ACAD 2004 Annual Meeting

American Conference of Academic Deans
60th Annual Meeting
“The Deans’ Dilemmas: Practicing Academic Leadership”
January 21-24, 2004
Washington, D.C.

Keynote Luncheon Speaker: Martin E. Marty, Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern Christianity in the Divinity School and the Committee on the History of Culture at the University of Chicago.
“The Dean as Steward, Agent and Envisioner"

Pre-conference Workshop:
Cultivating Academic Leadership: The Role of Associate Deans

Designed for both Deans and Associate/Assistant Deans, the workshop will
focus on the relationship of the Dean and Associate Dean(s). Special
attention will be given to roles and tasks, boundaries, navigating
disagreements, and overall needs for mentoring and support. Participants
will use case studies and small group work to share perspectives on the
intersection of these positions.

Facilitators:
Susan Gotsch, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, Whittier College
Laura Armesto, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chatham College
Doug Johnson, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University of
Wisconsin River Falls
Rafael Chabran, Associate Dean for Academic Advisement, Whittier College

Sessions

“Liberal Learning and the Scholarship of Teaching”

The mission of liberal education is to develop persons who combine intellectual ability, curiosity, responsibility, and motivation for positive change. This session will identify key pedagogical issues in achieving effective liberal learning, examine how the scholarship of teaching can help address these issues, and suggest what deans can do to create a climate of serious intellectual attention to teaching and learning.

Three presentations of 10-15 minutes each will be followed by general discussion, organized around a checklist of ideas deans can use to encourage the scholarship of teaching.

Presenters:
Elizabeth McKinsey, Professor of English and American Studies and former Dean of the
College, Carleton College

Pat Hutchings, Vice President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching and Co-director, Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

David Burrows, Dean of the College and Professor of Psychology, Beloit College

“The Undergraduate Deans’ Dilemmas: Catalysts Without Colleges”

Deans of undergraduate studies, and others with different titles but similar responsibilities, are often charged with overseeing major issues and initiatives such as general education and assessment of student learning. These administrators must effect change but, unlike other deans, have no faculty and no college to direct. They are thus asked to lead without having the structural tools (such as teaching assignments, promotion and tenure, merit increases, and hiring authority) available to college deans. Yet their work is critical to the quality of undergraduate programs on their campuses, and relevant to both internal and external perceptions of the success and value of the higher education enterprise.

The panelists will present the creative strategies they pursue, share the challenges they face, and discuss what works and what does not. We will speak briefly (10-15 minutes each) and then ask our moderator to facilitate questions and comments from audience members who face similar challenges.

Presenters:
Geoffrey Chase, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, San Diego State University

Terrell Rhodes, Vice-Provost for Curriculum and Undergraduate Studies, Portland State University

David Descutner, Interim Dean of the University College and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies, Ohio University

Martha Balshem, Associate Director, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (moderator)

"Navigating the Waters of Departmental Reviews without Capsizing: Some Successful Models from Public and Private Institutions"

There are many different models for program review, and most institutions employ formal program review in some form. Reviews are either cyclical, triggered by financial or enrollment concerns, or by impending re-accreditation visits. In some instances, all institutional programs are reviewed simultaneously to facilitate prioritization and reallocation of resources. In all cases, the ultimate goal of any program review should be to examine the degree to which program goals are being achieved, and to identify possible changes that can improve the program.

The Deans’ Think Tank, convened by the New England Resource Center for Higher Education, met to discuss the dean’s role in program review. We focused this meeting on how deans might collaborate with chairs so that the review process could be used to improve programs, to start conversations about teaching and learning, and to further institutional goals such as assessment, curriculum development, and general education revision. Representatives from the think tank will share their institutional perspectives in a panel discussion and engage members of the audience in a conversation about the issues raised in the think tank meeting.

