Promoting Departmental Leadership: A Series for Academic Chairs
Offered by Academic Affairs, Duquesne University
Academic departmental leadership is crucial to the success of Duquesne at every level from institutional reputation and strength to individual faculty and student success. We seek to support our chairs in the following ways:
- build community across Duquesne by addressing the needs of new and experienced chairs, and by bringing them together to learn from and support one another
- communicate expectations for Duquesne department chairs
- explore best practices in departmental leadership in higher education
- respond to requests for training and materials
- encourage chairs to attend national institutes on academic leadership so that they can bring ideas back to the group and be refreshed in their own leadership
Fall 2009 Program
'Nuts and Bolts' of Being a Department Chair
Presenters: Ralph Pearson (Provost) Alexandra Gregory (Associate Provost), Daniel Donnelly (Associate Provost) & Joan Such Lockhart (Associate Dean, Nursing)
Wednesday, September 9, 10-11:30 a.m.
Rockwell Hall 505/506
All academic chairs are most welcome to attend even though the presenters will focus on introductory material for recently hired chairs. Topics include roles and responsibilities of chairs, shared governance, administration, and the budget process.
SPECIAL SESSION: Academic Department Budget Basics
Presenter: Daniel Donnelly, Associate Provost
Friday, October 2, 8:30-10:00 a.m.
Student Union 608
Dan Donnelly will provide an introduction to managing academic department budgets. Although the session will be introductory, all department chairs are most welcome to attend. Experienced chairpersons enrich the conversation with their insights and questions.
Effective Faculty Peer Review of Teaching
Guest Presenter: Nancy Simpson, Texas A & M University
Thursday, October 8 or Friday, October 9, 10 – 12 noon
Rockwell Hall 505/506
Practical tips on evaluating course materials and teaching for giving feedback and documenting quality. Two sessions for faculty, chairs and deans evaluating these groups and the faculty being evaluated:
- tenure-track and tenured faculty on Thursday
- non-tenure-track and part-time faculty on Friday
This is an open session for faculty and academic leaders at Duquesne. We strongly encourage chairs to attend one of the sessions along with members of their faculty. There will be some overlap in the two sessions on principles of peer review, but the focus will be different. We will have a follow-up discussion for chairs only on November 9.
Taking the Next Steps
Discussion Leaders: Alexandra Gregory (Associate Provost) & Laurel Willingham-McLain (Director, Center for Teaching Excellence)
Monday, November 9, 10 – 11:30 am
Student Union 613
Added Session: Thursday, November 12, 2 - 3:30 pm
Student Union 203
This session has two purposes: to discuss ways to implement the ideas we gleaned from the October workshops on peer review of teaching, and to determine future topics. Your input is crucial to making these sessions pertinent and useful.
To learn more contact Dr. Alexandra Gregory, Associate Provost, gregorya@duq.edu or Melanie Simile, similem@duq.edu, x4525
