This is the 300th and final entry of this blog. I know, I have ended the blog in the past (most recently in May, 2019) and then restarted it, but this time it should really stick, as today (June 30, 2022) is my last day as a dean, so I won’t have any more “Dispatches from a Dean.” After nine years as a dean (two at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and seven at San José State University), tomorrow I’ll start as the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Cal State East Bay. Perhaps in the future I’ll start a new blog about adventures as a provost…
role transition
“Back to the Bay” is a Cal State East Bay event that brings faculty and staff together to share their expertise, and learn from one another as teachers, advisors, researchers, users of technology, and active participants in the campus community. The 2021 event was virtual. I’ve been asked to present the keynote address for the 2022 event. It should be fun!
In the summer of 2022 San José State University will launch HonorsX, a new interdisciplinary program for students interested in using integrated thinking and applied learning to tackle challenging problems in their communities and the world. HonorsX will initially have an emphasis on the intersection of social justice and sustainability, connecting all three “Es” of sustainability: environmental protection, economic development, and equitable social structures. I’ll have to keep an eye on it, as it may be something to try at Cal State East Bay too!
In my previous entry I announced that my journey as a dean was coming to an end on July 1, 2022. That was my 296th entry in this blog. I think that I’ll add four more entries (including this one), so that I end on June 30, 2022 with a nice round number of 300 total posts :).
On July 1, 2022 I will become the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University East Bay. This will mark the end of a nine year journey as a dean. Onward to new adventures!
Today is July 1, 2016, and it marks the start of my fourth year as a dean. In a few days (July 6) I’ll be entering my second year as the Dean of the SJSU College of Social Sciences. So since I’m not really a new dean anymore I’ll have to change the title of this blog! In the meantime, I found one unpublished post from last July, just after I started at SJSU. It’s about mistakes new deans make; I’ll paste that into this post. Thanks to everyone who helped me avoid these problems!
Inside Higher Education recently published an essay on the “5 Mistakes of Rookie Deans.” Although focusing on the experiences of business school deans, Dean Eli Jones’ advice is widely applicable. He notes that the following mistakes land deans in hot water:
- Underestimating the knowledge, skills, and abilities it takes to do the job well.
- Overestimating the power and influence one has in the role.
- Lacking sufficient knowledge about managing oneself.
- Lacking sufficient knowledge of how to generate and allocate resources across the enterprise.
- Underappreciating the art and science of relationship building.
A comment from “stinkcat” adds two more mistakes: “Before you make significant decisions take time to understand the culture of the place. Also, in the minds of faculty you work for them, they don’t work for you. Forget that at your peril.” I would add one more that’s informed by my social science background: do not forget the importance of social structure in enabling success. If one wants to build a truly collaborative environment, for example, s/he needs to create mechanisms that bring folks together and make sure that action items get accomplished. For example, here at the SJSU College of Social Sciences the department chairs will have two regularly scheduled collective meetings per month, one with the dean group [dean, associate dean, “decanal fellow” (last year’s interim dean who is assisting me with the transition), and the college’s budget manager] where we address issues that are usually externally imposed, and one without the dean group present where the chairs can share best practices and also generate new ideas without worrying about the initial reaction of the dean before polishing them to take to the next chairs/dean group meeting.
Dean Jones notes that deans are asked to “chart a course for our organizations in the midst of continuous change, to train and motivate our employees, and to develop innovative solutions for a constantly evolving marketplace.” Mistakes are bound to happen, but we deans can minimize them by keeping the above guidelines in mind.
When I was on the faculty at the University of Minnesota I occasionally served on graduate student committees. The last student with whom I’m working (on his Ph.D.) contacted me today about his dissertation defense date, so the era of working on graduate student committees might be coming to an end, given my full schedule of administrative activities. Then again, I was never the primary advisor on a committee; most of the students I worked with were doing unconventional things and needed a source of support in negotiating with more traditional mentors, so I can probably still serve in that capacity. In the meantime, graduate students are on my SJSU College of Social Sciences student advisory board, so I’ll always maintain some contact with them!
