Academic Leadership: A Practical Guide to Chairing the Department

Dr. Leaming's book provides a comforting reminder that we need not waste time and energy reinventing the wheel. New and veteran administrators, particularly at the academic departmental level, can gain invaluable guidance by taking advantage of Dean Leaming's 30-plus years of experience. Whatever they are experiencing, he has already been through numerous times. He knows their challenges and anxieties, and, more importantly, the solutions to them. His book is written in plain, easy-to-understand language. It deals with everyday duties from attracting and hiring the most qualified people to dismissing those who don't work out, and from encouraging good teaching and research to dealing with difficult faculty members. The book also includes helpful summaries, checklists, tables and sample forms. Academic Leadership: A Practical Guide to Chairing the Department is a must-have resource book for the newly appointed department head that wants to avoid the trial-and-error management method. Dr. Leaming has been a department head at five universities and a dean at two. And he has laid out a roadmap that will come in handy continually for even the experienced person who still has a distance to travel down the administrative highway. (From the Publisher)