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[dogvomit]

Hi,
I did a search on the above question and got no-where.  I'm certain that someone must have addressed it before, if so please link the thread! 

My Question...

What makes a good chair or dean?

[daurousseau]

Presence when there is a fire to put out and absence at other times.

[svenc]

Tolerance for idiots.

[new_dean_is_idiot]

Desired dean attributes, in a stream of consciousness:

Listens well

Consults before acting

Has a vision that supports the larger school goals

Shares that vision with chairs and faculty

Provides resources for the vision

Possesses sense of humor

Willingness to be decisive

Supports chairs

Supports the dean staff

Pays attention to detail

Knows that he can't be an expert on every discipline in the school and trusts those who are

Can say 'no' with kindness and 'yes' with enthusiasm

Strong sense of right and wrong, and intolerance for unprofessional conduct

[scheherazade]

Do everything as aandsdean does.

[psychprof]

Here is the Forum thread "Advice for a new chair"
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php?topic=38079.0

Here are some good guidelines:

How to be an effective department chair: http://www.cs.uvm.edu/~xwu/Publication/EffectiveChair.shtml

Here are the Univ of Delaware's guidelines for evaluation of chairs that has a list of criteria for effective chair behavior:
http://www.udel.edu/provost/chr-ad/review.html

Reflections of a Dean: Lessons Learned by Jack Johnson U West Ga: http://www.westga.edu/~bquest/2002/reflections.htm

"Its not easy being Dean": http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/Archives/NovDec04/p36-41.pdf

Hope these are helpful to you!

[mended_drum]

Organization.  A sense of humor.  Being willing to say "no" when necessary.

[ursula]

Patience and balance; self control (that is, no tantrums in front of the troops!), fairness (no taking sides) and, most importantly, presence, or should I say, attendance.  Our dean hasn't really been seen in months.

[octoprof]

Once all the info is in, the discussion is over, etc.: Decisiveness

Supports his/her faculty

[prytania3]

Gives you the schedule you want.

Doesn't hassle you.

Brings refeshments and baked goods to dept. meetings.

[obprof]

Willingness to put in the time to do what's right instead of what's convenient.

[science_expat]

Willingness to put in the time to do what's right instead of what's convenient.

Yes!

[aandsdean]

Do everything as aandsdean does.

Aw shucks.

The advice here is good.

I'll add:

Honesty:  Don't lie, don't hedge, just tell the truth even if it's bad
Openness:  share as much information as you ethically and legally can
Take responsibility for your mistakes when you make them
Be neither bully nor bullied

[nottooinlovewacademe]

Great ideas!

I would add:
The Dean has a good relationship with the Provost
The Chair has a good relationship with the Dean
They all respect each other roles.

[finallyfullprof]

I would add that anyone who has been a faculty member and remembers that experience very well is likely to be a better administrator, at least from the perspective of being able to communicate with and relate to faculty effectively.