Your Career: ‘Chairsplaining’: A Guide for the Perplexed

A new book and monthly column are aimed at helping department heads handle a role for which they often receive little training. ADVERTISEMENT [Your Career Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. A new book and monthly column are aimed at helping department heads handle a role for which they often receive little training. Chairs at most institutions shoulder a lot of responsibility without a lot of power. As a department head, you sit uneasily in the middle tier of the org chart, a place that can often feel pretty lonely. And you usually do so without much (or any) guidance: It’s a role that little in your preprofessional training has prepared you for, and for which the institution provides scant resources. As a longstanding personnel practice in higher education, this is really quite puzzling. The mystery and confusion surrounding this vital position in academe are behind [a new book]( How to Chair a Department, out next month from the Johns Hopkins University Press. The book attempts to survey the wide landscape of a department chair’s or a program director’s job, and to provide broad principles to support a strategic approach to the role. Sometimes, however, those principles can seem difficult to apply to the prickly, particular situations that arise in your own department, among colleagues and even friends. So The Chronicle has also launched a new monthly advice column: “Ask the Chair.” If you’ve got a situation or a problem on which you could use some advice, pose it confidentially to Kevin Dettmar, the book’s and the column’s author, via [Twitter]( or [Facebook](. Continue reading: “[Ask the Chair: ‘How Can I Help Adjunct Instructors?’]( by Kevin Dettmar Share your suggestions for the newsletter with Denise Magner, an editor at The Chronicle, at denise.magner@chronicle.com. If you’d like to opt out, you can log in to our website and [manage your newsletter preferences here](. ADVERTISEMENT SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. Latest Career Advice, Opinion, and News DISAPPEARING STUDENTS [The Shrinking of Higher Ed]( By Karin Fischer [STORY IMAGE]( In the past, colleges grew their way out of enrollment crises. This time looks different. ADVERTISEMENT ADVICE [How to Be a Productive Scholar]( By Kenneth A. Kiewra, Linlin Luo, and Abraham E. Flanigan [STORY IMAGE]( Advice on research and writing from academics who experienced early publishing success. LEADERSHIP [Business-School Dean Resigns Amid Allegations He Lied About His Degrees]( By Marcela Rodrigues-Sherley [STORY IMAGE]( Mario Enzler left the University of St. Thomas, in Houston, after just two years on the job, as faculty criticism of his credentials and hiring mounted. DEI MANDATES [More Colleges Are Adding Diversity to Tenure Standards. But the Debate’s Not Settled.]( By Isha Trivedi [STORY IMAGE]( Campuses increasingly see diversity, equity, and inclusion as central to their mission, but whether to make them factors in awarding tenure remains hotly disputed. THE FACULTY RANKS [Many Professors Stopped the Tenure Clock During the Pandemic. Who Benefited?]( By Megan Zahneis [STORY IMAGE]( A new study found that women and scholars of color were most likely to take advantage of this option — but raises questions about inequity. CAMPUS SAFETY [Why Aren’t Men Involved in Sexual-Assault Prevention? A New Report Offers Insights]( By Kate Hidalgo Bellows [STORY IMAGE]( Colleges have spent decades trying, with limited success, to engage male students on this issue. But sexual misconduct remains a gendered experience, experts say. FROM THE CHRONICLE STORE [Building a Faculty That Flourishes]( [Building a Faculty That Flourishes]( Colleges and universities cannot be successful without vibrant and engaged faculties. Now is the time to figure out sustainable ways to recruit, support, and diversify the faculty. [Order your copy today.]( What we’re reading. Here’s more on career issues and trends from around the web. See something we should include? [Let me know](mailto:denise.magner@chronicle.com?subject=Your Career feedback). - In The New York Times, [an essay]( on the rise of the “worker productivity score.” More employees, “across industries and incomes, are being tracked, recorded, and ranked.” - [Advice]( in the Harvard Business Review on “keeping your team motivated” when the institution or company is struggling. - An [essay]( in Science magazine argues that “multi-tasking during virtual meetings” might “not be so bad.” More Career Resources [Designing Career Services for the Future]( [STORY IMAGE]( UPCOMING: August 23, 2022 | 2 p.m. ET: Most students say a good job is a priority after graduation, yet 72 percent of grads struggle to find work. This event, a partnership between The Chronicle and the University Innovation Alliance, examines the disconnect and offers ideas for leaders. With Support From UIA/Ascendium. [Register here.]( [Burned Out: How to Support the Faculty]( [STORY IMAGE]( UPCOMING: August 24, 2022 | 2 p.m. ET: Two years into the pandemic, faculties are desperate for relief. Teaching is harder than ever, students are disengaged, many face mental-health struggles, and crises keep coming. How can colleges better support faculty members amid those challenges? With Support From O’Donnell. [Register here.]( DATA [How Much Are Public-College Presidents Paid?]( [STORY IMAGE]( Base pay, bonuses, and benefits for 196 chief executives at public doctoral universities and systems in 2021. NEWS [Compare the States]( By Ben Myers and Sandhya Kambhampati [STORY IMAGE]( Explore data on more than 80 measures to see how your state is doing in relation to others on faculty pay, student aid, and more. JOB OPPORTUNITIES [Rutgers Business School Open Rank Professor of Marketing]( Rutgers University [Faculty Positions in Various Disciplines in the Paul Merage School of Business]( University of California, Irvine [Non-Tenure-Track Associate Professor of Professional Practice position in Management Science and Information Systems]( Rutgers University [Tenure-Track Faculty Postions in Various Disciplines for Fall 2023]( Macalester College [MIT Sloan School?s Faculty Positions in Accounting & Finance]( Massachusetts Institute of Technology [Worcester State University: Where Teaching Matters]( Worcester State University [Janet R. Matthews Endowed Chair in Psychology]( The University of Tampa [Multiple Development Positions at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey]( Institute for Advanced Study [Tenure Track Faculty]( Hobart and William Smith Colleges [Language and Literacy Faculty Position at Georgia State University]( Georgia State University [Search other jobs.]( NEWSLETTER FEEDBACK [Please let us know what you thought of today's newsletter in this three-question survey](. This newsletter was sent to {EMAIL}. [Read this newsletter on the web](. [Manage]( your newsletter preferences, [stop receiving]( this email, or [view]( our privacy policy. © 2022 [The Chronicle of Higher Education]( 1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037