A handbook of helpful people & resources for new department heads compiled by
The Center for Teaching & Learning -- July 2001
Welcome, New Department Heads!
What you should know about the
Center for Teaching and Learning
Reflections on that first year by John
Long
Ideas from Department Heads
Conrad Moore,
former Interim Dept. Head
Jo-Ann Albers, Journalism
Linda Calendrillo,
English
Records Management Issues by Sue Lynn Stone,
University Archives
Purchasing Department and Banner Training Information
“Taking Aim” Retention Activities
Network Computing Support
Select Bibliography of Books Available at the CTL
Book Review by Linda Calendrillo, English
Important Facts about WKU URL
Department Head Responsibilities --- A Calendar of Tasks
Your Office Associate -- an exercise
What Your Dean Can Do For You -- an exercise
What you should know about the Center for Teaching and Learning
What we are:
We are a resource for instructors at WKU (including graduate
assistants and adjunct faculty) seeking excellence in teaching.
We provide individual consultation as well as workshops,
listservs, newsletters and other activities that to increase instructional
skills. We work with new faculty to help them adjust to the WKU environment.
We advocate for instructional excellence on various university and state committees.
We are also a resource for department heads.
You may refer individual faculty to us. We have provided workshops to
entire departments on request (e.g., Test Development, What to do on the First
Day of Class) and have facilitated dialogues internal to the department (e.g.,
Strategic Planning discussions). We maintain books, videos and other resources
pertinent to faculty and department heads and we work to provide materials
that reflect current higher education issues of national relevance.
We can provide resources for the department head to use in working with a
faculty member or a department to improve teaching. We even have some discipline
specific resources.
We have a small pool of money (the Teaching Resource
Faculty Fund) that provides grants to individuals or groups for the improvement
of instructional methodologies (e.g., Active Learning, Case-based Approaches).
Recipients are expected to share their learning with the rest of campus.
What we are NOT:
We do not “fix” faculty. We assume that faculty
are professionals seeking to build and maintain optimum instructional skills.
Instruction is a complex topic worthy of a life-time of study. We do encourage
department heads to refer to us faculty at all levels of performance
who are seeking instructional improvement. Teaching improvement can
be achieved, but it generally takes several semesters to manifest improvement
reliably in the instructor’s student ratings.
We are not just about technology. We do stay
current at a basic level with technological tools and we can provide individual
sessions to persons seeking to create a webpage or use common software such
as PowerPoint or use a particular piece of equipment. We know what kinds of
technological resources are available on campus and we often consult with
faculty on technology projects as they relate to instruction. Our first focus,
however, is instruction. We are interested in technology to the extent it
is a tool to support student learning. As it is a topic of great interest,
we are fully conversant with the specialized skills for teaching on-line courses
and provide consultation We are also conversant with skills for
face-to-face instruction and other delivery systems. We are about instruction.
What is a CTL consultation like?
Once a faculty member comes to us with an issue specific
to their instruction we may visit or videotape their class presentation, review
their course materials, or provide information resources on pertinent topics.
Sometimes we arrange workshops open to the entire campus on the basis of a
request from one person for more information on a topic. Sometimes we
identify funding to attend a conference on the topic. Commonly, a person will
start with a simple request (e.g., borrowing equipment such as a digital camera).
Over time as a relationship with the CTL grows, the instructor will seek more
in depth interaction.
The CTL and evaluations
We do not reveal to the department head our activity with
an individual faculty member. The faculty member may or may not choose
to reveal activities with us. We do send a yearly CTL activity report
to every faculty member for inclusion in their annual report if they choose.
This report does not include individual consultation but does include public
activities such as attendance at workshops or making presentations for us.
Although we avoid becoming involved in individual personnel
evaluations, we do try to provide general assistance to faculty in this process.
Each fall we provide a workshop on creating the Teaching Portfolio.
In committee work and consultation we encourage using a variety of tools not
just the student rating instrument (SITE) to evaluate instruction, (Using
only the SITE for the evaluation of teaching would be against university policy).
We created the SITE booklet specifically to train department heads and faculty
in appropriate interpretation and use of the SITE. This booklet has
received the approval of the Provost and is university policy.
We try to make instructional life better and easier
for the instructor and the department head.
