Five Tips for Making Tenure
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on June 27, 2016. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. While the words “tenure track” make it sound like there’s a smooth set of rails that will take you from hiring through to a position on the permanent tenured faculty, “tenure obstacle course” might in fact...
Checklists As an Academic Leadership Tool
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on July 31, 2015. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. There are probably few tools we can use in academic leadership that seem less interesting than a checklist. We may sometimes even refer to checklists as though they were akin to sleepwalking our way through our...
Understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on March 16, 2017. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. The fastest-growing developmental disability is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). There is an interesting debate about whether this growth is a product of increased autism incidence or what has been dubbed “diagnostic substitution” (i.e., moving people from...
Creating a Policy and Procedures Manual Specific to Online Education
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on December 16, 2019. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. I’ve had the pleasure of serving as the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse’s primary online administrator for the past 12 years and recently was reflecting upon things we have done on our campus over that time...
Practical Higher Education: Fostering Sustainable Student Workforce Skills beyond the Academy
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on September 21, 2020© Magna Publications. All rights reserved. With the recent social disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is difficult to predict the future of higher education. But it would seem our industry will be facing challenges and must be flexible enough to...
Tending to Your Mental Health while Leading through a Crisis
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on October 19, 2020. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. Be kind. It’s my first pandemic. I saw this statement on a button as I was scrolling through social media, and across the past three months, I have frequently returned to it as my institution...
When Full-Time Faculty and Adjuncts Collide: Ideas to Maintain Departmental Peace
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on December 1, 2017© Magna Publications. All rights reserved. At the most recent Leadership in Higher Education Conference this past October in Baltimore, I gave a session titled “What Your Adjuncts Wish You Knew.” In it, I exhorted the deans and department chairs in attendance...
The Role of Emotions in Developing Trust: Why Charisma Is Not Enough
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on January 2, 2019. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. What does it mean to be a leader? Interest in the study of leadership continues to grow, and colleges and universities are taking notice by rolling out new programs. Current degree plans include majors and...
Mindful Academic Leadership
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on May 1, 2014© Magna Publications. All rights reserved. Mindfulness, which we can define as giving nonjudgmental attentiveness to each experience as it occurs, has begun to receive a great deal of attention in academic circles. The health benefits of mindfulness are well established. Studies...
Academic Leaders as Introverts and Extroverts
This article first appeared in Academic Leader on January 1, 2013. © Magna Publications. All rights reserved. In a position such as department chair or dean where interpersonal skills are so important, you might think that all academic leaders would be extroverts. In fact, once while I was out on an interview,...
