Leas 833 Higher Education In America Weeks 10–11 Academic Af
Leas 833higher Education In Americaweeks 10 11academic Affairschie
Leas 833Higher Education in America Weeks 10 & 11 Academic Affairs •Chief Academic Officers •The Academic Dean •Department Chair •Faculty Senate •Institutional Research •Higher Education Teaching •Higher Education Curriculum •General Education Source: Stateuniversity.com • Chief academic officer (CAO), fulfills the essential role of ensuring that an institution's educational mission is achieved. • The CAO therefore works closely with various constituencies on campus to enact that mission. • By virtue of their position as second-in-command to the president, CAOs usually have jurisdiction over all academic deans, admissions, librarian, chief researcher, and all other academic officers. • CAO generally has the power of approving all faculty appointments, as well as all college or departmental budgets and academic expenditures. • CAOs are thus viewed as providing the internal focus of the administration, while the president provides the external vision and connection to community. • CAOs may feel as if they are "on call" to the president, CAOs also have a great deal of power in their own right.
Chief Academic Officers Source: Stateuniversity.com • The CAO's internal focus may be conceived as having two elements: â–ª Development and implementation of academic goals for the institution â–ª Allocation of resources to various departments and support services on campus to support those academic goals. • CAOs frequently seek to balance competing needs across units within an institution to achieve the best outcomes for the institution as a whole. • CAO to act as negotiator and mediator, attempting to balance and accurately represent the interests of faculty and deans to the president and board of trustees–and vice versa. • Responsible for creating the principal connection between student progress and overall implementation of new programs. • The CAO influences college values and outcomes, such as student progress through personnel, program, and budgetary decisions.
Chief Academic Officers Source: Stateuniversity.com • Through a selective distribution of resources, the CAO may choose to reward or sanction programs that either meet or defy expectations. • Power to reward success and punish for failure through budget & personnel decisions. • By hiring faculty who meet certain qualifications or supporting specific budget initiatives, the CAO may also seek to shape consensus or realize a vision for the institution's educational attainment. • Other terms include academic dean, academic vice president, vice president for academic affairs, vice president for Instruction, chief learning officer (CLO). • The title of provost is often used. In some instances, both the terms provost and vice president of academic affairs indicate the role of the individual as the second-in- command to the president as well as the head of institutional educational concerns. • The title of vice chancellor is also sometimes used.
Chief Academic Officers Source: Stateuniversity.com • The typical career path of a CAO begins with a prolonged stint as a faculty member. â–ª During their time as faculty members, CAOs generally serve on many campus administrative committees, and often on the faculty senate. â–ª CAOs also tend to have prior experience as both chair and dean. • The tenure of individuals in the role of CAO tends to be 5.3 years. • After serving in the CAO role, individual career paths go in varied directions. â–ª 37 percent of CAOs aspired to a presidential position. â–ª 35 percent viewed the CAO position as a final one. â–ª 14 percent desired to return to teaching in their initial discipline. â–ª Males making up 81 percent of the CAOs Chief Academic Officers Source: Stateuniversity.com • Academic deans preside over colleges, schools, or divisions comprised of a cluster of disciplines or disciplinary specialties, such as arts and sciences, engineering, fine arts, business, natural sciences, education, and health sciences. • Academic deans are situated in the institutional hierarchy as reporting to vice presidents or provosts. • Smaller liberal arts institutions and community colleges, where numbers of faculty are fewer, may have a dean of faculty or academic dean who has jurisdiction over faculty in all disciplines. • Deans' roles frequently vary according to academic field, institution type, and institutional context. • In institutions marked by higher levels of disciplinary specialization, such as research and doctoral institutions, the number of academic deans is larger so as to accommodate the unique leadership demands of the diverse disciplinary programs housed in the institution.
The Academic Dean Source: Stateuniversity.com • Drawn from the senior faculty ranks, academic deans are seen by many as serving a dual role, that of scholar and administrator. • Terms of appointment are typically in the range of five to seven years, and while appointments may be extended, very few serve more than ten years in a deanship position. • Deans answer to a variety of constituents, including faculty, the central campus administration, students, and alumni. • Deans serve both academic and administrative purposes and are responsible for hiring department chairs and providing management oversight to bureaucratic processes within the unit. • Depending on unit size, deans often have some number of associate and assistant deans to whom they delegate responsibilities associated with administrative functions related to finances, facilities, personnel, and management of academic or curricular programs.
