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[dr_stones]

Our deans all teach.

Hell, our president teaches.

[neniaf]

I interviewed for one Dean's job at a school which wanted to prove its student-centeredness by saying that their Deans all taught one class each semester.  At the same time, they wanted the Dean to travel regularly to major population centers to meet with donors and to increase the visibility of the school.  I knew that if I were to do that, particularly at the beginning of my deanship, I would be essentially phoning in my teaching, being unavailable for my students and with little time to plan my courses properly.  In my experience, good teaching takes focus.  So does good deaning.  I think that a dean needs to find a way to stay in touch with the students s/he serves, and that in the long run one might be able to handle a course, but requiring it seems unfair to the dean, the students, and the college.

[crjuprofsteve]

A few years ago, the Faculty Senate at my institution passed a motion that would have amended the faculty handbook to require administrators who held tenure in an academic department to teach one three-credit course each academic year.  I supported it, as did a majority of other faculty, on the belief that it's useful for administrators, and particularly those in academic administration, to remain "attached" to the classroom experience (while still acknowledging that, yes, it is difficult to do so with administrative schedules).  Our Faculty Senate "recommends" such changes; this one was ultimately not accepted at the administrative level, and failed.