A Toolkit for Deans

By (author) Dianne Dorland, Patricia Mosto

Publication date:

10 April 2014

Length of book:

142 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781475808346

This book provides foundational thoughts on situations where deans find themselves when managing up, managing their peers and themselves, or managing down. The case studies and scenarios are useful for thinking about problems or issues beforehand and for considering how other deans handled these situations, even if the specifics or eventual resolutions are different. While there will be differences in who is involved, the actions they can take, the cost of those actions, the outcomes that can be achieved, how actions are linked to outcomes, and what information is available, each case or scenario provides situational insights. The case studies and scenarios represent a range of experiences from many deans and cover a variety of both public and private institutions of different sizes and locations.

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Managing ourselves, our office, and planning for the future
Chapter 2: Leading our peers
Chapter 3: Leading and managing staff, associate deans and chairpersons
Chapter 4: Leading faculty
Chapter 5: Leading departments
Chapter 6: Managing student and parents
Chapter 7: Managing up
Epilogue: Our reflections
ReferencesAdditional Resources

A Toolkit for Deans is a comprehensive, insightful array of approaches, case studies, discussion scenarios, and self-reflection guidelines. These can be used to motivate and empower deans and their management team to tackle and solve the diverse set of problems they encounter on a daily basis in today’s higher education arena. The book focuses on mentoring deans at all stages of their career on being creative, flexible, humorous, and opportunistic in responding to their leadership and management demands from peers, faculty, direct reports, supervisors, parents and students. Whether you are a new assistant dean, a long-term supervisor of many departments or a dean considering moving to a provost or college president position, this book will provide the essential step-by-step road map for proactive management, leadership, and self-assessment needed for navigating today’s rapidly changing academic environment.