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[terpsichore]

At my institution, chairs and deans all have tenured professorial positions. Deans hired from outside the university are appointed as tenured faculty in the appropriate department. I wouldn't accept an administrative position without a tenured faculty position to go with it.

[coneflower]

Just echoing what everyone else has said. Don't give up tenure, ever, unless you leave academia. Academic administration is full of politics and tenure will protect you and level the playing field with tenured senior faculty. The governance system in higher ed (at least where I've been) is very different from the corporate world.

[seniorscholar]

I'm pretty sure my university would not hire anyone to be a department chair if that person were not already tenured elsewhere (as you are) and could be hired with tenure. In the first place, that would mean serving at the whim of the Dean, and liable to be dismissed at any time: no one able to chair a reputable department would be willing to take that risk. In addition, faculty would surely resent being "managed" by a chair they'd consider not their equal (because not tenured in the field); might as well give the job to the administrative assistant (who really runs the department anyway). Indeed, when ads for a department chair do not specify "tenured in the field" I suspect it's because they assume that everyone knows that so it's too obvious to put in the ad.

[wxdude]

Managing academic colleagues, particularly those with tenure is closely akin to herding cats, pushing rope, and nailing jello to a wall.  You will use every ounce of negotiating energy that you have, and then some.  You will understand and experience the adage that the intensity of an academic fight is inversely proportional to the importance of the issue.

So true!

[jakeroberts]

As far as requesting and receiving tenure, how common is that at the community college level?

[jakeroberts]

bump

[kedves]

As far as requesting and receiving tenure, how common is that at the community college level?

I don't know, but you might have more luck with this question posting it on the Tenure Track forum.