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[luke_cage]

The current chair of our department is making grumbling noises that he is tired of being the chair. I am the most logical candidate as the other faculty are either junior professors or directing the PhD program.

I do not want to be a chair. Part of the reason I left my other career was that the only way to move up was to start supervising other people, something I did not want to do. I also don't think I would be good at it. The bried experiences I have had in leadership positions (captain of basketball team, managing graduate students) has not worked well.  My personality is not well suited for management positions.

But I guess somebody's got to do it? Another possibility would be to persuade the Dean to look for someone who could be a chair when we do our next search (in the next 1-2 years).

Our department does not have a formal system in place for choosing the chair, how long they serve, etc.

Does everybody just suck it up when it is their turn? Are some people obviously ill-suited and able to beg off?  Maybe I could do some other service work to make up for shirking the chair position?

[supernumerary]

Just do it, and be so bad at it that someone will soon rescue you and you'll never be asked to do it again?

[science_expat]

Maybe have a frank chat with your Dean and see what s/he thinks. It may be that the Dean agrees with you and you're off the hook, alternatively s/he may convince you that you can do a good job.

[neutralname]

Hmmm, I'm a chair planning to step down at the end of the year.  The only other person in our small dept who could do it has refused.  So it looks like the Dean will have to act as Chair.  To be honest, that may not be such a terrible thing.  I suppose whether you can be forced to be chair depends on the terms of your contract and what pressures others can use to pressure you to do it. 

[dr_crankypants]

You have a PhD program and no other senior professors?  Huh? 

[acrimone]

No one is going to make you chair if you say you don't think you have the qualifications to fill the position.

On the other hand, you might not want to say that, for obvious reasons.

Look into establishing a rotating chair, someone new every year.  That has a remarkable effect: people stop coming to the chair with every little problem, and start developing a sense of autonomy.  It becomes a much easier adiministrative service duty, rather than a yoke to bear.

[luke_cage]

You have a PhD program and no other senior professors?  Huh? 

It is a small program. 3 senior professors and about 20 PhD students.

[larryc]

"Dear Colleagues:

As you know the esteemed professor X will be stepping down as chair next year.  I would like to put forward my name as the next chair of our department.  Here is what I see as the future of our department:

1. More morning classes.  You know how tight classroom space is at our institution.  We can help by scheduling ALL of our classes at 7, 8 and 9 a.m.  I am a morning person, and you should be too.

2. Higher publication standards for promotion.  Though most of the older professors such as myself have few publications, I think it is time to hold our junior faculty to a higher standard.  I propose two books for tenure, two more for full. 

3. A dress code.  We should appear professional at all times--a jacket and tie for men, and no pants for women.

4. We need to improve our classroom technology, but where will we get the money? I propose a two year freeze on faculty travel money.

5. Our department needs to be better represented on campus committees.  I will expect every faculty member to serve on 3-5 committees.  I want weekly reports from each of you about your professional service.

I am excited about the opportunity to serve this department, and hope I can count on your support.  Please speak with the dean about my candidacy.

Sincerely,

Luke Cage"

[voxprincipalis]

3. A dress code.  We should appear professional at all times--a jacket and tie for men, and no pants for women.

Larry! I am shocked. No pants? No pants at all? You mean we're to be nekkid from the waist down? (That's OK; your dress code doesn't specify MEN have to wear pants either, so I guess we're even.)

That sounds like an interesting place to work! I am not sure how "professional" it is, though.

VP

[notaprof]

Dear LarryC,

You are brilliantly evil.  I like it!  This strategy could work in getting me out of something I am hoping to avoid. Thanks!

And boy, nothing gets past Voxy, so quick on the draw.  There are many people here I would love to meet.  I hope people will reveal their CHE monikers when writing their memoirs some day.

[ms_collegiality]

I know you're not going to like hearing this, but you might be exactly the right person to be chair.  At least consider this option along with the others (someone else less qualified doing it; the dean taking over). I am in my second year in a t-t program and have been told that I will mostly likely be chair within a few years because 1) of 12 full-timers, six plan to retire within five years, and 2) I'm not as political, intimidated, or spacy as the majority of the rest of the faculty.  And yet, like you, I have no desire to be chair.  I especially don't want to be in line for constant observation and criticism by my colleagues, as the chair usually is.  So I've been mulling over this very conundrum.

Your post also has some subtext:  leadership positions haven't worked out in the past.  Why was that?  Were you inexperienced?  Too nervous?  Was this before you were a college professor?  Because you lead classes full of students every day, right?  Is that working out for you? 

One positive you've got going for you is that you don't crave the power.  Could that work out well for your department?  There's a guy in my department who has let everyone know that he wants to be the next chair, and he's not a good candidate.  He keeps bragging about all the ways he'll change things--but his ideas for changes are setting off alarms for the rest of us.  This sure doesn't sound like you.

And I have seen some pretty terrible chairs in other departments and have said to myself, "Well, at least I wouldn't do THAT."

There are some positives:  teaching release, stipend--I know, I know:  the amount of work involved is not equal to the compensation, or so I've heard, but I've also heard that the job can become as powerful or as low-key as the individual makes it, and I watched a department head in a nearby department keep it pleasant, laid-back, and low authority.

If this burden continues to come your way inexorably, maybe the best approach is to change your attitude and see if you can shoulder it with grace.  Talk to other department heads who seem to be level-headed and doing well and ask them for advice.  If you still can't bear the thought of being department head, at least you will be making the decision with as much information as you can get.

[science_expat]

That's a great post, Ms. C.

Luke_cage, I think that's the best advice you'll get on this topic.

[seniorscholar]

To reaffirm Ms_c's point, we have an elected chair for a three year term, renewed (if both the department and the dean so desire) for two additional years -- which no good chair has agreed to. My general principle throughout my career has been that I will never vote for anyone who really wants to be chair. People who say "well, ok, I suppose so" when asked to run are generally fine chairs, but people who buttonhole colleagues, campaign to be elected, and really really want the job have inevitably been dreadful.

The chief disadvantage (and the reason no good chair agrees to more than three years) is that research really has to be put on hold -- chairs (at least in my department) can get away with giving an occasional conference paper or invited lecture on work that's already in press, but new research and even more importantly new writing is almost impossible. The dean solves this by guaranteeing a sabbatical year at the end of the three-year chair's term, whether or not the person is then due for a sabbatical; it serves to get the research restarted. It also has demonstrated, that the people who are willing (but not eager) to be chair do get right back to research, while the people who angled and campaigned to become chair diddle around and eventually find themselves moving into administrative jobs of various minor sorts. This is yet one more reason to prefer someone who doesn't *want* to be chair.

[neutralname]

This is yet one more reason to prefer someone who doesn't *want* to be chair.

All true enough, but don't forget that some people really are terrible at administrative work, and if they have enough insight to realize that they should not be chair, they should be allowed to do other committee work instead, where they will do less damage.

[science_expat]

All true enough, but don't forget that some people really are terrible at administrative work, and if they have enough insight to realize that they should not be chair, they should be allowed to do other committee work instead, where they will do less damage.

But remember that you would have a secretary or two to help with (guide?) much of the administration.