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…

The principal goal of this research paper is to gain knowledge of leadership roles in academic systems. Principals, heads, and directors are in positions of leadership in educational institutions. It is the responsibility of leaders to support and direct individuals in the proper implementation of their duties and responsibilities, to provide…

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…

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…

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…

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…

This study assessed Heads of Departments' effectiveness in providing academic leadership at the departmental level. I research question and 2 hypotheses were formulated to give direction to this investigation. Survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 110 Heads of Departments from 2 universities in Cross River…

There is a major participation gap in academic leadership positions for China-born faculty working in the U.S. higher education when compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Various factors may have contributed to this startling, disproportionately low representation of China-born faculty. The extant literature reveals a dearth of studies on…

This article is based on conversations between a mother and daughter about academic leadership. Both authors served in different time periods and at different career points as heads of departments ("chairs") in Canadian universities. A literature review suggested that women's academic leadership is a contested topic, especially in…

The purpose of this study was to understand academic leadership's views of the field of school psychology. This is the first study that has attempted to incorporate the views of historically Black college and university (HBCU) Psychology Department Chairs' regarding the field of school psychology and the potential development of school psychology…

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first purpose is to inform faculty who are thinking of becoming a department head about the challenges they face if they choose to pursue a department head opportunity. The second purpose is to provide insight into the leadership of the accounting departments by looking at various workload aspects of…