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[waxwing]

Here's one for mid-career people:

Offered a humanities chairpersonship at a research university, a person might negotiate certain perq's for him/herself.

But what about things you might be able to negotiate for the department? 

I would greatly appreciate suggestions: faculty lines, staff positions are certainly possibilities, but specific suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

But I feel like there are any number of small things that would improve the way things run.  I have some ideas of my own that are focused on this particular place but I think that brainstorming this topic would be of value to anyone either confronted with this issue or in the process of imagining him/herself as an administrator.

Thanks in advance!

WW

[sabovision]

I am in the same spot, PLEASE help us!

What should/can I ask for personally and for the department?

[waxwing]

I realize that my previous post was ambiguous.  I'm considering a move to a different institution than my own, so I would have some leverage in making requests, probably more than someone negotiating from within.  So go ahead and think big.

Here are some things that are certainly within the realm of discussion:

staff positions
travel budget
speaker funds/lecture series
curriculum development money
equipment

Help me flesh these out or add new ones, please! 

WW

[busyslinky]

Can't think of much else off-hand.
Ask for an assistant chair position.

Will you get time to do what you like?
Time off for research/teaching development (otherwise it is a 12 month job).

[tenured_feminist]

STAFF, STAFF, STAFF!  So many institutions have cut costs by shifting administrative sh*twork down to the department level.  Even getting a few work-study positions for people to do filing would be a big help at most places.

If needed, try to get a new combo printer/copy machine/fax/scanner thingie.

Assistant chair's a great idea.

Budget for a speakers' series to be planned by juniors in the dept. needing to make more connections in the field.

More travel money for faculty/grad students if you have them?

A grad student scholarship on steroids to attract students you wouldn't otherwise be able to land?

Get a budget to conduct a full-scale department retreat with good food in a decent location to think through issues and directions.

Would it be within the realm of possibility to wangle a TT line or two?  Or a recurring visiting position in an area that would be synergistic for your faculty?

[prof_d]

If it were a research department, I'd go for lots of staff to keep the professors free to write grant proposals to keep labs running and finish off their Ph.D.s.  But in a Humanities dept the need for that might be more limited.

I'd ask for TT line(s) in addition to any currently being filled.  I suggest you make that extra line be "your choice," so to speak. You could also ask for (it couldn't hurt) a phased in set of new lines as you bring the department along in the directions you and the dean think reasonable. If you two are clear and are connected to the strategic plan for the college and the university, you might do OK.

You might also consider whether the faculty do bring in grants and what overhead return you get for the department. You might be able to have a good talk with the dean about how to float additional TT lines on a mix of the average return plus extra funds from the college/univ. That could help with the phased in new lines discussion.

[anthroid]

I asked for guarantees of replacements for folks I knew would be retiring (got them), a number of new lines based on my FTE assessment (got 'em), double the maintenance and operation budget in existence when I was interviewing (got it), wired classrooms in our building (got 'em), extra travel money (didn't get it), joint positions (didn't get 'em), new furniture (didn't get it), my office to be painted (got it), 75% release time (from teaching) the first year (got it), and a new computer set-up (got it).  I demanded tenure; luckily, I was interviewing from a tenured associate professor job so tenure was a no-brainer.

I also insisted on taking all the time off to which I was entitled.

The doubled budget meant I could get lots of new equipment and that faculty, who had been pretty starved even for things like shared DVD players, could stop fighting over resources.  Now they know it's relatively likely that if they have a reasonable request for equipment or resources, they will probably get what they want.

Ask for lots and lots of things.

Going into a new institution as a tenured chair is both incredibly rewarding and somewhat daunting.  Feel free to PM me for more details...

Anthroid

[waxwing]

Let me thank all who have responded with for your excellent suggestions.  It is a funny little corner of the academic world and information about it doesn't come up in most conversations, so I really appreciate your responses.

WW

[philoctetes]

More travel money for faculty/grad students if you have them?

This is an important one especially in non-humanities centric schools. This is a constant battle in our department.

Often in more science/technical centred schools there is very little conference money. This is because the sciences use conferences as routes to disseminate results, they are not critical because nobody can question what happened in your lab, basically they are holidays.

However in the humanities real work actually gets done, and results worked toward/questioned at conferences.

[science_expat]

This is because the sciences use conferences as routes to disseminate results, they are not critical because nobody can question what happened in your lab, basically they are holidays.

(emphasis mine)

Philoctetes, I've been to several 10s of scientific conferences in my career and not one has been a holiday. Instead they are very important networking events, a place to meet overseas colleagues annually, generally crammed with meetings including over most meals, and potentially reputation making/breaking.

I really enjoy going to conferences because I benefit greatly from them, but they are a lot of work!

Science Expat

[philoctetes]

Philoctetes, I've been to several 10s of scientific conferences in my career and not one has been a holiday. Instead they are very important networking events, a place to meet overseas colleagues annually, generally crammed with meetings including over most meals, and potentially reputation making/breaking.

I really enjoy going to conferences because I benefit greatly from them, but they are a lot of work!

Science Expat

Sorry Expat. A bit of bureaucratic frustration coming through there. But the term 'holiday' was used actually by the dean of science in an argument as why they don't fund conferences as a "research activity" but only under the auspices of the much underfunded budget line of "dissemination of results".

In the humanities conferences are not just "networking events, a place to meet overseas colleagues annually, generally crammed with meetings including over most meals" they are also an important venue for actually doing research.

From what I've been led to believe the average paper at a science conference is a 10 minute or so presentation (or a poster) with very little in the way of direct criticism from the audience -- who else is qualified to say what went on in your lab but you.   

In the humanities, e.g. philosophy, you are more likely to spend 20 minutes giving a paper, with another 15 minutes or more of questions. Most journal articles start as conference or at least colloquium papers. You need to discuss them with other people to see if the arguments hold. This is because they are not mostly concerned with empirical facts, that are hard to argue about, but about arguments.

It is just the nature of the discipline. The point I am trying to make is that conferences are an integral part of the research process in the humanities, not something that happens after the research process. You cannot do the work you need to get tenure, or a job for that matter with out such opportunities, unless you are a special kind of genius.

[cronopio]

I'd be talking to the most talented faculty members in the department you're thinking of chairing to assess what they say the needs are. Then I'd chat with a department chair at the same school about what I might expect to get from the dean. If no one ever gets guaranteed faculty replacement lines, it's good to know in advance.

THEN I'd go in there to the dean with the kind of list other posters are suggesting. I'd be flexible, but I'd work hard to negotiate for the department before negotiating for myself. If I don't have the resources to run the dept. well, I don't much care about my personal benefits, frankly.

[aandsdean]

If I don't have the resources to run the dept. well, I don't much care about my personal benefits, frankly.

YES.  Same for dean jobs.  Look carefully, because if you can provide resources for your department/school/college, everything else about your job will be easier.  If not, no matter how cushy your personal position is, if you care about the wellbeing of your unit, you will be frustrated and/or unhappy.

[engineer_adrift]

A late comment.

As a search committee member or Dean, I would be very impressed by a candidate who was arguing for goodies for the department instead of him/herself. 

Best wishes