Resources for Department Chairs
This page was designed to serve as a guide to department chairs seeking resources to aid them in the unique challenge of balancing administrative and academic responsibilities. If you have suggestions for items to be included on this page, please contact Julie Motyka, Reference Librarian, or Laurel Willingham-McLain, Director, Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence, Center for Teaching Excellence.
Topics of Interest
Academic Administration and Leadership
• Creating A Positive Departmental Climate: Principles for Best Practices
This document focuses on ways in which department chairs can foster an environment of transparency, uniformity, and assistance.
• Enhancing Department Climate: A Chair’s Role
A guide for department chairs to assist in building effective communication and a sense of community, promoting professional development, dealing with illegal behaviors, and dealing with personal issues of department members.
This site developed by the University of Missouri covers frequently asked questions about conflict mediation, including why mediation is valuable and which situations are appropriate for mediation.
Useful Books:
Assessment of Student Learning
The Academic Learning Outcomes Assessment Committee in collaboration with the Center for Teaching Excellence support faculty through print and online resources, consulting, workshops, and annual mini grants.
The administrative aspects of learning outcomes assessment are overseen through Academic Affairs. For information and forms relevant to learning assessment plans and annual reports, visit Academic Affairs' Assessment and Accreditation pages.
Evaluation of Faculty Performance
The Faculty Handbook articulates the official policies on the evaluation of faculty performance.
The Faculty Resource Guide includes the student evaluation surveys used in classroom, clinical and online contexts.
CTE coordinates the following sessions on promotion and tenure led Provost Pearson and a member of the university promotion and tenure committee. Sample successful promotion and tenure packets are distributed at these sessions (with prior permission of the authors).
• Fall new full-time faculty luncheon
• Annual spring open session on promotion and tenure.
• Biannual spring session on promotion to full professor.
CTE also offers sessions on faculty peer review of teaching. Materials are available online. The campus bookstore regularly stocks this handbook, replete with examples: Peer review of teaching: A sourcebook, by Nancy Van Note Chism.
Other recommended books:
The teaching portfolio : a practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions 3rd ed. (2004)
Seldin, Peter
Preparing for promotion, tenure, and annual review : a faculty guide 2nd ed. (2004)
Diamond, Robert M.
Serving on promotion, tenure, and faculty review committees : a faculty guide 2nd ed. (2002)
Diamond, Robert M.
Leading academic change : essential roles for department chairs 1st ed. (2000)
Lucas, Ann F.
Changing practices in evaluating teaching : a practical guide to improved faculty performance and promotion/tenure decisions (1999)
Seldin, Peter
Mentoring and Guiding Successful Faculty Careers
• Duquesne University Center for Teaching Excellence Mentoring Resources
A collection of resources created by the Duquesne University CTE devoted to mentoring, including definitions of mentoring, an explanation of types of mentoring, and how best to support junior faculty.
• University of Pittsburgh Introduction to Faculty Mentoring
A collection of resources to provide basic information about mentoring to clarify potential misconceptions about mentoring and to guide faculty as they develop mentoring relationships. Examples of ongoing mentoring programs at the University of Pittsburgh provide specific examples of successful mentoring relationships on campus. Finally, links to mentoring resources developed elsewhere were added to provide depth and breadth to the topics presented.
University Teaching
The primary resource on university teaching at Duquesne University is the Center for Teaching Excellence. CTE offers individual consulting and workshops on various aspects of college teaching.
Useful BooksProfessional Organizations
• American Council on Education Department Leadership Programs
The American Council on Education offers a series of general national workshops for division chairs and deans specifically designed to focus on departmental leadership. These workshops seek to support the development of the chair as an academic leader within the department and within the institution as a whole.
• American Council on Education Department Chair Online Resource Center
This collection of online resources serves department and program leaders as well as the administrators who work with them. Developed with the support of the Lumina Foundation this resource center offers articles, suggestions, bibliographies
• Jossey-Bass Department Chair Leadership Institute
This organization provides resources and online programs devoted to the following goals:
• To provide the highest quality and most practical and relevant resources for department chairs at all academic institutions
• To design, develop, and deliver content in the most efficient and useful manner possible—in books, in periodicals, and in online seminars
• To foster a sense of community and connection among department chairs across all kinds of academic institutions
• To play a significant role in equipping department chairs with the information they need to provide excellent leadership
• National Academic Advising Association
This page provides links to a number of resources focused on student retention, including articles and retention reports, as well as information about webinars, seminars, and other programs.
Other University Resources
• Harvard University Department Chair Resources
A collection of practical resources for department chairs on mentoring, department climate, and faculty retention.
• UCLA Resources for Department Chairs
A collection of resources devoted to many responsibilities of department chairs, including budgeting, legal issues, recruitment, mentoring, and retention.
Recommended Periodicals
This journal for academic leaders covers such topics as: Improving teaching and learning, legal or social trends affecting higher education, student recruitment, admissions, and enrollment, working with faculty, teaching online, student retention, success, and well-being, campus security and safety, administration challenges, distance education, complying with federal law, and risk management and liability.
• Academic Leadership: The Online Journal
The open-access Journal of Academic Leadership is aimed at those in the academic world who are dedicated to advancing the field through their research. ALJ provides an array of articles and essays that speak to the major issues of the field faced by those in leadership roles across all content areas and disciplines – from classroom instructors to university presidents.
• Change
Change is a magazine dealing with contemporary issues in higher learning. It is intended to stimulate and inform reflective practitioners in colleges, universities, corporations, government, and elsewhere. Using a magazine format rather than that of an academic journal, Change spotlights trends, provides new insights and ideas, and analyzes the implications of educational programs, policies, and practices.
Written for academic administrators, this newsletter features in-depth articles that deliver sound insight and proven strategies essential for successfully leading an academic department, including such topics as faculty governance, faculty leadership, conflict management, department management, faculty evaluation, student evaluation, and assessment.
• Leadership: The Chair Academy Journal
This journal is dedicated to disseminating research-based and practical information to assist community and technical college leaders achieve academic excellence.
E-Reserves
The Center for Teaching Excellence maintains an electronic reserves site for department chairs. Current affiliates of Duquesne University can gain access to the electronic reserves site by contacting Laurel Willingham-McLain. Many of the books and journals from which these excerpts are taken are available through Gumberg Library or the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Some of the documents included on this site are:
Bissell, B. Handling conflict with difficult faculty. Managing people: A guide for department chairs and deans. Daryl R. Leaming, ed.
Brownell, J. & Swaner, L. (2009). Outcomes of high-impact educational practices: A literature review. Diversity and Democracy 12:2, 4-6.
Byrnes, R. (2009). The 4% principle. Inside Higher Ed, July 13.
Davis, E. (2008). Colleges need to offer clear paths to leadership. Chronicle of Higher Education, 54:45.
Eagly, A. & Carli, L. (2007). Women and the labyrinth of leadership. Harvard Business Review, Sept. 2007:62-71.
Fish, S. (2009). The rise and fall of academic abstention. The New York Times, October 12.
Laursen, S. & Roque, B. (2009). Faculty development for institutional change: Lessons from an advance project.
Sorcinelli, M.D. (2007). Faculty development: The challenge going forward. peerReview, Fall 2007.
Wheeler, D. (2002). Chairs as institutional leaders. Field Guide to Academic Leadership, Robert Diamond and Bronwyn Adam, eds.