Skills for the 2020 Department Head

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Skills for the 2020 Department Head

• Mark J. T. Smith
• Purdue University

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The 2020 Chair will need all of the same
skills/attributes that are important today. For
example Integrity Fairness Honesty Trustworthines
s Communication Vision Leadership Discernment
(particularly w.r.t. hiring)
Finance management Networking Patience Receptivene
ss to criticism Diplomacy Ability to listen
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Noteworthy Reference 2007 ECEDHA Annual
Meeting Running a Department Mistakes to
Avoid/Real Life Experiences A few highlights
Handling tenure Managing budgets (dont over
spend) Handling personnel issues Working
with the Dean
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What about 2020 skills?

• Same skills for the most part and perhaps more
• Lets look for new skills
• A number of reports have been written about the
  engineer of 2020 (e.g. the NAE report)
• The College of Engineering at Purdue went through
  a similar exercise.
• Attributes
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Decision-making
• Recognize and manage change
• Work effectively in diverse and multicultural
  environments
• Work effectively in the global engineering
  profession
• Synthesize engineering, business, and societal
  perspectives.

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Qualities Innovative Strong work ethic Ethically
responsible in a global, social,
.intellectual, and technological
context Adaptable in a changing
environment Entrepreneurial and
intrapreneurial Curious and persistent continuous
learners If students are to have these
attributes and qualities, what are the
implications for the dept head? He/she will need
to be the implementation leader.
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A key 2020 department head skill is to be able to
evolve (rapidly) the culture in the department in
response to the changing world.
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• What are these changes??
• 1. Pressure on faculty is increasing.
• Compare expectations now with expectations 20
  years ago
• of journal papers needed for tenure
• External funding
• Teaching and lab course development

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RCR
2020 Head will need to manage these increasing
pressures and the temptations for faculty to take
shortcuts. Example Responsible conduct in
research (RCR).
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2020 Head will need to mange the student
cultureThere is pressure on students to
succeed. Perhaps this is not changing much. But
the temptation to cheat is increasing.
Temptations New technologies camera
phones, advanced calculators Merit scholarships
Online services Essay mills, programming
mills (e.g. Article in the last Chronicle on
Higher Education)
2020 Head
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2020 Head will need to address funding changes.
DoD sources are restricted. Issue with intl
students. Industry is shifting its model. Fed
government struggles with budget and increased
number of proposals.
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2020 Head will have to cope with the changing
nature of research. Society is becoming more
complex. Schools engaged in relevant research
will become more multidisciplinary. The 2020
head might have a role in academic match making.
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2020 Head may have to cope with declining
enrollments and diversity challenges. Issues
public perception, demographics The 2020 head
might have a significant role in leading K-12
outreach.
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Innovation in education is a future issue. NAE
lists personalized learning as one of its grand
challenges. The effective 2020 head will want
to assure that his/her department is a leader in
education innovation. A key 2020 department
head skill is to be able to evolve the culture in
the department in response to the changing
world.
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The End

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How do you change culture
Method 1 wait for all the faculty to retire.
Hire new teachable assistant professors. Method
2 Work ground up. Avoid top down. Listen and
anticipate faculty reactions to new ideas.
Identify champions. Let the champions own the
change. Divide and conquer.