Tag
Even if the course is not intended for this purpose, students signal with their questions and participation, that they are thinking of the course materials through the lens of their own lives. Teachers cannot escape inquiries about events in the…
Continue readingMy family spent a lot of time this summer traveling in our car. As we drove up and down several eastern and southern states, with stops in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the thing we dreaded…
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 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…
Continue readingTheological school deans wear many hats, and, depending on the context, some more than others: administrator, supervisor, assessor, policies and accreditation compliance officer, faculty cat-herder, student advisor, pastoral counselor and resident chaplain. One key role for the theological school dean…
Continue readingI find a lot of natural connection between the functioning of effective theological school deans and August Turak’s list of “11 Leadership Secrets You’ve Never Heard About.” Credit given for a catchy title, but these are more proven common-sense realities than “secrets.”…
Continue reading