Yesterday was the first day of fall semester classes here at San José State University. Seeing tons of students on campus was very strange, as the last time I was a member of an institution that started fall classes in August instead of September was 20 years ago while I was a graduate student at Indiana University. This week also felt weird because it was the first time since the early years on the faculty at the University of Minnesota where I was not involved in some sort of student orientation activity. In my two years at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside I participated in first week orientation activities, and after getting tenure at the University of Minnesota I did a lot of work with their Welcome Week activities. Going to the U of M New Student Convocation was a highlight of the year.
Here at SJSU my Associate Dean led a college-specific orientation session for transfer students. I’ll have to join her next year, as well as explore ways in which I can get involved in other SJSU orientation activities. I may also have to advocate for new activities. For example, SJSU does not have an orientation convocation that serves as an official welcome to the university, where new students are provided with an introduction to university history and traditions (like school songs, taught by the marching band after they enter in full uniform!), and hear from the president and students (such as an epic inspirational speech by a Georgia Tech student.) We’ve got to make that happen here!
One of my earliest posts on this blog was about “Scheduling Time for Reading,” as learning new tasks crowded out some old activities. It seems that this challenge is popping up again two years later! My initial solution was to save articles to my Instapaper account, and read them on weekends. That approach worked particularly well in my second year at UWP, when I flew to Charlotte, NC to visit my wife just about every weekend, so I could read on the flights. Now we both have jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area and live in just one household, so I have to toss that solution out the window. My daily commute to campus via light rail is just a 10 minute trip door to door, so an option of reading while going to the office is also eliminated. Hhhmmm. OK, up until 2012 I read a paper copy of the Sunday paper on Sunday mornings, so maybe I can restart a tradition of reading articles and news at that time, but now on an iPad instead of the old fashioned way. Yes, I’ll give that a shot!
Before becoming a dean I loved attending graduation ceremonies. As noted in a previous post, my enjoyment has been tempered by discomfort with a new task: reading students’ names, as I worry about mispronouncing some of them. I just read about a new service that might help: NameCoach, a web page students can use to record their names with correct pronunciation. I’m going to have to get UW-Parkside connected to this service!
“Back to the Bay” is a Cal State East Bay event that brings faculty and staff together to share their expertise, and learn from one another as teachers, advisors, researchers, users of technology, and active participants in the campus community. The 2021 event was virtual. I’ve been asked to present the keynote address for the 2022 event. It should be fun!
In the summer of 2022 San José State University will launch HonorsX, a new interdisciplinary program for students interested in using integrated thinking and applied learning to tackle challenging problems in their communities and the world. HonorsX will initially have an emphasis on the intersection of social justice and sustainability, connecting all three “Es” of sustainability: environmental protection, economic development, and equitable social structures. I’ll have to keep an eye on it, as it may be something to try at Cal State East Bay too!
In my previous entry I announced that my journey as a dean was coming to an end on July 1, 2022. That was my 296th entry in this blog. I think that I’ll add four more entries (including this one), so that I end on June 30, 2022 with a nice round number of 300 total posts :).
On July 1, 2022 I will become the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State University East Bay. This will mark the end of a nine year journey as a dean. Onward to new adventures!
Today is July 1, 2016, and it marks the start of my fourth year as a dean. In a few days (July 6) I’ll be entering my second year as the Dean of the SJSU College of Social Sciences. So since I’m not really a new dean anymore I’ll have to change the title of this blog! In the meantime, I found one unpublished post from last July, just after I started at SJSU. It’s about mistakes new deans make; I’ll paste that into this post. Thanks to everyone who helped me avoid these problems!
Inside Higher Education recently published an essay on the “5 Mistakes of Rookie Deans.” Although focusing on the experiences of business school deans, Dean Eli Jones’ advice is widely applicable. He notes that the following mistakes land deans in hot water:
- Underestimating the knowledge, skills, and abilities it takes to do the job well.
