What makes an academic leader effective? How can the myths surrounding academic leadership induce college presidents to make poor judgments? Can a college president really make a difference in whether an institution is successful in achieving its goals? In this book, Robert Birnbaum reveals the complex factors that influence the real and perceived effectiveness of academic leaders. Drawing on the results of a five-year longitudinal study by the Institutional Leadership Project, he explains how college and university leaders in various types of institutions interact and communicate, assess their own and others' effectiveness, establish goals, transmit values, and make sense of the ambiguous and dynamic organizations in which they work. And Birnbaum tells how presidents can maintain critical constituent support, increase their effectiveness, and ultimately help renew their college's values and spirit.
In Positive Academic Leadership, Jeffrey Buller offers new insights and practical tools, as well as language and tactics, for fostering a more effective approach to leadership. With acumen and a dash of humor, he shows leaders how they can take the focus off the negative and change what they say, their perspectives, and their strategies. This more constructive leadership style plays to the strengths of leaders rather than to the weaknesses of their institutions. Offering time-tested and fresh ideas for becoming the type of leader who acts as a coach, counselor, and conductor for faculty, staff, and students, Buller demonstrates how positive leadership can become a day-to-day practice. With its down-to-earth style, the book draws on the most current research on positive leadership in neuroscience, psychology, management, organizational behavior, and other disciplines and translates their lessons into readable and accessible recommendations. It then makes these recommendations come to life by providing real-world examples that illustrate how to implement positive leadership strategies in all spheres of the leader’s activities and institution. Positive Academic Leadership is a wise guide for transforming any leader’s attitude about inevitable daily crises into manageable challenges that are based on a philosophy of accepting the environment and situation but working to make things better.
Reframing Academic Leadership Reframing Academic Leadership is the go-to guide for deepening leadership commitment, capacity, and impact. Gallos and Bolman tease out the unique opportunities and challenges in academic leadership and present powerful ideas and tools to guide and assist college and university administrators in: Creating campus environments that facilitate creativity and commitment Forging vital alliances and partnerships in service of the mission Building campus cultures and shared vision that unite and inspire Crafting institutional structures and strategies that foster innovation and excellence In this updated edition, the authors integrate time-tested conceptual frameworks with rich and compelling real-world cases and tackle contemporary, high-impact issues such as changes in the professoriate and in student populations, funding shortfalls, equity and social justice, the double-edged sword of technology, managing conflict and crisis, ethics and governance, and strengthening leadership agility and resolve. This readable, intellectually provocative, and pragmatic book is for all who care deeply about higher education, are committed to making it better, and understand its potential to transform lives, families, communities, organizations, and nations. Leadership matters more than ever, and Reframing Academic Leadership offers the seminal framework for understanding and leading in higher education today. PRAISE FOR REFRAMING ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP | 1st ED “Reframing Academic Leadership is the most comprehensive book on the topic and an excellent source of knowledge for faculty and managerial leaders in every college and university. An invaluable resource for students of higher education leadership!” —MAUREEN SULLIVAN, Past President, American Library Association and Association of College and Research Libraries “Reframing Academic Leadership provides a compassionate understanding of the stresses of leadership in higher education. It offers insights to those who do not fully appreciate why higher education is so hard to ‘manage’ and validation for those entirely familiar with this world. I recommend it enthusiastically.” —JUDITH BLOCK MCLAUGHLIN, Senior lecturer on education and faculty chair of the Harvard Seminar for New Presidents and the Harvard Seminar for Presidential Leadership, Harvard Graduate School of Education “Bolman and Gallos provide a refreshing view of leadership essential for those assuming presidencies and other important leadership positions in higher education. This work is a bedside reference for aspiring and current leadership in higher education not only in the U.S. but also abroad.” —FERNANCO LEON GARCIA, President, Sistema CETYS Universidad, Baja California, Mexico “Bolman and Gallos have written a practical, lucid text that brings together illustrative vignettes and robust frameworks for diagnosing and managing colleges and universities. I recommend it to new and experienced administrators who will routinely confront difficult people, structures, and cultures in their workplaces.” —CHRISTOPHER MORPHEW, Dean, School of Education, Johns Hopkins University “Reframing Academic Leadership is filled with real-world examples from leaders. The book reads like a guide for leading a chamber music rehearsal where one’s role constantly shifts from star to servant and where multiple answers may be ‘right’.” —PETER WHITE, Dean and Professor of Conducting, Conservatory of Music, University of the Pacific
Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all. Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal. How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes: Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.
As the responsibilities entailed in being a department chairperson are ever evolving, those who occupy the position must continually adapt and build upon their skills in order to meet new challenges and expectations. In the first edition of Academic Leadership, Deryl R. Leaming helped thousands of chairpersons navigate changes in higher education and effectively lead their departments. While maintaining its focus on practical application, this new edition has been significantly revised and expanded to address new aspects of the role of department chairs. Now organized into six parts, the second edition contains best practices and ideas from some of today's leading scholars. It also incorporates information on emerging challenges and expectations for department chairpersons, including Developing a departmental vision Working with constituents Retaining students Conflict management Mentoring faculty Post-tenure review Written to assist chairpersons in carrying out their duties, each concise chapter offers advice and practical suggestions for aspiring, new, and experienced chairpersons. Readers are provided with the expectations of the chair role as well as examples for handling specific tasks. In addition, this book encourages chairpersons to analyze their departments in order to effect improvement and develop their own approaches to solving problems. Featuring useful checklists, tables, and sample forms, this book also provides practical tools on the key areas of chair work—departmental management; interacting with faculty, students, and upper administration; financial matters; legal issues; assessment and evaluation. This invaluable resource will help guide chairpersons through the many responsibilities of their position.
