than faculty found deans to respond with more emotional distance but greater readiness to conceptualize applications and make helpful arrangements. Chairpersons generally reacted more defensively, discounting faculty problems or the…

A study of criteria for promotion, tenure, and merit in college departments of health education revealed that fewer than half the colleges responding had a written policy on faculty advancement and that more than half the department chairpersons reported dissatisfaction with their institutions' policies. Suggested criteria are listed. (PP)

Results of a national survey in which college department chairpersons ranked the competencies they thought necessary for their positions are presented. Chairpersons, regardless of discipline or department or institution size, agree on needed skills that can be the basis of an effective professional development program. (MSE)

A survey of 138 chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology department heads investigated the relationship between the administrator's graduate school department quality and the formality of sanctioning of colleagues for violating each of the four norms of science. The results and implications for professional socialization within disciplines…

Allied health faculty (n=234), 44 chairpersons, and 27 deans in public university health centers had similar views regarding research orientation and rewards. Faculty and department chairs had a higher teaching orientation than deans. Tenure-track faculty expressed less belief that rewards influence teaching than did tenured faculty or…

This article presents an analysis of the results of a survey conducted with foreign language program directors and coordinators in American university foreign language departments. The goal of the survey was twofold. First, it aimed to compile a profile of these individuals: their backgrounds, research, and teaching and coordinating…