The Department Chair’s Job

Here is a very interesting article that describes how the department chair’s job has evolved over the years from something desirable, which many faculty aspired to, to a thankless and burdensome job that few faculty want: “For Chairs, the Seat’s Gotten Hotter: With new demands for fund raising and assessment, academe’s middle managers feel the pressure” (CHE, 2 December 2013, subscription required). Here are a few key quotes:

“When Domenick J. Pinto first became a department chair, more than 25 years ago… [he] created the schedule of classes, advised students, hired adjuncts, evaluated faculty members, and reviewed the curriculum.”

“In a middle-management job that has become increasingly complex, department chairs must cut costs in a time of shrinking resources, write grant applications and meet with potential donors to increase department resources, manage growing pools of adjunct labor, and respond to new calls for assessment.”

The department chair is not a middle-management job. It is…