Most mathematics instructors who are appointed chair of their department are "promoted" from within. Therefore, they are immediately transformed from one of the group into the most visible and directly accessible boss of the math faculty. Before they took over the responsibility, they were insulated from dealing with the administrative upper echelons and could form opinions, cultivate select friends in the department and take sides on departmental issues. After they assume the leadership role, they now have to deal directly with organizational administrators and they run the risk of hearing a cry of "favoritism" if they carry out their previous social intercourse. Most members of a department want the chair to act as the first among equals, except when it is a cause that is near to their heart. In that case, they have no problem with the chair showing a bit of a dictatorial streak. Such a transition to the chair is a hard one, made all the more difficult because you are essentially on your own. Support among your former peers is fleeting, depending on how they view your decisions. In many cases, you are expected to continue to do almost everything you did before, along with your new duties. Up until now, there been no guidebook regarding what to expect and how to juggle the many responsibilities. This book is a manual for what to expect in the new role as chair as well as some advice in how to deal with the problems. All institutions have their differences, so the contributors try to be as general as possible in their scenarios.
Situations such as managing difficult faculty protected under the tenure umbrella, handling decisions to grant or refuse tenure, dealing with irate students, budget restrictions, student recruitment, a myriad of legal issues and generally just keeping your sanity are all covered. There is no sugar coating here, the contributors are up front and honest about how difficult and unrewarding the job can be. There are also short articles written by administrators such as the president, dean and provost, giving their perspective on the role of the department chair.
I strongly recommend that anyone who is potentially in line to become department chair read this book. It may be your only hope.
Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.
Product Description
Being an academic department chair is a profession for which there are few resources--either for those doing the job who have lots of questions but few answers,or as preparation for those who are just beginning and may not know all the questions to ask.In either case, you now have a rich resource from the Mathematical Association of America to which you can turn for ideas, guidance, and reflection on the unique and critical position in academe you occupy
Leading the Mathematical Sciences Department: A Resource for Chairs provides insights and advice from mathematical science department chairs and administrators.The focus is on leadership rather than the technical details of management.The Wisdom of Practice contains advice from presidents, vice-presidents, provosts, deans, and chairs.The Case Studies are scenarios based upon real situations encountered by chairs.Some may sound very familiar.There are no answers but instead the cases are intended for you to think about how you would handle the situation. The Issues papers cover topics that chairs told us they wanted to know about and present strategies by the writers of the papers.
The book can provide you with a self-guided professional development experience as you think through the cases and issues or you can work through the book with colleagues, using it as a basis for discussion.Although the book targets chairs of departments of mathematical sciences, the material will be useful to chairs of all academic departments.
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