Sally Kuhlenschmidt, Director, 745-2114
Ted Hovet, Faculty Associate, 745-6508
Susan Payne, Office Associate, 745-6508
by John Long, Head, Philosophy & Religion
1. I felt completely overwhelmed
a. by how much I had to know
or to get to know--immediately, and in detail! I was helped by knowing who
could answer questions that I had. Since I have been here for so many
years, I knew quite a few persons to whom I could turn. In other instances,
I was able to depend upon my Office Associate who either knew the answer or
knew whom to ask to find the answer. Knowing the information sources
is a vital part of the job.
b. by some personnel problems.
I was greatly helped by being able to talk with the dean, experienced department
heads, and others with administrative and personnel experience. Knowing
the persons to talk to about particular problems is key.
c. by the wretched deadlines
of the fall semester. Some of those deadlines have now been changed
(for example, the faculty evaluations are now due in the spring semester),
but the fall semester is still a bear. Knowing how to organize to meet
the deadlines is a very useful skill--one that I do not especially have.
Consequently, I asked the help of others whom I knew to have such skills.
Some new heads may profitfrom instruction in how to organize to accomplish
administrative tasks.
2. I was trying to do it all myself. Having
had very little prior administrative experience, I had no sense of how to
delegate. Trying to do everything myself contributed much to the feeling
of being overwhelmed. I had to realize that I was no longer doing just
my own work and so could do all of it. I now had to depend on other
persons to do work for me. I actually felt guilty asking the faculty
members or even the Office Associate to perform some task when I had always
done all such things myself. I found help by reading some books
on management and management skills.
3. I had to get used to the experience of relating to
my fellow faculty members no longer as a “fellow faculty member”--I
was now “the boss” (and sometimes the “bosstard”!). I had to learn to
associate with other department heads. They were now “my fellows.”
4. The greatest sources of help for me proved to be
the access to human resources. In particular:
a. being able to talk at
length and in painful and intimate detail with the Dean of my college.
In many instances all he could do was listen; but just talking about some
problem, just being able to say out loud what my inmost feelings were about
a problem and knowing that it was going to be kept in confidence, enabled
me to work through some of the turmoil of my first semester and year.
b. being able to talk with
experienced department heads.
c. being able to talk with
persons who had experience in personnel matters.
d. being able to talk with
my fellow new department heads who were having many or all of the same experiences--I
found that I was not alone. That was important. Being part of
a cohort of new department heads with whom to share the joys--but usually
the pains and sorrows--was quite meaningful.
I notice that in these few paragraphs I have used in one form or another the word “help.” In my daily experience as department head, I used that word more than once in anguished outcry, hoping for rescue. Given how desperate I felt at times in the first year, I know of no better word than that to use. It also gives expression to my sense of appreciation for all of the persons who were ready to lend the patient support and encouragement that enabled me to do the job--they helped me.
One suggestion I have for inclusion in the booklet you are preparing is for
new department heads to meet (perhaps as a group if someone organizes it)
with the heads of purchasing, accounts payable, physical plant, human resources,
etc., to get answers to two questions:
1. What do you expect of an academic
department head?
2. What do you do for department
heads -- or what's reasonable for me to ask you and your staff to do?
I did this when I first arrived, and I think it may have prevented some potential
problems. Since there are a number of new heads coming in, probably
would be a good idea to do these as group sessions to save time for the people
being consulted.
Jo-Ann Albers, Former Dept.
Head, Journalism
Budget
Concerns
by Linda Calendrillo, Former Dept.Head ,English
Fiscal issues are interesting problems. I'd
say that a monthly check is a good idea, except for the end of the year crunch
when I check daily if not more often.
We get a financial statement for both our main budget account
and our foundation accounts each month. I try to review those (along
with long distance phone bills) just to be sure there aren't any major shifts
or unexpected withdrawals.
If a department head can keep an eye on what's "below the
line" (those are the supplies, travel, and equipment amounts, moneys we have
flexibility with, in contrast to "above the line," salaries and benefits that
we don't have much control over), then s/he can use the money reasonable over
the course of the year without having too much or too little at the end. That's
the goal, in any case. We can't always make the goal, of course. I hope that
helps.
