This is a tool to aid in outlining and assessing your leadership strategy over the multi-year course of your appointment.
As DEO, you’ll have multiple years to make a positive impact in your department. As you identify your priorities and plan your initiatives, it may be helpful to think about the broad areas of DEO responsibility and your goals for your term. Taking time to reflect and assess as you undertake the role and then on occasion as you move through the cycle of each year can help you to register the progress you make and the work yet to do. Your Associate Dean for Faculty and/or Dean is an important conversation partner as you build and enact a vision for your department.
| Areas of DEO Responsibility | Assessment of strengths and areas for growth | Goals for the unit and strategies for achieving them | Indicators of progress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Establish and lead updates to the department’s strategic plan | |||
| Encourage and guide the professional development of faculty and staff | |||
| Lead recruitment and mentoring of personnel; advance and evaluate faculty and staff | |||
| Cultivate a welcoming environment in the department | |||
| Establish a professional and civil environment for education and educational innovations | |||
| Foster, recognize, and celebrate scholarship, scholarly pursuits, and creative work among faculty | |||
| Manage and advocate where necessary for resources to achieve the unit's full potential | |||
| Establish, enhance, and model civility and professionalism among faculty, staff, students, and external constituencies | |||
| Provide opportunities for consultative governance and facilitate effective participation in planning |
*For additional institutional guidance on the areas of responsibility of DEOs, see Policy Manual 28.3(2) Multi-Year Reviews of Departmental Executive Officers (DEOs) and Program Directors.
UI Resources
Office of the Provost Leadership Development
The Office of the Provost provides ongoing leadership development opportunities for DEOs, including workshops and conversations with campus leaders. The provost’s office also offers the Iowa Academic Leadership Academy (IALA), which assists new and aspiring leaders in making a successful transition to these key campus roles.
The Office of the Provost facilitates a DEO Mentoring Program that matches new DEOs with experienced DEOs from outside their college and discipline
UI Organizational Effectiveness may be able to provide coaching.
Published Resources
A Toolbox for Department Chairs, (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2022)
The Department Chair, journal edited by Carolyn Allard and published by Wiley Periodicals
The Essential Department Chair: A Comprehensive Desk Reference, second edition, Jeffrey L. Butler (Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, 2012)
How to Chair a Department, Kevin Dettmar (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022)
The College Administrator’s Survival Guide, revised edition, C.K. Gunsalus (Harvard University Press, 2021)
The Department Chair: A Practical Guide to Effective Leadership, Christopher J. Jochum (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022)
“The Department Chair Leadership Podcast,” podcast by Christopher J. Jochum