- Overestimating the power and influence one has in the role.
- Lacking sufficient knowledge about managing oneself.
- Lacking sufficient knowledge of how to generate and allocate resources across the enterprise.
- Underappreciating the art and science of relationship building.
A comment from “stinkcat” adds two more mistakes: “Before you make significant decisions take time to understand the culture of the place. Also, in the minds of faculty you work for them, they don’t work for you. Forget that at your peril.” I would add one more that’s informed by my social science background: do not forget the importance of social structure in enabling success. If one wants to build a truly collaborative environment, for example, s/he needs to create mechanisms that bring folks together and make sure that action items get accomplished. For example, here at the SJSU College of Social Sciences the department chairs will have two regularly scheduled collective meetings per month, one with the dean group [dean, associate dean, “decanal fellow” (last year’s interim dean who is assisting me with the transition), and the college’s budget manager] where we address issues that are usually externally imposed, and one without the dean group present where the chairs can share best practices and also generate new ideas without worrying about the initial reaction of the dean before polishing them to take to the next chairs/dean group meeting.
Dean Jones notes that deans are asked to “chart a course for our organizations in the midst of continuous change, to train and motivate our employees, and to develop innovative solutions for a constantly evolving marketplace.” Mistakes are bound to happen, but we deans can minimize them by keeping the above guidelines in mind.
When I was on the faculty at the University of Minnesota I occasionally served on graduate student committees. The last student with whom I’m working (on his Ph.D.) contacted me today about his dissertation defense date, so the era of working on graduate student committees might be coming to an end, given my full schedule of administrative activities. Then again, I was never the primary advisor on a committee; most of the students I worked with were doing unconventional things and needed a source of support in negotiating with more traditional mentors, so I can probably still serve in that capacity. In the meantime, graduate students are on my SJSU College of Social Sciences student advisory board, so I’ll always maintain some contact with them!
Yesterday was the first day of fall semester classes here at San José State University. Seeing tons of students on campus was very strange, as the last time I was a member of an institution that started fall classes in August instead of September was 20 years ago while I was a graduate student at Indiana University. This week also felt weird because it was the first time since the early years on the faculty at the University of Minnesota where I was not involved in some sort of student orientation activity. In my two years at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside I participated in first week orientation activities, and after getting tenure at the University of Minnesota I did a lot of work with their Welcome Week activities. Going to the U of M New Student Convocation was a highlight of the year.
Here at SJSU my Associate Dean led a college-specific orientation session for transfer students. I’ll have to join her next year, as well as explore ways in which I can get involved in other SJSU orientation activities. I may also have to advocate for new activities. For example, SJSU does not have an orientation convocation that serves as an official welcome to the university, where new students are provided with an introduction to university history and traditions (like school songs, taught by the marching band after they enter in full uniform!), and hear from the president and students (such as an epic inspirational speech by a Georgia Tech student.) We’ve got to make that happen here!
One of my earliest posts on this blog was about “Scheduling Time for Reading,” as learning new tasks crowded out some old activities. It seems that this challenge is popping up again two years later! My initial solution was to save articles to my Instapaper account, and read them on weekends. That approach worked particularly well in my second year at UWP, when I flew to Charlotte, NC to visit my wife just about every weekend, so I could read on the flights. Now we both have jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area and live in just one household, so I have to toss that solution out the window. My daily commute to campus via light rail is just a 10 minute trip door to door, so an option of reading while going to the office is also eliminated. Hhhmmm. OK, up until 2012 I read a paper copy of the Sunday paper on Sunday mornings, so maybe I can restart a tradition of reading articles and news at that time, but now on an iPad instead of the old fashioned way. Yes, I’ll give that a shot!
Before becoming a dean I loved attending graduation ceremonies. As noted in a previous post, my enjoyment has been tempered by discomfort with a new task: reading students’ names, as I worry about mispronouncing some of them. I just read about a new service that might help: NameCoach, a web page students can use to record their names with correct pronunciation. I’m going to have to get UW-Parkside connected to this service!