I am co-editing an anthology, the Minority Dean Survival Guide. Below is the general description; please send me a note for more information if you would like to participate or know someone who should receive the call for submissions!
The Minority Dean Survival Guide is a multidisciplinary volume that takes a no holds barred approach to academic life from the perspective of a senior administrator. Although the roles of president and provost are critical for running a university, no university thrives without a competent set of college deans who indeed are responsible for leading academic enterprises, some of which are the size of small to mid-size universities, but each of which are vital no matter what the size. Similar to becoming a professor, being a first-time dean comes with little to no training. Most deans enter into these roles subsequent to being department head, associate dean, or a program director. Neither of these roles adequately prepares new deans for what they will experience as dean. In this book the contributors candidly uncover the privileges, perils, and politics of being a minority dean in a simple, easy to read, and compelling writing style. This approach provides an interesting pastiche, since there are clearly dimensions of the job that are common among all deans. There are also particular elements of being a minority dean that distinguish these persons from all other deans across the academy. That is what readers will discover in this volume, as they are invited to engage the experiences of current and former minority deans, each of whom, due to the politics that will be discussed in the introduction, will use a pseudonym. This collection brings together cross-disciplinary deans from a range of institutions that vary by size, region, demographics, and focus. Each will provide their own advice and personal narratives, and will discuss their leadership styles, successes, failures, and recommended rules for survival.