Wow. What happened to a day's work for a day's pay.

Or as SFT said when he fired the deans, "it won't be business as usual around here."

I'm in a department in CoAL (4th floor), and I've got to hand it to my chair-- he/she comes in early and leaves late. Of course that doesn't include the days teaching a night class until 9:30pm. That's a 13 1/2 hour day. Things run very smoothly, and decision-making is, as it always has been in my department, open and fair.

It is in many ways a thankless job, especially at USM where even the deans seem to lack real spending authority. A chair is a justice of the peace, a small claims judge, a kindergarden teacher.... you can fill in the rest. I think they are underpaid. But aren't we all?

As a former chair who served in the position at two institutions, the above chair's observations caught my attention.

First, I find it difficult to believe that a chair would devote 40 hours/week to his/her duties, particularly if chairing a large department. Large departments provide opportunities for delegating or sharing authority (on a time-share basis or otherwise). Train your people well, then trust them.

Second, if chairs teach more than one or two classes a year, small ones, courses that a long career has permitted the chair to teach a number of times, then the chair is on a suicide mission, especially if new. Real scholars find time for their research, even when a chair; it's the teaching that suffers. Someone who fails to find time for either good teaching or research is simply overwhelmed by the chair's job. Likely, too, they are attempting to micro-manage. I know plenty of chairs, deans, even provosts and presidents, who have active research programs and who teach periodically. If they can do it, so can chairs. Insist on it. My advice to new chairs is to negotiate a 0-0 or 0-1 teaching load the first year, then 0-1 or 1-1 at most, thereafter.

Fundamentally, chairs are servant leaders: servants of faculty, administrators, and students. The dean should be able to help serve certain faculty needs and other faculty/staff can help with students.

Third, chairs need good gate keepers. 8-5 is fine. But one need not be at the beck and call of every yahoo who knows how to knock on a door. Establish a schedule for lab time (at least 2 hours between 8-5), unless the dean calls. Even then, tell the dean that you will not be available at a particular time, but offer a cell number for urgent issues. Empower the front desk person to sign lots of the little stuff that students bring in; empower others on the faculty to take responsibility for other tasks. You will be creating space for yourself and training a potential replacement.

Fourth, the chair's whine inviting others to lay off of chairs made me wonder. A chair who signed on to work within what appears to be a disasterous administration should expect little respect from peers and indeed much criticism. Any long-time chair could expect the same, if to a lesser extent. Other than trying to save one's disciplinary fellow travellers from abuse from above, what other motive for being chair in these circumstances could motivate one? Lower teaching load, money, "prestige," resume building. None of those motivations will gain you much respect. That leaves one with being primarily a hero to faculty as they fight the fight to be well-rounded scholars. Even at USM, that's not a 40-hour/week job.

Finally, it seems the chair above may be committed to managing but not leading. Once he figures out that difference, life will be better.

Best of luck to the chair in question and others at USM! Don't expect much, certainly not short-term rewards and perfect contentment.