Dealing with Negativity and Conflict
During my 11-year tenure as a department head, it became clear to me that most of us enter administration because we are optimistic individuals who want to help our academic units to grow and develop, change with the times, and thrive despite obstacles. We see our faculty and our budgets...
Let’s Start from the Very Beginning: Implicit Bias Conversations for Faculty Search Committees
There is a great deal of discussion in higher education about how to create diverse, equitable, and inclusive campuses. Tufts is not unique in its desire to diversify its faculty to better mirror the student population. One challenge in achieving this goal is implicit bias—that is, attitudes or stereotypes that...
Exhaustion’s Toll on the Next Generation of Female Academic Leaders
I’m sure you have seen the articles describing the decrease in women’s submissions to top research journals since the pandemic began in the spring (e.g., Flaherty, 2020, Viglione, 2020). The media has also been full of stories about the toll that working from home is taking on those who have...
Using Authentic Assignments to Assess Student Learning
As an administrator, I often ask myself whether learning has taken place—although my language may be a little more colorful. I want to avoid wasting my student’s time and effort, and even more so, I really do want to make sure that my students have learned something. In addition to...
Adaptive Learning for Faculty Development: Technology Considerations
One challenge of faculty development and training for online teaching is satisfying instructors with different levels of knowledge, skills, and experience. At our institution, we discovered that this challenge can be overcome by employing an adaptive learning strategy in our faculty development courses. Adaptive learning technologies assess an individual learner’s...
Pressure Points for Academic Leaders
The seasons have declared their change, and autumn is upon us. The leaves outside my office are beginning to fall, joining in an autumn waltz as they claim their spot on nature’s dance floor. They are still. They are unbothered. In this moment, I long for the days when my...
Ways to Use Badges at Your Institution
Badges have become a hot topic in higher education over the past few years and are being used in a variety of different ways. Some use badges as an alternative method for credentialing learning, while others use it as a means of gamifying learning. Here are the options for using...
Meeting Management: Strategies for Academic Leaders
For directors, chairs, deans, provosts, and even presidents, much of their visible leadership occurs through meetings. Whether face to face, virtual, or hybrid, meetings are where information is shared, decisions made, and direction created and reinforced. Effective meeting management is a tangible indicator of successful leadership. Conversely, leaders who do...
Making Faculty Governance Work: Seven Strategies for Faculty Senates
A prominent hallmark of higher education that differentiates it from other agencies and corporations is its commitment to shared governance. Shared governance can take many forms and involve students and staff, but at its center it focuses on collaboration with faculty. Faculty involvement in governance is critical to the current...
Make Experiential Learning REAL on Your Campus: Principles for Success
As the cost of attending college has risen, so have the voices questioning the value of the college experience. How many articles have we all read questioning whether the debt incurred to complete a four-year degree is worth it? One clear strategy for showcasing the value of a traditional university experience...
