Toolkit for Department Chairs

Jeffrey L. Buller is dean of the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College at Florida Atlantic University. He holds a doctorate in classics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of eight books on academic leadership, one book on Wagnerian opera, a textbook for first-year college students, 22 articles of academic research, 121 articles on higher education administration, and 114 essays and reviews. With Bob, he is a senior partner in ATLAS Leadership Training, which conducts workshops for administrators all over the world, and serves as a consultant to the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia in its development of a region-wide Academic Leadership Center.Robert E. Cipriano is chair and professor emeritus of the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at Southern Connecticut State University. He has a doctorate from New York University in Therapeutic Recreation, Area of Concentration in College Teaching. He is the author of a book on collegiality in higher education, three textbooks, chapters in three additional textbooks, and more than 160 journal articles. He has been awarded more than $9 million in grants and contracts and delivered in excess of 250 presentations in the U.S., Asia and the Middle East.

• CONTENTSPREFACEACKNOWLEDGEMENTSINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER 1 HIRING AND EVALUATING FACULTY MEMBERSCHAPTER 2 MENTORING FACULTY MEMBERSCHAPTER 3 PROMOTING TEAMWORK AND COLLEGIALITYCHAPTER 4 COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELYCHAPTER 5 MANAGING CONFLICTCHAPTER 6 MAKING DECISIONSCHAPTER 7 BUDGETINGEPILOGUE OUR REFLECTIONS

Buller and Cipriano’s A Toolkit for Department Chairs offers readers exactly what the title suggests—tools that department chairs might utilize to strengthen their leadership skills and abilities. Organized in a straightforward, concise, and thoughtful manner, chapters include scenarios combined with activities and advice, illuminating the complex world of academic administration in exceptionally accessible ways. Covering hiring and evaluating practices, mentorship, teamwork and collegiality, communication, conflict, decision-making, and budgeting, chapters have real-world relevance, hitting right to the heart of many of the challenges administrators face. . . .Overall, the text makes clear that there are almost never easy answers to the challenges a chair will face, but that thinking through the possibilities can facilitate stronger decision-making, an outcome this text could certainly help achieve.