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Conversations
and reflections on case studies refine academic leadership and professional
decision making by helping people see assumptions, consequences and options.
To maximize the learning potential of case studies, one would be well
advised to articulate the reasons for the decisions envisioned as flowing
from the principles of good leadership and professional practice. What
might really have happened (were these not fictional cases in the first
place) is not as important as what should have happened, had the people
been wiser about what they took the problems to be or more imaginative
regarding finding resolutions.
The events and characters depicted in the short cases presented here are
all fictional. The situations, however, are not uncommon. There is more
than one reasonable way to approach each case; yet, some ideas about what
to do or why to do it are going to be more humane, more prudent, more
just, more sensitive to core responsibilities, more practical, more effective
in the short and long term, and, hence, frankly, better, than others.
There are certainly some serious mistakes a person can make in each case,
mistakes with unfortunate consequences for the individuals involved, for
the common good, and for the institution. If these cases seem too easy,
either you are a knowledgeable, skilled, and wise person, or you may be
missing something important! Enjoy.
There
are 25 brief fictional cases below. The grouping suggests
the organizational and leadership level where the case is has proven to
be most helpful. But there are no secrets. You can download cases at every
level and enjoy thinking through the issues at hand. Each "case"
is really a story with questions interspersed to provide opportunities
for problem framing, critical and creative thinking, decision-making,
and good judgment. Click on a title to view the case in PDF file format.
The
lead author of these cases, Dr.
Peter A. (Pete) Facione brings three decades of higher education
leadership experience as a Provost, Dean, Director and Department Chair.
His higher education writings include essays on budgeting, governance,
liberal education, outcomes assessment, faculty evaluation, and critical
thinking. He has consulted on-site at over sixty institutions around the
country. In 2007 Dr. Facione became a senior strategic associate with
Stratus-Heery
a higher education consulting firm. To discuss your academic leadership
development program needs with Dr. Facione contact him directly at pfacione@measuredreasons.com
The
materials below, developed during his years as a faculty member and academic
leader, are presented here for the benefit of the higher education community.
There are fictional case studies
to stimulate conversations as well as workshop
materials relating to faculty evaluation and leadership responsibilities.
Permission
is granted to make copies of these cases and materials for personal, and
strictly noncommercial use, provided that proper citation is made to the
author(s) and this website.
Faculty
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"Too
Busy " (1 page) |
A
request from the Chair tips the scales for a colleague trying
to balance responsibilities to family and to academia.
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"Seven
Is Forever" (1 page)
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The
tenure clock continues to run as an assistant professor lives
as if there is no urgency about using the years wisely.
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"Academic
Integrity -- Four Vignettes" (2 pages)
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"Another
Einstein?" "Just a Quick Question," "Protecting
the Standards," and "The Data That Wasn't The Data."
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"The
Reader of Signs" (1 page) |
A
faculty mentor receives an e-mail from an anxious colleague asking
for assistance in looking for a job at a different institution.
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"The
Decomposing Constructivist" (1 page) |
A
faculty mentor must figure out how to help a colleague who seems
to have serious classroom management problems.
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"The
Holiday Blues" (2 pages) |
A
phone call from a student raises questions about a colleague's
integrity and good judgment. What to do?
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"Grade,
Grade Me Good" (1
page)
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A
faculty member must respond to a student who complains about a
grade, asserts the faculty member is being arbitrary, and believes
a much higher grade is essential.
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Chairs
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"The
Core Course Setback" (2 pages) |
A
faculty colleague fails to complete a curricular project of vitally
importance to the future of the department.
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"The
Defenders of the Right" (2 pages)
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A
student, encouraged by a faculty member, appeals to the Chair
to change a final grade assigned by an obstreperous professor.
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"The
Innocent Gift" (2 pages) |
A
faculty member gives an administrative assistant a gift as compensation
for unauthorized overtime work.
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"Moonlight
and Sunshine" (2 pages) |
Faculty
moonlighting causes hard feelings in the department and creates
potential conflicts of interest.
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"Between
the Rock and a Hard Place" (2 pages) |
A
Chair tries to sort out the rights and responsibilities of the
departmental administrative assistant vis-à-vis the expectations
of different departmental faculty.
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Chairs and Deans
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"Clearing
Trees and Planting Seeds" (3 pages) |
A
Chair seeks the Dean's advice on making a very difficult colleague
take on a needed assignment.
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"Rumors
and Ruminations" (2 pages) |
Senior
faculty from different departments compare inconsistent interpretations
of college budget policy.
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"Eye
of the Beholder" (1 page) |
The
new Chair's evaluation of an untenured faculty colleague is seriously
inconsistent with the past Chair's.
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"You
Can't Copyright an Idea" (1 page) |
An
angry and aggrieved assistant professor accuses a senior colleague
of plagiarizing research.
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Deans
and Associate Dean Leadership Teams
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"The
Dean Team" (2 pages) |
The
strength of an established leadership team is threatened by divergent
expectations and aspirations.
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"Let
Me Count the Ways" (2 pages) |
A
good Associate Dean struggles with the approaches taken by a newly
appointed Dean.
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| Deans |
"The
Powerdiving Probationer" (3 pages)
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A
new assistant professor alienates almost all departmental colleagues
in record time.
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"The
Evaluation Appeal" (2 pages) |
A faculty member appeals an unfavorable departmental evaluation
on grounds of both merit and disability.
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"Welcome
Back, Popper" (1 page) |
Just
before the term starts the Dean learns that a tenured professor,
whose courses are fully enrolled, may need a disability leave
relating to substance abuse.
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"Friends
and Family" (1 page) |
A
Chair's enthusiasm for hiring a talented friend threatens to generate
multiple problems.
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"Never
Again: The Promotion Denial" (2 pages) |
A
new President, seeking to raise standards, denies promotion to
a long serving associate dean whom the Dean wants to support.
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Chief
Academic Officers
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"The
One-time Budget Fix" (2 pages)
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An
in-basket awash in budget problems leads the Vice President seriously
to consider selling parts of the curriculum.
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"Serving
the Stockholder's Interests" (1 page) |
An
influential benefactor and an angry President demand that an offending
assistant professor be summarily fired.
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"The
Free Market of Ideas" (2 pages) |
Questions
of intellectual property rights and curricular control emerge
when a star professor's course is sold.
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"The
Husband's Wife's Professor" (2 pages) |
The
husband's attorney demands that college take steps to end an alleged
affair between the wife and her professor.
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Academic Leadership Workshop Materials
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