New department heads need to be aware
of their records management responsibilities as university employees.
Concisely stated, state statute requires employees to archive permanent
records and to report destruction of all non-permanent records to Frankfort
via the University's Records Officer.
As administrators, the department heads need to include
basic information in a departmental faculty meeting each year.
I would recommend that they distribute copies of my memorandum to faculty
dated September 18, 2000 (See the following page.).
I would be delighted to make presentations directly
to the faculty as a means of increasing understanding and participation.
The address of our records management website:
http://www.wku.edu/Library/dlsc/recrdmgt/rm_proj.htm
We recommend that each department's office associate select
a day each year to complete their records management chores. By experience,
many of the academic units choose Spring Break week.
---Sue Lynn Stone, University Archivist and Records Officer
Faculty Records Management
Letter.
A copy is available from Sue Lynn Stone, contact information is below
Subject: Faculty Records Management
Date: 18 Sep 2000
From: Sue Lynn Stone, University Archivist and Records Officer
To: Faculty-All <Faculty-All@wku.edu>
In response to numerous questions from faculty, this memo seeks to provide
basic information for faculty on state-mandated records management.
For detailed information about records management at Western, see:
http://www.wku.edu/Library/dlsc/recrdmgt/rm_proj.htm
Faculty who chair policy-making committees or serve in
administrative roles for centers, grant projects, or programs of study are
responsible for placing in the University Archives these entities’ minutes,
annual reports, special studies, and university publications.
Non-permanent records destroyed on campus must be reported
to Frankfort by the University Records Officer. State retention schedules
give required minimum lengths of retention. Knowledge of the following state-defined
retention periods allows timely destruction of inactive records. Types of
records likely to be housed in faculty offices, and their retention periods,
include [Note: (C) means confidential (records must be burned, shredded 1/4
inch or buried.)]:
U0101 Correspondence [not historic, nor policy-making]
Retain no longer than 2 years.
U0409 Change of Grade The permanent copy
is in the Registrar’s Office.
U0410 Class Rosters Destroy after
1 year.
U0411 Class Schedules Destroy when obsolete.
U0413 Advising files Destroy 5 years after
graduation or last date of attendance.
U0418 Curriculum & Instruction File (includes individual
semesters’ syllabi) Destroy
when obsolete.
U0431 Grade Information File (“gradebooks”) (C)
Destroy one year after date grades are distributed.
U0448 Student Class Schedules Destroy one year after graduation
or last date of attendance.
U0455 Student Worker Time Sheets (C) Destroy
after 3 years.
U0468 Personnel Files - Students (C) Destroy
5 years after termination of employment.
In many cases, faculty have informational copies of records
which are retained elsewhere on campus; these copies may be destroyed when
no longer of informational value as U0111 Reference and Informational Materials.
Faculty are required to report destructions of files they create as university
employees to the University Records Officer utilizing the on-line form at:
http://www.wku.edu/Library/forms/recdestform.html
Records management is an on-going process; to request a
one-hour training session and ask specific questions, please contact me by
phone or e-mail.
Sue Lynn Stone
University Archivist and Records Officer
(270) 745-4793 Voice (270) 745-4878 Fax
sue-lynn.stone@wku.edu
Purchasing Department and Banner
Training
Monthly training session are held for new hires. Training
labs are open in SSB for daily use. Call to make an appoint for one-on-one
or departmental training (745-3056).
Purchasing is supplying to each department with a copy
of the brochure, A Quick Reference to WKU Supply Services.
“Taking Aim” Retention Activities
"Taking Aim" is a pro-active approach to increase retention
of all students.Efforts are lead by Institutional Research. Summer 2001 will
be the second time the program has been tried. Basically, via
their database, Institutional Research identifies students who are not registered
for the coming fall semester. It might be a freshman from last year or a senior
lacking one class to graduate. In most cases, the student's major department
head is given the student's name and contact information. Then from the department
level, whether faculty or department head, an effort is made to contact the
student to inquire whether there is anything to be done to assist with the
progress of student -- to encourage her to come back in the fall. (The
program is only done once a year during the summer, and last year it did seem
to account for retention of more students.) Faculty might have to address
anything from helping a senior get a gen.ed. course in which all the sections
are filled to assisting with financial information.
