What is it about?
I argue that we need more faculty, not fewer, leading efforts to tackle the great challenges facing colleges and universities. More deliberate development of faculty as leaders will create a stronger, more sustainable academy.
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Why is it important?
Too many stakeholders in higher education have bought the narrative that faculty stand in the way of change. This article offers a contrary view: investing in the leadership of and among the faculty makes them equal partners in changing higher education for this century. I offer examples of some who are advancing their institutions by strengthening, not hindering, the leadership of faculty.
Perspectives
Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges to make drastic changes in their operations, the vitality of faculty leadership has become even more important to institutional survival. Who will invent our way through this crisis, if not the best minds in the room? My point of view is that college presidents and provosts must identify and overcome the barriers to getting those minds--and diverse minds--into "the room where it happens."
Dr. Kiernan R. Mathews
University of Chicago
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Growing Our Own: Cultivating Faculty Leadership, Change The Magazine of Higher Learning, July 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00091383.2018.1509617.
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Resources
Faculty Leadership and Institutional Resilience: Indicators, Promising Practices, and Key Questions
The COACHE national survey identified exemplary institutions where faculty themselves report the greatest satisfaction in faculty leadership. This study found that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to cultivating faculty leaders, but rather, common indicators to gauge the health of academic governance on a given campus. Leaders at exemplary institutions tend to speak of institutional commitment and campus community, and deliberately create collegial and open opportunities for all faculty to participate in academic governance, including newer faculty and former faculty leaders. This study presents case studies for institutional resilience vis-a-vis faculty leadership development. Faculty, senior leaders, and boards should expand what we mean by faculty leadership to better encompass the various ways faculty meaningfully influence the direction and health of an institution.
Effective Academic Governance: Five Ingredients for CAOs and Faculty
Building a culture of effective shared governance seems like a messy, illdefined undertaking. However, our literature review and interviews with twenty chief academic officers offer hope to senior administrators and faculty leaders: five “ingredients” of effective academic governance. Each consists of two or three elements that CAOs and their partners on the faculty can target for improvement. We offer a glimpse of the benefits when these elements are present, and of the costs when they are lacking. Our recommendations: Step back. Build consensus. Lead by example. Build capacity. Focus on results. This paper includes specific suggestions for influencing both “hard” and “soft” governance on campus. We conclude by recommending an assessment of these ingredients on every college and university campus.
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