Managing a Department

Managing a department is very different from managing your own academic career. As the head or chair of a department, it is your job to prepare budgets, allocate resources, help resolve problems, evaluate your colleagues, and more. Unless you had a previous career in management, you'll be learning many of these skills on the fly. The resources and references below can help.

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General Resources

Managing Budgets and Physical Resources

Managing Conflict

  • A Departmental Approach to Addressing the Problem of Sexual Harassment and Assault in Field Experiences
    Dr. Walter Robinson (North Carolina State University) describes work the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences has taken to address the problem of harassment and assault during field experiences department wide and what he has learned in the process.
  • Sexual Harassment in the Sciences: A Call to Geoscience Faculty and Researchers to Respond
    This JGE Editorial calls on geoscience educators and mentors to take a stand again sexual harassment in the geosciences community. As the authors say, "how we behave and what behavior we tolerate by others sets a tone and becomes a behavioral model for the undergraduate and graduate students with whom we interact." Taking a stand against illegal, unethical, and unacceptable behaviors "says a lot about who we are and what we value as individuals and as a community of practice."
  • ADVANCEGeo Partnership: Empowering geoscientists to transform workplace climate
    The Earth Science Women's Network, Association for Women Geoscientists, and American Geophysical Union have partnered to address the problem of sexual harassment in the Earth, space, and environmental sciences. The ADVANCEGeo Partnership has developed a suite of online resources about relevant research and tested strategies to respond to sexual harassment, bullying, and discrimination in the geosciences.
  • Sexual Harassment in the Sciences Resources
    The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geosciences Institute, the American Chemical Society, the Association for Women Geoscientists, and the Earth Science Women's Network joined AGU and cosponsored a workshop entitled "Sexual Harassment in the Sciences: A Call to Respond" on 9 September, 2016 in Washington, D.C. This resources website is one of many outcomes of the workshop.
  • One Geoscience department chair who saw department members engaging in uncivil behavior toward each other wrote a Decorum Policy for the department.
  • Conflict: A Most Difficult Task
    This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, suggests strategies for preventing conflict as well as for managing it when it arises.
  • Conflict Management and Problem Solving as Chair
    This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, casts conflicts as problems to be solved, and suggests that chairs focus on finding a solution (without necessarily identifying the source of the problem).
  • Helping Others Put Out Their Own Fires: The "Stop, Drop, and Role" Approach to Conflict Management
    This article, from the Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, suggests three steps to helping department members (students, faculty, or staff) identify the issues of concern in a conflict and think about how they will communicate these concerns to the other party.

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