Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost

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Provost’s Department Chairs Leadership Program

The role of a department chair or head is that of an academic leader for the department and is pivotal in the University’s strategic goal to be one of the top three public research universities in the world.  Recent work by the Task Force on Faculty Culture emphasizes the importance of four fundamental values for our success – excellence, collaboration, academic citizenship, and leadership.  The role as chair encompasses all of these values and the success of department chairs is critically important to the University.

The Provost’s Department Chairs Leadership Program includes monthly meetings about issues such as academic leadership; promotion and tenure; fostering a productive and supportive department; financial planning and management; compliance and legal issues; and strategic planning. 

The program is a collaboration between the Provost’s Office and the Office for Human Resources. The year-long program (download PDF) is open to all new heads and chairs. For more information, contact Karen Zentner Bacig, Ph.D, Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, kbacig@umn.edu or 612-624-5082.

2007-2008 Curriculum Materials

 

March 2008

February 2008

January 2008

November 2007

September 2007

 

2006-2007 Curriculum Materials

 

March 2007

Related web sites:

February 2007

January 2007

November 2006

October 2006

September 2006

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Other Resources for Department Chairs

 

Several national leadership programs are also available:

  • Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Academic Leadership Program
    The program is designed to develop the leadership and management skills of faculty and academic administrators.  A series of three 2-1/2 day seminars rotated among CIC institutions (Big Ten institutions plus University of Chicago) focus on key functions such as planning, budgeting, governance, human resources, and administration of changing and future university environments.  Four to five fellows from the University of Minnesota are selected each June for the next academic year from nominations submitted by deans and chancellors.  The next call for nominations will be sent in spring 2007.

  • CIC Department Executive Officers Program
    The program, intended for department heads and chairs, is a three-day spring seminar on topics involving departmental leadership skills.  A key element is in-depth analysis of case studies based on real-life problems identified by participants.  Four to six fellows from the University of Minnesota are selected in February from nominations submitted by deans and chancellors.  The call for nominations will be sent in December 2006.

  • American Council on Education Fellows Program
    The program helps prepare individuals to assume significant leadership roles in higher education.  Fellows spend an academic year or semester in a mentor/intern relationship with an experienced college or university president.  Application packet

  • The journal Effective Practices for Academic Leaders, published by Stylus Publishing, is an issue focused, monthly journal that addresses topics of critical important for everyone who leads a University department.  Topics that have been addressed over the course of the journal's first year (2006) include departmental effectiveness, fostering scholarly research in departments and colleges, and faculty performance reviews.  Issues for the coming year will address topics such as supervising staff for success (January 2007 issue), planning for diversity, promoting a climate for teaching and learning, the academic search, conflict management, and legal issues, to name a few.

    Our library has a subscription to this newsletter.  Simply go to http://www.metapress.com/content/1554-0472/ where you will see the list of journal issues available.  Click on the issue in which you are interested and you will see the word “text”, next to which is a link to the PDF of the issue.

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