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[sinatra]

Hi.
I am a tenured associate professor at a public university who is interested in moving into administration, specifically a department chair position. I was offered a chair position once, but there was serious deficiencies with the offer (no tenure, e.g.) so I did not accept. Since then, however, I have not received any invitations to interview from any location to which I have applied. I have significant skills from the faculty leadership positions I have held, including shared governance issues, accreditation, curricular development, program development and growth, etc. The only one that I can't develop because of my institution's policies is fundraising skills (though I do some of that in civic organizations to which I belong). I am beginning to think it is my cover letter or application package that is deficient. I've checked out other posts on this topic (including CV doctor), but there's nothing really concrete as to what the difference is between a "faculty" application and an "administrative" one. So let me ask the people in the position already. I'd like to apply for a department chair position in my field. (1) What types of things do I need to write about in my cover letter to get me noticed (is it different than writing a cover letter for a faculty job?) and to increase my chances for an on-campus interview? (2) I have my cv structured so as to highlight my administrative background first, then my scholarship and teaching (it runs about ten pages total incl. references): is that appropriate? And (3) how does one formulate a vision for the department (as many job calls require now) without talking to students and faculty on the campus first? I mean, I might want to take the department in one direction, but the faculty might really like to see it go in a different direction, but one that I would be perfectly amenable to. Some websites only take the prospective candidate so far, after all...
Thanks for any help you can offer!

[dismal_sci]

How long have you been an associate professor?   If you have been at that rank for a while, that might explain the lack of interest. 

[sinatra]

I've been an associate for only four years. I went through the tenure stream normally, have a few grants under my belt, have decent pubs in national top-tier journals and have one book out with another on the way.

[shrek]

In my university, we only appoint full professors to the position of Chair. Okay, maybe not only, but it's rare.

[pangoban]

First, I wouldn't be too worried about the lack of fundraising experience.  At most universities, the Development (or Advancement) office will wheel the Chair out when s/he is considered appealing to the donor, and will provide good coaching on what to say.  If you are expected to go out beating the bushes for prospective donors without backup, think twice.  Are they too cheap/poor to staff Advancement properly?  It could be a straw in the wind about whether the fit is good.  You need to make it clear that you're willing to do your part, but usually that is sufficient.  If you think it is absolutely essential to get hands-on experience directly raising money, many charities will welcome you as a volunteer and let you do some lower-level work in this area.

I'd say the cover letter is almost completely different from the cover letter for a faculty job.  Your experiences in getting people to work together nicely, anything you can say that shows that you can think beyond narrow disciplinary interests, evidence of your level of emotional intelligence, your ability to work hard and consistently all year round, basic organizational skills, ability to balance a simple budget, how you work with support staff--depending on the university, all of these things may be important.  Remember that while the dept. wants a red hot scholar who won't make their lives a misery, the dean wants someone who will be able to work with other chairs and with her as well.  The job advertisement may or may not be informative;if you have internal sources of information at that school, milk them shamelessly to try to identify the concerns of the moment.  Places often want to hire in a chair that has the strengths that the previous chair lacked (it is a form of absence making the heart grow fonder).  I'd give the admin skills and experience as much space in the cover letter as research, and more than teaching. I'm a dean, and I'd certainly interview anyone whose covering letter showed more than a glimmering of the wider elements of what being a chair involves.
I wouldn't give up easily; there are not that many people out there with the right skills to be a really excellent chair, so sooner or later the right job will appear.

[sciencephd]

I've been an associate for only four years.

This is likely the major factor in terms of the amount of interest you are seeing in your application.

[sinatra]

Many thanks, pangoban. That was very helpful.
Sciencephd and shrek, normally I would not even have thought that an associate can get into administration, but more and more ads in my field and elsewhere are asking for associate.

[waxwing]

You will probably be much more attractive as a candidate after you are promoted yourself.  There is some reluctance to having Associate Professors making decisions about colleagues who outrank them. 

From an the perspective of upper administrators at colleges and universities with a research mission there is an additional angle that relates to your ability to motivate your colleagues to remain/become productive.  This argument is the strongest, it is often assumed, when it comes from someone who her/himself has a significant research program sufficient to merit promotion to Full Professor.

I am not saying that the thinking behind this is absolutely sound, but I think that people commonly think like that. 

Good luck!

WW

[losemygrip]

I've been a finalist for many dept. chair positions.  (TOO many!)

I just send my regular CV, but then have a long, detailed cover letter that outlines my administrative accomplishments in grouped and organized bullet points.  Seems to work for me.  Do make sure that it's graphically well-organized and consistent, as well as highly readable. A liberal use of headings helps.

After a couple more years as an associate, you could reasonably ask to be appointed as a full professor in a chair job.  Probably easier than going through the promotion procedure where you are!

[anthroid]

I came into my chair position as associate and am still associate (I've only been associate for 3 years here and there's a five year in-rank requirement for full).  I have some senior colleagues but I don't get any comments about not being full.  If there's a good shared governance structure, a chair is only one voice among several when making decisions (about, say, merit or sabbatical) and if you are a good teacher, a good scholar, and otherwise doing service well, senior faculty really can't complain about a chair with associate rank making decisions.

Of course, I'm older than some of my senior colleagues and have significant, relevant "real-world" experience that may take the edge off of "whipper-snapper" sorts of comments.

The point is I wouldn't worry about not being full.  The promotion to associate is far harder, in many places, than getting to full.  You're qualified.  Don't sweat it. 

[sinatra]

Thanks very much. I had a few phone interviews and even one campus interview this season, but still am not the final choice, though I was the second-place finisher in the campus interview. I appreciate the encouragement and the good advice that you have all offered.