This site contains the following information:
1. Support for systems. This is where a person can request help
online (instead of calling 7000) for the computer system. Also, we have a
few common instructions that a person can follow to install software or fix
a problem themselves without having to call anyone.
2. Purchasing hardware. This is where a person can go to get a
quote for a supported system in order to purchase that system. Included
are PC desktop and laptops, Macs, printers, and certain hardware upgrades
for a current system.
3. Training. This is where a person can see what training is offered
for faculty and staff. Each month a new calendar is published.
This is also where a person can register for the classes.
4. Staff. A person can go here and find out who exactly is working
on his/her computer. This lists all the staff in Microcomputing. Of
course this is not everything on our site; however, these are the highlights
and this would get the person looking around.
Select Bibliography of Books Available at the CTL
Below is a listing of books which may be of interest to department heads.
Call 745-6508 to reserve or for more information.
For the complete list of books available at the CTL,
please visit: http://www.wku.edu/teachingbooks.htm
Chairing an Academic Department by Val D. Miskin & Walter Gmelch
Chairing the Academic Department: Leadership Among Peers by Allan Tucker
Communication Skills for Department Chairs by Mary Lou Higgerson
Cooperative Learning: Increasing College Faculty Instructional Productivity
by David Johnson, Roger Johnson & Karl Smith
Coping with Faculty Stress by Walter H. Gmelch
Developing Senior Faculty as Teachers by Martin Finkelstein & Mark LaCelle-Peter
Empowering Women in Higher Education by Gina Wisker
Ethicial Dimentsions of College & University Teaching by Linc Fisch
Faculty Misconduct in Collegiate Teaching by John M. Braxton & Alan E.
Bayer
Faculty of Color in Academe: Bittersweet Success by Caroline Sotello, Viernes
Turner, & Samuel L. Myers
The Four Cultures of the Academy by William H. Bergquist
Generation X Goes to College by Peter Sacks
Honoring Exemplary Teaching by Marilla D. Svinicki & Robert J. Menges
Impact of Technology on Faculty Development, Life, and Work by Kay Herr Gillespie
Innovative Higher Education, Vol. 23, by Ronald D. Simpson
Leadership Skills for Department Chairs by Walter Gmelch & Val D. Miskin
Leading Academic Change: Essential Roles for Department Chairs by Ann F. Lucas
& Associates
Motivation from Within: Approaches for Encouraging Faculty and Students to
Excel by Michael Theall
Multimedia Law and Business Handbook by J. Dianne Brinson & Mark F. Radcliffe
Preparing Faculty for the New Conceptions of Scholarship by Laurie Richlin
Preparing for Promotion and Tenure Review by Robert M. Diamond
Guide to Programs that Improve Undergraduate Education and Develop Tomorrow’s
Faculty by Leo Lambert & Stacey Tice
Recruiting Good College Faculty Baron Perlman & Lee McCann
Researching Into Teaching Methods in Colleges and Universities by Clinton
Bennett, Lorraine Foreman-Peck, & Chris Higgins
Serving on Promotion and Tenure Committees by Robert M. Diamond
Strengthening Departmental Leadership by Ann F. Lucas
Successful Faculty Development and Evaluation: The Complete Portfolio by John
P. Murray
The following three books were provided to each academic department by Academic Affairs and the CTL:
Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate by Charles Glassick,
Mary Huber, & Gene Maeroff
Scholarhip Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoraite by Ernest L. Boyer
Soar with Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton & Paula Nelson
by Linda Calendrillo, Former English Department Head
(The CTL has a small library of books, tapes, and CD. When new purchases are made, WKU faculty are asked to review.)
Lucas, Ann F., & Associates. Leading Academic Change: Essential Roles for Department Chairs. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
I admit I was skeptical about a book that has as its author a person “& Associates.” I can find some good reasons to look up this book – if you’re new in administration, if you’re insecure about leadership, if you want background on current issues in higher education. I can also suggest some good reasons to avoid this book – if you have any administrative experience, if you know why you were hired to do your job, if you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in higher education over the past decade.