The Academic Dean Source: Stateuniversity.com • Decision-making responsibilities of academic deans typically encompass the following areas: â–ª Educational program/curriculum. â–ª Faculty selection, promotion, and development. â–ª Student affairs. â–ª Finance. â–ª Physical facilities development. â–ª Public and alumni relations. • Resources under their control are often into the tens, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars in large research institutions. • Responsibilities associated with fundraising, complex financial environment, presented by issues of student access and equity, and increasing numbers of part-time faculty has made the role of the academic dean far more complex than it has been in the past. • Academic deans are not only required to be scholars of highest repute but also to possess some measure of managerial and leadership talent.
The Academic Dean Source: Stateuniversity.com • Communication with faculty is a central activity. • Faculty interactions often involve sensitive issues, such as tenure decisions and salary concerns, demanding an acute sensitivity to faculty needs and skills in problem-solving and conflict management. • The most effective deans are skilled in building consensus, influencing outcomes in support of academic programs in a context of disparate goals, and in negotiating for resources in an increasingly scarce resource environment. • Persuasiveness and ability to navigate the political environment are essential. • Effective deans also possess skills in collaboration and integration that facilitate development and implementation of new academic programs and cultivation of new opportunities for research and student learning.
The Academic Dean Source: Stateuniversity.com • Biggest challenges of academic deans is enacting leadership in a context where faculty being led neither believe they need to be led, nor are predisposed to succumb to administrative policy and procedural dictates. • Deans must operate in an environment within which their authority is subject to ongoing challenge, making fortitude, perseverance, and humility important attributes for survival. • One typically ascends to the full-time administrative post of the deanship through the academic ranks, having achieved success as a scholar and teacher. • Includes time spent in a previous administrative role such as department chair and an assistant or associate deanship. • An alternative route that is the experience of the seasoned business executive is viewed as bringing added value in the development of important linkages with business and industry.
The Department Chair Source: insidehighered.com • Department chairs are tenured faculty. • Their primary function is to champion their faculty. They work for and with faculty, providing protection from central administrative intrusion and support for faculty academic endeavors. • Normally chairs are internal appointees, either selected by their deans or elected by their departments and then appointed by their deans for terms of usually three to five years. • Chairs engage in four primary categories of tasks: â–ª Faculty development - responsible for supervising the recruitment, selection, and evaluation of faculty and for enhancing faculty teaching, research, and morale. â–ª Management - oversee the day-to-day fiduciary requirements of the department. â–ª Scholarship - maintain research plans, obtain resources for personal research, and remain current in their academic discipline. â–ª Leadership - focus on either faculty or the department as a whole.
Department Chair Source: insidehighered.com • Chairs guard faculty autonomy and academic freedom by filtering and interpreting demands placed on faculty and departments by college deans. • Foster collegiality, honor specialized expertise, and promote excellence in teaching, research, and service to the department, college, and university by ensuring that department work gets shared equitably, that a collaborative work environment exists, and that requisite resources are allocated properly. • The task of carrying out administrative mandates can often pit them against their faculty peers. • Experts estimate that more than 80 percent of all administrative decisions in universities take place at the department level. • Proactive chairs develop faculty as researchers and teachers, the will to persevere as a scholar, a concern for the fiscal viability of the department, and the administrative savvy and foresight to ensure departmental regeneration.
Faculty Senate Source: insidehighered.com • Faculty Senates are represented bodies of elected faculty members to represent faculty concerns & issues. • Faculty Senates are part of the shared governance structure. • Faculty senates have shared responsibilities, ranging from a limited role in program approval and review of tenure decisions to a more comprehensive role that includes budget review and allocation, senior administrative recruitment, and strategic planning. • Faculty senates six roles: â–ª Determining short-and long-range interests and needs of faculty â–ª Articulating expectations of faculty, staff, and students â–ª Developing goals and planning strategies â–ª Establishing standards and procedures for the review and evaluation of proposed administrative action dealing with curricula offerings, budgetary practices, and faculty recruitment and retention â–ª Increasing knowledge and understanding of issues in departments. â–ª Allocating resources equitably.
