Effective Faculty Leadership Under Challenging Circumstances

Leadership touches all aspects of academic life: leadership in teaching, research and service, and faculty leadership comes in different forms: faculty serve as department chairs, directors of graduate studies, principal investigators on research teams, chairs and members of search committees and national commissions or associations, to name just a few roles. The current pandemic has been challenging for faculty and academic leaders on both personal and professional levels. Some of the challenges include building and maintaining a sense of community with shared goals among the key members of our units. The situation has been especially challenging for new community members, such as new students, faculty and staff. While difficult, challenging circumstances can offer the opportunity to improve normal work practices in ways impossible to consider except in times of extreme duress.

Participants in this workshop will learn how to acknowledge challenges and overcome key obstacles, establish trust and a shared sense of community and build a culture where colleagues become partners and co-leaders with the goal of not only addressing current problems, but also fostering an openness to new approaches to delivering on our education, research and engagement missions. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their own approaches to working with their teams and maintaining a sense of community during the current challenges. During the workshop we will share information on follow up one-on-one coaching sessions offered by certified coaches, as well as group coaching opportunities.