Academic deans in higher education can benefit from various types of mentoring to compensate for limited, formal administrative training. Using a nationally disseminated survey, we examined academic dean engagement with critical friends as one form of mentoring for their leadership development. The national survey included 27 items addressing…

The purpose of this article is to explore how social forces related to the corporatization of universities play out at the granular level of institutional mission and vision statements in the racialized context of Canadian Kinesiology. The stated aims of Canadian Kinesiology academic units (N = 36) were collected from their public-facing websites,…

This paper describes the development of a three-phase approach our team of educational developers finds useful in curriculum projects in our Teaching and Learning Centre. Informed by the literature on the importance of flexibility and iteration (Knight, 2001; Wolf, 2007) and an orientation towards Appreciative Inquiry (Srivastra & Cooperrider,…

This research provides an analysis of disciplines and disciplinary differences regarding the pedagogical value and content of post-graduate teaching certificates in higher education. Findings and recommendations are based upon a survey (N = 450) of department heads and doctoral students at Canadian research-focused universities. Participants were…

The academy is widely reported to be going through a period of transformation: not just changes to what is taught, but threats to tenure and internal funding, perhaps balanced by new possibilities for external funding and interdisciplinary projects. This article discusses a recently conducted survey of US and Canadian Philosophy departments, in an…

We surveyed researchers in the health and exercise sciences to explore different areas and magnitudes of bias in researchers' decision making. Participants were presented with scenarios (testing a central hypothesis with p = 0.06 or p = 0.04) in a random order and surveyed about what they would do in each scenario. Participants showed significant…

This article provides a detailed description and analysis of how one Canadian institution used groups of department heads as change agents to address their most acute department head role tensions. It is demonstrated that this institution's change initiative aligned very closely to the recommendations proposed, in both the literature pertaining to…

Growth in the field of medical education is evidenced by the proliferation of units dedicated to advancing Medical Education Research and Innovation (MERI). While a review of the literature discovered narrative accounts of MERI unit development, we found no systematic examinations of the dimensions of and structures that facilitate the success of…

In the light of recent challenges facing the field of outdoor adventure education in higher education, this exploratory study sought to identify some of the underlying political and institutional factors and societal influences on an international level that have led to the success of some programmes and the closure of others. Thirty-eight outdoor…

There are countless reports stressing the economic and societal benefits to be gained from improved science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education for all students. Although there is extensive research on alternative teaching methods that increase student learning and are practical to implement, the combined efforts of federal…

Reviews the slow development of communication and journalism departments in Canadian universities and colleges. (PD)

Discusses the role of the University of Toronto's humanities chair in dealing with other disciplines at the university. (MM)

Explores the process of horizontal differentiation by examining events leading to the establishment of 30 new departments in five universities. Two types of horizontal differentiation processes--administrative and academic--were observed and each was associated with different organizational conditions. (Author/IRT)

A survey of citations made and publications cited by all Canadian university economists in 1975 show that the top decile of individuals received 72 percent of all citations and 50 percent received none. Age profiles of citations, self-citation propensities, and journals of publication are analyzed from a sub-sample. (MSE)

Examines how chairpersons of physical education departments in North American universities identify and manage their marginal faculty members, in the context of an exploratory model suggested by O'Reilly and Wietz (1980). Up to 15% of faculty members are perceived as being nonproductive or marginal, but very few are ever dismissed. Proposes some…