Institutional Research Source: Stateuniversity.com • Institutional research is research activity carried out in colleges and universities to collect and analyze data concerning: • Students, faculty, staff, and other educational facilities. • Institutional research is to promote institutional effectiveness. ➢ It does this by providing information for institutional planning, policy formation, and decision-making within the college or university. • Higher educational institutions have created a special office, called the Office of Institutional Research. • This office usually is placed in the higher hierarchy of the administrative units of the institution. • The Office of Institutional Research usually reports to the provost, vice-president for academic affairs or President. • Institutional research offices exist to provide information for institutional planning, policy formation and implementation, decision-making, and accreditation. • Responds to federal, state, local requests for institutional data.
Higher Education Teaching Source: Stateuniversity.com • Seven higher education teacher roles: â–ª Content research. â–ª Instructional design. â–ª Instructional delivery. â–ª Discussion leading. â–ª Content/activity integration. â–ª Assessment. â–ª Mentoring. • Meta-professional Faculty - one who not only has expertise in a base profession within a given discipline but also is held responsible for other skills, knowledge, and activities beyond pedagogy. • These include advising, curriculum development, assessment, service, administration, leadership, team membership, strategic planning, communication, and entrepreneurship. • Research on college teaching came from faculty who were interested in understanding and improving teaching and learning in their higher education classrooms.
Higher Education Teaching Source: Stateuniversity.com • Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education: â–ª Encourages student-faculty contact. â–ª Encourages cooperation among students. â–ª Encourages active learning. â–ª Gives prompt feedback. â–ª Emphasizes time on task. â–ª Communicates high expectations. â–ª Respects diverse talents and ways of learning. • Major changes to Higher education teaching: â–ª Changes in the student population â–ª Tremendous growth of distance and technology-based teaching and learning. • The obvious differences between traditional, face-to-face instruction for young residential students and distance, computer-based, and other instructional formats for older learners are dramatic and have major implications for college teaching.
Higher Education Curriculum Source: Stateuniversity.com • An undergraduate curriculum is a formal academic plan for the learning experiences of students in pursuit of a college degree. • The term curriculum: â–ª Includes goals for student learning (skills, knowledge and attitudes). â–ª Content (the subject matter in which learning experiences are embedded). â–ª Sequence (the order in which concepts are presented); â–ª Learners. â–ª Instructional methods and activities. â–ª Instructional resources (materials and settings). â–ª Evaluation (methods used to assess student learning as a result of these experiences). â–ª Adjustments to teaching and learning processes, based on experience and evaluation. • Curricular innovations and reforms reflect three shifts in emphasis: â–ª From learning goals that focus on mastery of content and content coverage to demonstration of broad competencies. â–ª From learning in disparate disciplines to integrative learning experiences across the curriculum. â–ª From changes in subject matter as the primary means to improve learning to innovations in instructional methods and assessments as integral to curricular reforms. â–ª Diversity and global competency have emerged as major undergraduate curriculum issues, as well. • Curriculum coherence and integration strategies: â–ª Clarify, tighten, and sequence requirements so they provide greater coherence. â–ª Provide educational experiences calibrated to the developmental learning needs of students at different stages of their collegiate lives. ➢ First-year program, orientation programs, orientation courses, co- curricular offerings, developmental courses, academic support services, and learning communities.
General Education Source: Stateuniversity.com • General education emerged in response to changing societal needs and the tension between classical liberal education and more practical or specialized education. • Primary goal of general education is to provide a broad survey of courses that will promote critical thinking and increase students' awareness of the world around them. • Can serves as a foundation for technical or vocational training, fostering in students the ability to think beyond their areas of specialization. • A set of specific courses will encourage students to make connections across disciplines and between formal course instruction and informal learning experiences outside the classroom. • General education requirements vary significantly from one institution to another. â–ª Variation in general education requirements stems from the broad array of institutional missions and goals.
Paper For Above instruction
Introduction
The landscape of higher education in America is a complex and multifaceted domain that involves a wide array of administrative roles, academic structures, and pedagogical strategies. The roles of chief academic officers, deans, department chairs, faculty senate, institutional research, and curriculum design collectively contribute to shaping the quality, effectiveness, and direction of higher education institutions. This paper explores these key components, emphasizing their responsibilities, interactions, and impact on institutional success.
