scholarly journals University professors as academic leaders

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Evans

In the UK the title ‘professor’ is generally applied only to the most senior academics – equivalent to North American full professors – and whom anecdotal evidence indicates to be often unprepared for the increasingly expansive academic leadership roles that they are expected to fulfil. The study reported in this paper was directed at exploring the reliability of such evidence, and the ways in which professors develop or prepare themselves, or are developed or prepared by others, for what are generally considered their professorial academic leadership roles. Data were gathered by questionnaires and interviews, revealing that excessive professorial workloads often result from confusion about what constitutes academic leadership and precisely what and how much is expected of professors. Yet despite an evident dearth of ‘official’, designated, academic leadership preparation and/or development provision, professors were resourceful in drawing upon their experience, networks and intellectual capacity to develop ways of becoming and being effective members of the professoriate.

CJEM ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (S1) ◽  
pp. S1-S9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug Sinclair ◽  
James R. Worthington ◽  
Gary Joubert ◽  
Brian R. Holroyd ◽  
James Stempien ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectivesA panel of emergency medicine (EM) leaders endeavoured to define the key elements of leadership and its models, as well as to formulate consensus recommendations to build and strengthen academic leadership in the Canadian EM community in the areas of mentorship, education, and resources.MethodsThe expert panel comprised EM leaders from across Canada and met regularly by teleconference over the course of 9 months. From the breadth of backgrounds and experience, as well as a literature review and the development of a leadership video series, broad themes for recommendations around the building and strengthening of EM leadership were presented at the CAEP 2015 Academic Symposium held in Edmonton, Alberta. Feedback from the attendees (about 80 emergency physicians interested in leadership) was sought. Subsequently, draft recommendations were developed by the panel through attendee feedback, further review of the leadership video series, and expert opinion. The recommendations were distributed to the CAEP Academic Section for further feedback and updated by consensus of the expert panel.ResultsThe methods informed the panel who framed recommendations around four themes: 1) leadership preparation and training, 2) self-reflection/emotional intelligence, 3) academic leadership skills, and 4) gender balance in academic EM leadership. The recommendations aimed to support and nurture the next generation of academic EM leaders in Canada and included leadership mentors, availability of formal educational courses/programs in leadership, self-directed education of aspiring leaders, creation of a Canadian subgroup with the AACEM/SAEM Chair Development Program, and gender balance in leadership roles.ConclusionsThese recommendations serve as a roadmap for all EM leaders (and aspiring leaders) to build on their success, inspire their colleagues, and foster the next generation of Canadian EM academic leaders.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly McClure Cassie ◽  
Karen M. Sowers ◽  
William Rowe

Little empirical research exists that assesses the preparedness of faculty advancing into administrative positions in higher education. This research identifies the leadership skills and responsibilities necessary for the management of academic social work departments and examines the willingness of faculty to advance into leadership positions. The preparedness of administrators to assume such positions is also assessed. Findings indicate a willingness to serve among faculty and administrators. Faculty and academic leaders agree on the importance of a variety of leadership skills and responsibilities. Although most leaders felt they possessed good leadership skills, many reported needing five or more years to acquire the necessary leadership skills for their jobs. Additional preparation in the areas of governance policy interpretation, human resources, financial management, confronting colleagues, and resource acquisition is needed. Experience, on-the-job training, and professional development workshops are the most common resources used to gain leadership skills.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 192-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Arday

The dearth of representation regarding Black and Ethnic Minorities (BME) in senior educational leadership roles within higher education (HE) has become a salient issue as egalitarian notions associated with equality and diversity continue to be contradicted by university institutions, despite increased calls for greater diversification. Educational leadership in higher education within the United Kingdom (UK), particularly when aligned to the primacy of race, remains oblivious to some of the organizational barriers encountered by BME academics attempting to navigate a career trajectory towards senior leadership. The diversification of senior leaders within the Academy in the UK has increasingly become an issue that, although prevalent, has stagnated owing to the lack of visible BME senior leaders and penetrative change to address the disparity regarding recruitment and promotion of more BME academics to leadership hierarchies. This article draws on a collective biography methodology, which will utilize narratives from three BME academics in senior leadership positions within higher education in the UK, in an attempt to illuminate the challenges that saturate the Academy, concerning leadership opportunities and career pathways for BME academics. The issues drawn upon identify synergies between constructions of race and leadership, whilst considering the interplay between these two vehicles when situated within a higher education context.


Author(s):  
Lixia Qin ◽  
Mario Torres ◽  
Jean Madsen

International feminist perspectives recognize the continuing inequalities of power between men and women across all classes (Adler & Israeli, 1988; Alston, 2000; De la Rey, 2005). In China’s male-dominant society, for example, women often have been inhibited from pursuing leadership positions (Wiseman, Obiakor & Bakken, 2009). Further, women’s access to leadership positions is constrained within many social sectors (Cooke, 2005). In school settings, there is no doubt that women have greatly contributed to the changing practice of educational management in China since 1980s ( Zhong & Ehrich, 2010). However, despite recent changes, women are still vastly underrepresented in educational leadership positions due to a variety of reasons, such as their adherence to traditional gender roles (Coleman, Qiang & Li, 1998). One particular reason that has been drawing increasing attention across the world is the lack of appropriate training and guidance in young women’s leadership (Su, Adams & Miniberg, 2000; Cooke, 2003; Barnett, 2004; Chen, 2005). This paper probes in greater depth one of the most important, yet largely overlooked aspects in the educational leadership of China – women’s leadership roles in education and young women’s leadership preparation.


