"While the importance of departmental leadership is highlighted
and
specific ideas for chairs given, a key message is collective
responsibility."
Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#497 DEPARTMENTS THAT WORK: BUILDING
AND SUSTAINING CULTURES OF EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
Folks:
The posting below is a brief review by Jean Eckrich of the book,
Departments That Work: Building and Sustaining Cultures of Excellence
in Academic Programs, by Jon F. Wergin (2003); Anker Publishing
Company, Bolton, MA; 172 pages; $35.95. It is from the June, 2003
issue of the AAHE Bulletin. The American Association for Higher
Education is a "shared mission partner" of the Tomorrow's
Professor Mailing List. http://www.AAHEBulletin.com
Copyright ©2003 American Association for Higher Education.
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Reprinted
with permission.
Regards,
Rick reis reis@stanford.edu UP NEXT: The Constructivist View of
Learning
Tomorrow's Academia
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DEPARTMENTS THAT WORK: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING CULTURES OF EXCELLENCE
IN ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
Reviewed by Jean Eckrich, chair and professor, Exercise and Sport
Sciences Department, Colby-Sawyer College; jeckrich@colby-sawyer.edu.
Academic departments often struggle to make self-assessments meaningful
and useful. In this book author Jon Wergin, an educational studies
professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and an AAHE senior
scholar who has done extensive work with academic departments, recognizes
the different factors that may act as obstacles for each department
and describes characteristics and qualities of departmental evaluations
that are successful in moving a department forward.
The book acknowledges the role of government regulations and the
marketplace as forces for public accountability; the focus is on
ensuring departmental quality through peer review. While the importance
of departmental leadership is highlighted and specific ideas for
chairs given, a key message is collective responsibility. Mechanisms
of program reviews and assessments must be flexible enough to adapt
to issues and departmental needs, Wergin emphasizes.
It is critical that departmental members be allowed to identify
key issues and questions for the review, Wergin writes, and an organizational
structure and climate that supports the intrinsic as well as extrinsic
motivators for the faculty is also very important.
While the structure and foundation for reviews are critical, so
is the determination of the core values. Wergin gives various strategies
for departments as they negotiate the multiple interests of all
stakeholders in the development of shared values. Determining the
success of the department in achieving those shared values requires
identifying what is necessary evidence, collecting the appropriate
evidence, and examining the evidence for meaning. It is essential
for all to recognize that there may be different interpretations
of the evidence and negotiating those interpretations will be essential
for making claims, identifying concerns, and developing action plans.
Departments That Work is a valuable resource for all department
members committed to critical reflection about the quality of their
work. Underlying assumptions are given, potential stumbling blocks
are identified, and specific strategies are provided.
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