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Cover image of How to Be a Dean
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How to Be a Dean

George Justice

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The essential guide to the hardest job in higher ed.

A deanship in higher education is an exciting but complex job combining technical administration and academic leadership. On one hand, the dean is an institutional leader, standing up for the faculty, staff, and students. On the other, the dean is a middle manager, managing personnel, curriculum, and budgets and trying to live up to the expectations of the governing board, president, and provost. But what is it really like to be a dean?

In How to Be a Dean, George Justice illuminates both of these leadership roles, which interact and even...

The essential guide to the hardest job in higher ed.

A deanship in higher education is an exciting but complex job combining technical administration and academic leadership. On one hand, the dean is an institutional leader, standing up for the faculty, staff, and students. On the other, the dean is a middle manager, managing personnel, curriculum, and budgets and trying to live up to the expectations of the governing board, president, and provost. But what is it really like to be a dean?

In How to Be a Dean, George Justice illuminates both of these leadership roles, which interact and even conflict with each other while deans do their best to help faculty members and students. Providing tested advice, Justice takes readers from the job search through the daily work of the dean and, ultimately, to the larger questions of leadership, excellence, and integrity the role provokes. He also explores the roles of "different" deanships in the broader context of academic leadership.

Based on the author's experience as a dean at two large research universities, How to Be a Dean is clear, engaging, and opinionated. Current deans will use this book to reflect on the work they do in productive ways. Faculty members considering administrative work will find in this book some idea about the day-to-day work required of their institutional leaders. And finally, readers who are simply curious about what deans do will find pointed analysis about what works and what doesn't.

Reviews

Reviews

The perfect book for new deans, as well as for anyone who aspires to be a dean, wants to take a leadership position in higher education, or has college leadership potential.

If you're a dean, and you want a friend, get a dog. But if you're thinking of becoming a dean or want to know what deaning might involve, George Justice's report from the field offers a place to start: a clear-eyed, experienced view of a little-understood, and increasingly complex, part of American higher ed.

George Justice's How to be a Dean is sharp-eyed and comprehensive. Focused on the practical, day-to-day realities of working as an academic dean, this book promises to remain a definitive guide for years to come.

George Justice is in a unique position to write this book since he served as a graduate dean and an academic line dean. He considers matters from the practical to a broader philosophical view of the deanship. This volume is a must-read for new deans or those considering serving as dean.

Justice is adept at exploring pragmatic issues, from assessing the major responsibilities, managing up, and gauging when it is time to stop. I particularly appreciated the candid assessments on these topics that are frequently absent from other volumes on academic leadership.

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About

Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
5
x
8
Pages
200
ISBN
9781421428789
Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. What Does a Dean Do?
Chapter 2. The Dean in the College
Chapter 3. Managing Down, Managing Up
Chapter 4. Being of Value
Epilogue. Knowing When to Stop
Acknowledgments
Further Reading

Preface
Chapter 1. What Does a Dean Do?
Chapter 2. The Dean in the College
Chapter 3. Managing Down, Managing Up
Chapter 4. Being of Value
Epilogue. Knowing When to Stop
Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Index

Author Bio
George Justice
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George Justice

George Justice is a professor of English at Arizona State University. He has served as dean of the humanities at Arizona State University and dean of the graduate school at the University of Missouri.