Author(s):  
Mark Jewell ◽  
Derek H.T. Walker

This chapter provides insights from a large UK construction organisation case study where communities of practice have been supported through use of a software tool and management approach that encourages their spread across the organisation. We provide a descriptive characterisation of what the community of practice (COP) software tool does, how it evolved, and anecdotal evidence from interviews with its users of its value to the UK case study organisation. We recognise the need to investigate COP value generation more formally, and we have developed a research proposal to undertake further work in a collaborative study with industry to provide useful COP performance measures to be undertaken. This chapter provides valuable insights from several years’ reflection upon the tool’s use and application, and we highlight both drivers and barriers to its deployment. The objective was to provide a practical example of what COP management tools could and should address.


Author(s):  
Alison Puliatte

This chapter presents actual accounts of women academic leaders who led their students, teachers, and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic. The women's experiences, challenges, and self-care routines are presented in their own words in order to gain a true understanding of what it was like to be a woman academic leader during a crisis. The chapter begins with a review of research related to women academic leaders specifically describing the successes and challenges women face when in an academic leadership role. Next, the topic of self-care is discussed focusing on the need for self-care among educators and leaders during crises. Woven throughout the descriptions of past research are the stories from current women academic leaders to describe ways in which these leaders approached self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. e3-e4
Author(s):  
L.A. Rubinsak ◽  
B.J. Rimel ◽  
L.J. Hong ◽  
U. Chandavarkar ◽  
L.K. Berry ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Philip A. Woods ◽  
Joy Jarvis ◽  
Amanda Roberts ◽  
Suzanne Culshaw

School leadership preparation and development in England has to be understood in the context of England’s radically changing school system. Local democratic accountability of schools has been reduced and a range of new actors have entered the state school system to sponsor and govern schools. Since 2010, the numbers of such “independent” state schools have increased rapidly. As the role of local authorities has diminished, the middle tier of governance has been transformed and continues to evolve, with new forms of grouping schools emerging, such as multi-academy trusts (MATs) and teaching school alliances (TSAs). This and the influential idea in England of the school system as a school-led, self-improving system have implications for leadership and its preparation and development. System leadership, by national leaders of education for example, is seen as an essential layer of support for and a catalyst to school improvement, in addition to leadership of and within schools. In the first decade of the 21st century, leadership preparation and development became more like a “nationalized” service, with the creation of the National College for School Leadership (later the National College for Teaching and Leadership). With the abolition of the National College in 2013, the direction of travel was towards more plural and diverse providers of school leadership and preparation—some would say a privatized model of provision—including MATs, TSAs, schools and other providers. There are both potential strengths and weaknesses in this model. More autonomy is promised for providers and participants in preparing for and developing leadership, which could foster creativity in modes of provision. There are also tensions. Policy aims that promote the quantitative measurement of education on the basis of instrumental and economistic goals sit uneasily with other policy aims that appear to value education as the nurturing of human development as a good in itself; yet different educational purposes have different implications for the practice of school leadership and hence its preparation and development. A further tension is that between a positive recognition in the leadership discourse of the distributed nature of leadership and a tendency to revert to a more familiar focus on positional leadership roles and traditional, hierarchical leadership. Other issues include the practical consequences of a system of plural and diverse providers. The system may increase opportunities for innovation and local responsiveness, but it is not clear how it will ensure sufficiently consistent high-quality leadership preparation and development across the system. There are questions to do with power and inequalities—for example, whether greater autonomy works well for some providers and participants in leadership preparation and development, whilst others are much more constrained and less able to find or create opportunities to develop their leadership practice. Space for critical and questioning research and professional enquiry, independent of the interests and priorities of providers and government, is essential. Such research and enquiry are needed to illuminate how leadership preparation and development practice actually evolves in this more plural system, and who shapes that practice in the differing local contexts across England.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Share Aiyed Aldosari

The study aimed to identify the current method used for selecting academic leaders at emerging Saudi universities from the viewpoint of faculty members working there, and whether there is a correlation between the method used and the following variables: job satisfaction, organizational justice, organizational commitment, productivity motivation, and institutional loyalty and affiliation. In order to achieve the goals of the study, the researcher designed a questionnaire that included identifying the method used. The questionnaire consisted of (31) items divided according to the variables mentioned, and it was distributed to the study sample (300 faculty members), randomly chosen from the study community (2382 members). The results showed that there is a correlation between the method used and the variables mentioned which were at an intermediate level, with the exception of the productivity motivation that was at a high level for university professors, despite the fact that the foregoing variables were lower than expected. This made the researcher recommend that the university and the Ministry of Education would review that mechanism and hold conferences and workshops in order to address it before these positive professors suffer from disappointment and job burnout. The study also revealed that there were statistically significant differences at the level of (α = 0.05) in experience in favor of (10) years or more, in the academic rank in favor of (Assistant Professor), and in officiality and contracting in favor of the contracting parties.


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