Chief Academic Officers: Leadership and Governance
Chief Academic Officers (CAOs), often known as provosts or vice presidents for academic affairs, occupy a pivotal position within university administration. Their primary responsibility is to ensure the achievement of the institution’s educational mission. Working as second-in-command to the president, CAOs oversee all academic functions, including faculty appointments, budget allocations, and program development. They serve as both internal strategists and mediators, balancing the interests of faculty, deans, and the broader institutional goals. Their role involves developing and implementing academic goals, allocating resources, and shaping institutional policies that influence student progress and educational quality (Stateuniversity.com).
CAOs’ career pathways typically begin with extensive faculty experience, often serving on administrative committees and faculty senates before ascending to senior administrative positions. The tenure in this role averages approximately 5.3 years, after which individuals may pursue aspirations such as presidency or return to faculty roles. The power dynamics within this role afford CAOs significant influence over resource distribution, program success, and institutional values. They wield authority to reward successful programs and discipline underperforming ones, shaping the academic landscape (Stateuniversity.com).
Deans and Department Chairs: Academic Leadership at the Unit Level
Academic deans oversee colleges, schools, or divisions, providing leadership through faculty development, curriculum oversight, and administrative management. They report to vice presidents or provosts and are responsible for hiring, approving budgets, and fostering academic excellence within their units. Their decision-making encompasses curriculum design, faculty recruitment, student affairs, and resource management, often overseeing resources in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in large research universities (Stateuniversity.com).
Deans are drawn from senior faculty and typically serve terms of five to seven years, with some extending beyond ten years. Their effectiveness hinges on skills such as strategic planning, negotiation, collaboration, and conflict resolution—particularly in environments with diverse and complex academic programs. The most challenging aspect of their role involves exercising leadership in faculty communities resistant to administrative influence, requiring resilience, tact, and political acumen (Stateuniversity.com).
At the department level, chairs are tenured faculty responsible for advocating for faculty interests, managing departmental operations, and fostering research and teaching excellence. They typically serve three to five-year terms and engage in faculty development, management, scholarship, and leadership. They act as custodians of academic freedom and autonomy, mediating between college administration and faculty - a critical node within the university hierarchy where over 80% of administrative decisions transpire (insidehighered.com).
The Role of Faculty Senate and Institutional Research
Faculty Senates serve as elected bodies representing faculty concerns within the shared governance framework. Their responsibilities range from curriculum review and faculty recruitment to strategic planning and resource allocation. By articulating faculty interests and fostering consensus, faculty senates influence institutional policies and promote transparency (insidehighered.com).
Institutional Research offices support decision-making by collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on students, faculty, and resources. Positioned within the higher hierarchy, these offices report to senior administrators such as the provost or president. They provide vital information for planning, accreditation, policy development, and responding to governmental data requests. Effective institutional research is crucial for fostering institutional effectiveness and adapting to external regulatory and societal demands (Stateuniversity.com).
Higher Education Teaching and Curriculum Innovation
Higher education teaching encompasses several roles, from content research and instructional design to mentoring and assessment. Faculty are increasingly expected to engage in diverse activities beyond traditional lecturing, including curriculum development, advising, and leadership. The principles of good practice in undergraduate education emphasize student-faculty contact, cooperation, active learning, timely feedback, high expectations, and respect for diversity (Stateuniversity.com).
The rapid growth of distance and technology-based learning has transformed instructional methods. Educators now employ various formats, from face-to-face to online platforms, demanding new pedagogical strategies suited to diverse student populations, particularly older or non-traditional learners. Effective teaching in this environment requires active engagement, clear communication, and adaptability to technological innovations (Stateuniversity.com).
The curriculum itself is a formal plan designed to facilitate student learning through clearly defined goals, content, sequencing, instructional methods, and assessments. Reforms in curriculum emphasize broad competencies rather than content mastery, fostering integrative learning, and emphasizing diversity and global competency. Coherent and well-sequenced curricula cater to the developmental needs of students and ensure alignment with institutional missions (Stateuniversity