In higher education, the discursive establishment of 'faculty' vs. 'administrator' creates a dualistic, hierarchical structure, informing relationalities between/within ourselves and faculty. As administrators, we found/find ourselves in relational encounters, entanglements of material-discursive bodies, that we were/are a part of producing. In…

This book examines tensions and challenges in the professional lives and identities of contemporary academics. Drawing on extensive interviews conducted over seven years with academics in the United States and the United Kingdom, the authors analyze the experiences of four types of academics as they respond and adjust to the demands of…

This article outlines how resource deployment from the top down can provide support for faculty seeking to implement a marketing curriculum that is focused on teaching digital marketing. Data from this exploratory study suggest that if the higher administration, particularly the dean, is familiar with what happens in the digital marketing…

A friend and fellow academic recently told the author that her dean, who directs a professional school at a state university, spends most of his time at conferences hanging out with professors from his institution, as well as with their graduate students and his co-authors on research papers. She said, and the author agreed, that such habits…

In 1964, Eric Berne, MD, captured one's imagination when he wrote "Games People Play", in which he described some common life experiences as repetitive social exercises requiring participants to assume specific roles to achieve an objective or situation about which they were not always aware. He provided fairly involved transactional analyses of…

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International adopted accreditation standards in 2003 that required business schools to develop new ways of assessing student learning. In this article, the authors report the results of a survey of current assessment practices at 138 AACSB-accredited schools. Of particular interest…

The article examines the process of faculty searches for deans and other administrators, looking at the process of selecting a search committee and discussing the problems with traditional search methods. Recommendations for streamlining the process and making it more equitable are presented. (SM)

Deans and department chairs can help faculty members experiencing conflicting expectations cope with role ambiguities about research and teaching, encourage communication among faculty in diverse scholarly fields, and help students place faculty research activities in perspective. (Author/MSE)

Commonly-held ideas about the way a "professional" administrator should behave are destructive of good liberal arts teaching. Deans must understand that faculty commitment to teaching well is tied to the degree of responsibility and voice given in making decisions about curriculum and mission. (Author/MSE)

The wonders of the information technology (IT) revolution have landed hard and fast on college campuses bringing with them a myriad of challenges for academic leaders. A group of Chief Academic Officers met to discuss the challenges of technology on their campuses. They identified three categories that have implications for organization and…

As campus computing is decentralized, new responsibilities will devolve to deans. These can be met by appointing faculty committees to develop academic computing plans for teaching and research, assigning departmental staff to administrative systems project development teams, and forming new alliances with directors responsible for academic and…

The academic program represents the major thrust of an institution of higher education toward the achievement of its objectives. An effective structure for academic organization is essential. Within such a structure, clarity of procedure is needed in both the development of academic policies and in the implementation of these policies. The Office…

The Community College Student Success Think Tank, part of the Community College Student Success Project, funded by Lumina Foundation for Education, brings student and academic affairs officers together with institutional researchers to reflect on trends and issues surrounding data-driven decision making in community colleges. Participants consider…

A college dean who has returned to full-time college teaching reflects on the differences in roles of administrator and faculty member, comparative benefits and disadvantages of the two positions, skills that transfer well, and his changed perspective on students. He recommends more and better communication between faculty and administration. (MSE)

Enrollment management--including diverse functions such as institutional mission clarification, long-range planning, academic program development, marketing, recruiting, admissions, financial aid, orientation, registration, retention, and career planning and placement--intimately involves academic departments, their leaders, and faculty as well as…