100 digestible daily reflections on academic department chairing that blend theory, research, and practical advice to encourage a proactive and mindful approach to the position. This volume focuses on a variety of aspects of being chair, but does so in ways that encourage reflexivity, strategic decision-making, and personal growth.

100 digestible daily reflections on academic department chairing that blend theory, research, and practical advice to encourage a proactive and mindful approach to the position. This volume focuses on a variety of aspects of being chair, but does so in ways that encourage reflexivity, strategic decision-making, and personal growth.

About the Author

W. Benjamin Myers is a Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Toledo. He has served as Chair for eleven years at three different universities. He teaches classes such as Organizational Communication, Business Communication, Small Group Communication, Communication Theory, Leadership Communication and others. He is co-editor of the book Critical Administration in Higher Education: Negotiating Political Commitment and Managerial Practice. He has published articles in diverse outlets such as Text and Performance Quarterly, Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Health Research, The Journal of Autoethnography and Basic Communication Course Annual.

Reviews

Stepping into an academic administrative position as chair or director? Do yourself a favor and buy this book! The short day-by-day format will help you create excellence in your faculty and students, manage stress, see the forest through the trees, mindfully reflect, and remember your core values - all one bite at a time.yone who has become a department chair will find Myer's unvarnished anecdotes about his missteps, lessons learned, and solid advice resonating with their own experiences. The benefit of these reflections lie in the way the author has personally navigated the paradoxes, vulnerabilities, challenges, and ambiguities of this managerial-leadership role that he says is akin to being a diplomat. Particularly insightful are sections on budgets, appeals and grievances, conflictual and productive relationships with all stakeholders, and chairs' own legal liabilities and responsibilities for those whom they supervise. This is a must read!!

-- Patrice Buzzanell, Distinguished Professor, University of South Florida

Stepping into an academic administrative position as chair or director? Do yourself a favor and buy this book! The short day-by-day format will help you create excellence in your faculty and students, manage stress, see the forest through the trees, mindfully reflect, and remember your core values - all one bite at a time.

-- Sarah Tracy, school director and professor, Arizona State University

As a new chair, you often don't know what you need until you need it, and this book will help any new chair anticipate what they will need. Myers offers a communication-based "field guide" to being a new chair-one that is timely, thoughtful, comprehensive and generous. The 100 reflections may be read in any order, at any time, according to frame of mind or the always-arising needs of the moment.

-- Heidi M. Rose, professor and ASL Program Coordinator, Villanova University

Myers draws on research and experience to capture the unique rewards and challenges of the department chair role. The book moves beyond equipping chairs to merely survive, and instead models a mindful approach to thriving in the role through a few minutes a day spent in purposeful reflection. Despite acknowledging that all departments and institutions are different, I found the anecdotes highly relatable. I wish I had this book when I was starting out in the role.

-- Sarah Stone Watt, Professor and Interim Associate Dean, Seaver College



Book Information
ISBN 9798881805098
Author W. Benjamin Myers
Format Paperback
Page Count 340
Imprint Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Weight(grams) 522g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 29mm