Life on the Foam
Driftwood on a beach. How did it get here? From where? When? Why this beach? Why this day? And also, that it arrived, on the foam, with a bounty of neon green moss, stubbornly shining a light in the soggy…
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Driftwood on a beach. How did it get here? From where? When? Why this beach? Why this day? And also, that it arrived, on the foam, with a bounty of neon green moss, stubbornly shining a light in the soggy…
Continue readingNew deans come into the office of Chief Academic Officer in varied ways. Some aspire to the work, others are called, some are pressed into service, and some poor souls are voted in during a missed Faculty meeting. While larger…
Continue readingManagement is easy, leadership is hard. Most theological school deans can get up to speed on educational program management in relatively short order. It takes about three to four years to learn the finer aspects of the job, but, given…
Continue readingSmaller theological schools face distinct challenges. One of those challenges is how to provide coverage for a comprehensive theological curriculum while maintaining a reasonable teaching load for elected faculty members while also providing for student needs. Another is finding qualified…
Continue readingThe formative assessment of academic programs is one of the fundamental tasks of deans. Deans must focus on the “big picture,” working with program-level metrics often out of the scope (and interest) of others in the institution. Big picture program…
Continue readingAt this time of the year, semester’s end, while Faculty wistfully anticipate taking advantage of the three best things about teaching (June, July, and August), many deans are turning their attention to wrapping up the academic year. End-of-term activities take…
Continue readingJeanne P. McLean’s seminal work on the role of the academic dean as an act of “leading from the center” is apt and resonates with those of us who have experienced the job. But in the whirlwind of the experience…
Continue readingI have a couple of friends who are really into “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (September 19 in case you’re wondering). One dresses up like a pirate for the day (in Johnny Depp “Pirates of the Caribbean” style) and plays the part…
Continue readingWillie Niegro was the shipping supervisor at the warehouse where I worked summers during high school. He’d been there over 20 years, overseeing the shipping of crates and pallets out the truck bays at the rear of the warehouse. He…
Continue readingDeans sometimes have a tough time saying “No.” Many just need to be liked too much and few want to be seen as the resident Scrooge who is miserly with resources. Yet, there is no end of requests that come…
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