"One of the best theoretical and applied analyses of universityacademic organization and leadership in print. This book issignificant because it is not only thoughtfully developed and basedon careful reading of the extensive literature on leadership andgovernance, but it is also deliberately intended to enable theauthor to bridge the gap between theories of organization, on onehand, and practical application, on the other." --Journal of Higher Education
It can seem at times as though all of academic administration today is focused only on the need for continual change and the endless pursuit of "the big idea." But most academic leaders, from department chairs and program directors through university presidents and chancellors, are far too busy helping their institutions flourish for them to divert critical energy and resources to yet another untried theory or management principle. Academic Leadership Day by Day takes an entirely different approach to developing your proven academic leadership: It introduces one practical and field-tested idea each day for an entire academic year. Rather than requiring you to devote days or even weeks to administrative training (which may prove to be of little use in the end), this manual gives you no-nonsense suggestions that you can consider on even your busiest days. Experiment with the suggestions made each day, discover what works for you, and then build on your successes for the benefit of your institution and its programs. Significant improvements often result from small, gradual, and consistent efforts, and Academic Leadership Day by Day is your guide to becoming a more accomplished, confident academic leader a few minutes at a time.
DEVELOPMENT FOR ACADEMIC LEADERS In addition to their other duties, academic leaders are expected to network with potential donors and to be productive and enthusiastic fundraisers. More often than not, however, academic leaders are given little or no training on how to be savvy fundraisers for their institutions. Development for Academic Leaders is a much-needed resource that offers a concise yet comprehensive guide to fundraising for those who are new to the process. The book clarifies roles, responsibilities, programs, activities, politics, and funding sources as well as offering a review of the overall process. Written by Penelepe C. Hunt, a successful practitioner of and noted expert in academic fundraising, the book includes information on attracting and retaining effective development officers and contains suggestions for deans (and other campus leaders) for working effectively with these valued members of their institutions. Hunt introduces novice fundraisers to the cycle of giving (identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship) and provides information on how and when to take part in the fundraising process. She defines the various types of funding including annual gifts, major gifts, planned gifts, and principal gifts and reveals why ascertaining which type of gift will be most appealing to a donor is an important part of planning for a successful solicitation. Development for Academic Leaders also contains suggestions for overcoming reluctance on the part of leaders to ask potential donors for a gift. Hunt explains that donors do not give merely because our programs need and deserve support. They give because of their own desires, passions,and aspirations. Development for Academic Leaders also reveals the importance of participating in your institution's overall development communications efforts and offers a general overview of campaign and event principles and how you can use these funding strategies to the advantage of your college. For any academic leader who participates in their program's fundraising efforts, this important resource offers a wealth of information for becoming a creative, skilled, and successful part of the fundraising team.
In this stimulating collection of stories, ten academic leaders reflect from personal experience on leadership in place—an emergent mode of leadership that brings people together in order to effect organizational change. Originating from diverse sectors of the academy, each of the book's contributors brings a fresh and deeply human perspective on academic leadership theories and their effective applications. Leadership in Place calls for a shift in attitude about leaders and leadership. It departs from the hierarchical view that academic leadership flows from a leadership position, and instead embraces a more lateral view where leadership roles are available to everyone. It calls for a rethinking of how our colleges and universities are led and organized by discussing the following: Importance of strong academic communities in preserving the integrity of academic programs Empowerment of part-time faculty by combining adaptive and transformative learning models Opportunities for, benefits of, and challenges in collaborative leadership Problems that can emerge in times of leadership transitions and possible solutions Concept of leadership as an attribute of the many rather than the few Advocating for academics to reengage and recommit to their institutions, the book creates an agenda for what higher education must do to create conditions under which leadership in place is the norm rather than the exception.
A clear, systematic road map to effective campus leadership development Building Academic Leadership Capacity gives institutions the knowledge they need to invest in the next generation of academic leaders. With a clear, generalizable, systematic approach, this book provides insight into the elements of successful academic leadership and the training that makes it effective. Readers will explore original research that facilitates systematic, continuous program development, augmented by the authors' own insight drawn from experience establishing such programs. Numerous examples of current campus programs illustrate the concepts in action, and reflection questions lead readers to assess how they can apply these concepts to their own programs. The academic leader is the least studied and most misunderstood management position in America. Demands for accountability and the complexities of higher education leadership are increasing, and institutions need ways to shape leaders at the department chair, dean, and executive levels of all functions and responsibilities. This book provides a road map to an effective development program, whether the goal is to revamp an existing program or build one from the ground up. Readers will learn to: Develop campus leadership programs in a more systematic manner Examine approaches that have been proven effective at other institutions Consider how these approaches could be applied to your institution Give leaders the skills they need to overcome any challenge The field of higher education offers limited opportunity to develop leaders, so institutions must invest in and grow campus leaders themselves. All development programs are not created equal, so it's important to have the most effective methods in place from day one. For the institution seeking a better way to invest in the next generation of campus leaders, Building Academic Leadership Capacity is a valuable resource.
