October 1, 2007
A Different Kind of Ageism?
New Kid on the Hallway and Dean Dad discuss what high-level administrators ought to look like. The discussions were sparked by a recent First Person column by Kathryn Ryan, a pseudonymous 36-year-old ex-dean who wrote about her search for a new administrative position and her decision to eliminate “all those pesky dates [from my CV] that might allow people to guess my age.”
While New Kid says she’s all for judging candidates based on their background/experience, not their age, she also admits, “I have a hard time wrapping my mind around working somewhere with a 36-year-old dean.” Read the whole post.
Meanwhile, Dean Dad, who is himself a 30-something-year-old dean, says he’s troubled by the commonly held expectation in academe that leaders must have “gray hair and an AARP card to know something about management.” Read the whole post.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Mon Oct 1, 12:53 PM | Permalink | CommentBack to the Table
The University of New Hampshire and its faculty are again at an impasse in contract talks, the Associated Press reports. Last month the faculty union at UNH rejected an independent fact finder’s report, which the university’s negotiating team had accepted back in August. The report recommended a salary increase of 5 percent a year for three years, less than the 6-percent raise sought by the union but more than the university’s proposed 4.5 percent. The union has scheduled a strike-authorization vote for today and tomorrow, and the university’s president, Mark W. Huddleston, has asked that negotiations be resumed.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Mon Oct 1, 11:44 AM | Permalink | CommentSeptember 28, 2007
Administrators and Free Speech
Dean Dad shares his thoughts on freedom of speech for administrators. Read the whole post.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Fri Sep 28, 02:18 PM | Permalink | CommentWayne State U. President to Step Down
Elsewhere in Michigan, Wayne State University’s president, Irvin D. Reid, announced Wednesday that he will step down at the end of this academic year, The Detroit News reports. Read more.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Fri Sep 28, 02:17 PM | Permalink | CommentTips on Chairing a Search Committee
In a recent discussion on The Chronicle’s Forums, academics offer advice on conducting a search to a newly appointed hiring-committee chair. Read the whole thread.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Fri Sep 28, 02:16 PM | Permalink | CommentPresidential Pay Raise in Michigan
The University of Michigan’s president, Mary Sue Coleman, got a 3-percent pay raise last week, which she vowed to donate back to the university for scholarships to graduate and professional students, The Detroit News reports.
Last Thursday the UM Board of Regents awarded her an increase of $15,500, which bumps her base salary up to $532,000, the reporter, Marisa Schultz, writes. With added bonuses and retirement pay, Coleman’s total compensation comes to $757,643, making her the third-highest-paid public-university president in the United States, Schultz concludes.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Fri Sep 28, 09:41 AM | Permalink | CommentSeptember 27, 2007
UNC Chancellor to Step Down in June
James C. Moeser, chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, announced Wednesday that he would leave his post on June 30 to return to teaching, The Charlotte Observer reports. Read more.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Thu Sep 27, 01:49 PM | Permalink | CommentRecovering From a Tenure Denial
In his latest column, David D. Perlmutter, a professor and associate dean for graduate studies and research at the University of Kansas’s school of journalism and mass communications, offers advice on how to land a new academic job after being denied tenure.
Despite popular belief, being denied tenure is usually just a setback, not a career ender, Perlmutter explains. For example, many assistant professors in Ivy League departments are routinely denied tenure, only to resurface in top jobs at Big 12 universities, he writes. If you have a Ph.D. from a well-regarded program, odds are it will be valued by search committees at some liberal-arts colleges or regional state universities regardless of your tenure rejection, he writes.
Perlmutter offers the following keys to recovery:
- Focus on the future. Structure your CV to highlight “evidence of forthcoming work or grants or any major confirmation that you are on the upswing.”
- Mobilize your supporters. “Nothing would help your candidacy more than a letter of support from a senior professor assuring your prospective department that you would be just right for the job,” or, better yet, explaining “how your perceived weaknesses at your old department might be strengths in your new one,” he writes.
- Stay positive. “Depression, indignation, and bitterness embedded in letters of inquiry or application, or expressed in face-to-face interviews” won’t help your cause, he writes. It’s best not to “dwell on your tenure denial but do not try to cover it up, either. Explain in a sentence or two that you fell short of your goals in your previous job” and then move on, he writes.
Black Women in Philosophy
Did you know that only about 100 of the 10,000 academic philosophers in North America are black? And that fewer than 30 black female philosophers have full-time jobs in the discipline? Read Robin Wilson’s report on the inaugural meeting of the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers in The Chronicle’s special issue on diversity in academe.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Thu Sep 27, 01:42 PM | Permalink | CommentU. of Arizona Hires Its First Director of Gay and Lesbian Affairs
The University of Arizona is the first state university to hire a paid full-time director of gay and lesbian affairs, the Tucson Citizen reports.
“In what is hailed by local gay-rights groups as ‘groundbreaking,’” Cathy Busha will become the director of the university’s newly created Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Affairs Office on November 13, the reporter, Renee Schafer Horton, writes.
By Gabriela Montell | Posted on Thu Sep 27, 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comment