I was disturbed by an underlying tone in many of the essays of us versus them. Chairs “manage” faculty in this view of the world; chairs effect change, lead their teams. I must be too much of an academic to be comfortable with this kind of talk. I find it insulting to faculty and unhealthy. In “Leading Curriculum Renewal,” for example, Ann S. Ferren and Kay Mussell state, “Faculty may resist any effort to increase class size; substitute less expensive labor, such as part-time work for tenure-track faculty; or offer courses less frequently” (266). Well, good night! Shouldn’t we all be resisting efforts to water down our students’ education through strategies like these? Let’s hope heads and faculty together resist such efforts.
Leading Academic Change offers three main sections: “Leading Change,” “The Collaborative Role of the Chair in Department Change,” and “Leading Innovative Change in Curriculum and Teaching.” The first section offers interesting history about chairing and its structure (rotating vs. fixed). I enjoyed what Thomas A. Angelo was doing in “Transforming Departments into Productive Learning Communities,” applying the model for contemporary learning to the academic power structure itself. The second section has helpful overviews of promotion and tenure and post-tenure review. In one essay Howard B. Altman offers innovative ideas on how to reward faculty even in tight budget years. The final section concerns assessment, service learning, technology, and curriculum change, but none of the selections is very helpful. Peter Senge’s final chapter to the book is especially difficult for those of us who value colleagues and students. Senge says, “In a nutshell, universities and colleges have become the preeminent knowing institutions in a world that increasingly favors learning institutions” (276, his italics). After this claim, Senge makes some interesting suggestions about the need to adapt to new ways of learning and doing in universities, but I admit I was so put off by his disrespect for institutions like ours, I had a hard time trusting anything he had to say.
Instead of looking up Leading Academic Change for anything but spotty reading, get yourself an on-line subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education, and read the headlines each day. Make friends among administrators whom you trust and discuss department politics with them. Try to resist thinking of yourself as separate from the faculty you represent. It isn’t us versus them. We’re all us.
This book is available for check out at the CTL.
Everything you’ve
always wanted to know
about Western . . .
But didn’t know where to look!
Important Facts about
WKU are at:
http://www.wku.edu/Dept/Support/AcadAffairs/instres
FactBook 2001
Common Data Set
Topper Target Cards
Facts @ a Glance
Strategic Plan
Western's Benchmark Institutions
A month-by-month classification
Space has been left for you to fill in your individual responsibilities.
(Thanks to Academic Affairs for helping with the calendar.)
July
Summer and Part-time payroll due to Dean's office
“Taking Aim” activities during the summer months
August
Academic Department Meeting
Spring Bulletin updates
Undergraduate Catalog updates (in the years that the catalog is being
revised)
Faculty Work load information due to Institutional Research
Part-time payroll due to Dean's office
September
Non-tenured faculty continuance recommendations due
Continue to update & proof Spring Bulletin
Departments/units submit Action Plans revised Action Plans for Academic
Year 2001-2002
October
Undergraduate Catalog revisions due (in the years that the catalog
is being
revised)
Faculty Sabbatical applications due
Faculty Work load information due to Institutional Research
November
Complete PTR files assembled at department level
Final updates on Spring Bulletin
Proof copy for Summer Bulletin
December
Proofreading Undergraduate Catalog (in the years that the catalog is
being
revised)
Tenure recommendations from Dean’s office due to Academic Affairs
Final proofing of Summer Bulletin
PTR files due in dean’s offices
January
Fall Bulletins mailed to departments for updating
PTR files due to Provost/VP for Academic Affairs
VP promotion recommendations due to president
February
Fall Bulletin updates and proofing
PTR files returned to department heads
Annual faculty evaluations due
March
April
Form 16 for Retiring Faculty teaching Summer School due
Begin paperwork for reappointments for temporary and 1 year instructors
Faculty Work load information due to Institutional Research
May
Summer and Part-time payroll due to Dean's office
Final paperwork due for reappointments for temporary and 1 year instructors
June
Summer and Part-time payroll due to Dean's office
Your Office
Associate
(Suggestions for what your office associate can assist with were explored
at the workshop held for new department heads in August 2001.)
Among the things he/she can do for you:
What your dean can do for you:
(Suggestions for what your dean can assist you with were explored at the workshop
held for new department heads in August 2001.)
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Last Modified April 2003. All Contents Copyright © 2000, Site created July 1996 Western Kentucky University