Presenters:
Laurie Crumpacker, Dean Arts and Sciences, Wheelock College (Moderator)

Albert DeCiccio, Dean, Rivier College

Robert Martin, Dean, Undergraduate Studies, Westfield State College

Karen Talentino, Dean Stonehill College

"Leadership in an Environment of Change: Confrontation and Transformation"

Our institutions of higher education have been the focus of change, in response to both external and internal pressures. This session will address the importance of clarity, conscientiousness, and emotional competence (3 c's) as skills that deans use to help meet the challenges of adapting to change in their critical role as transformative leaders influencing the academic environment. Key attributes of the relationship of the dean with department chairs and division heads to help advance quality programs will be explored. A case study approach will be used to encourage small group discussion

Presenters:

Maureen Grasso, Dean of the Graduate School and Professor Textile Sciences, The University of Georgia

Hannah Kliger, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Communication and Jewish Studies, Penn State Abington

“Changing Faculty Workload Without New Resources: The Creative Use of Curricular Planning”

How can deans meet the needs of faculty for time for research and the needs of students for more contact with faculty, without new resources? How can deans encourage faculty to introduce greater curricular planning, without an open revolt? This panel explores the strategy of curricular planning as a tool allowing better use of faculty resources. The deans of Bates College offer as a case study their own experience of offering an adjusted faculty-teaching load to departments developing a three-year curricular plan. Audience discussion will focus on the applicability of this strategy at other institutions and alternate strategies tried elsewhere.

Presenters:
Jill Reich, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty, Bates College

Elizabeth Tobin, Associate Dean of Faculty, Bates College

Pamela Baker, Associate Dean of Faculty, Bates College

“Translating Mission and Planning into Action: A Case Study of Faculty/Administrative Collaboration”

Why do high hopes for institutional transformation heralded at the beginning of strategic planning processes so often go unrealized? Administrators and faculty invest significant time and energy, yet often are frustrated by speaking past each other. Faculty see their concrete articulations of the need for student and scholarly support lost I grand statements of strategic visions and themes; senior administrators find faculty goals too mundane or esoteric for Bard meetings and fund-raising settings. Collaboration is stymied for want of a translator!
This session focuses on translation and the role of academic administrators and faculty leaders in facilitating communication and negotiation for collaborative planning. We outline our own success with combining accreditation self-study and strategic planning to produce both a strategic vision and an implementation plan. We then lead participants in a “translation exercise” that highlights key moments of unlikely communication breakdown and offer suggestions for translating strategies to keep the process collaborative and successful.
Presenters:
Lucien T. Winegar, Dean, School of Natural and Social Sciences, Susquehanna University
Linda McMillin, Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs, Susquehanna University
Tom Peeler, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Susquehanna University

"Enhancing Departmental Performance Through Benchmarking"

Over the past 10 years, the Delaware Study of Instructional Costs and Productivity has emerged as the tool of choice for benchmarking data on faculty teaching loads, instructional costs, externally funded scholarship, and measures of out-of-classroom faculty activity - all at the academic discipline level of analysis. Participants will learn about the types of benchmarking available from the Delaware Study, as well as examples of how institutions use them to enhance departmental performance.

Presenters:
Michael F. Middaugh, Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research and Planning, University of Delaware
Heather K. Isaacs, Institutional Research Analyst, University of Delaware

Panel Discussion:
“The Dean and International Crises”

What are the responsibilities of deans in helping to steer their campuses through international crises? This is a question that deans may not until recently have expected to be part of their job descriptions. In recent years, however, first with the terrorist attacks of September 11th and then with the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak, deans have found unexpected challenges, duties, and responsibilities thrust upon them as a result of international events that have had profound effects on their students and faculty. The college or university campus is no longer (if it ever was) an island insulated from the ramifications of world events.

A panel of deans will respond to the academic dean's role in campus crisis management.
Paul Armstrong, Dean of the College, Brown University, moderator.

Stephen C. Ainlay
Vice President for Academic Affairs
College of the Holy Cross

Laurie Crumpacker
Dean
Wheelock College

Thomas Falkner
Dean of the Faculty Emeritus
The College of Wooster

Robert Thompson
Dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
Duke University

“The Deans’ Dilemmas – Open Mic”
To celebrate the 60th meeting ACAD brings back the popular “open mic” session where deans can bring their own dilemmas and receive counsel from a panel of deans as well as other audience members.
Panel:
Dr. Virginia M. Coombs, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin-River Falls (moderator)
Dr. Len Clark, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Earlham College
Dr. Peter Facione, Provost, Loyola University
Dr. Carol Lucey, President, Western Nevada Community College (invited)