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[ms_collegiality]

I'm not a chair yet, but it's coming.  At my college a lot of us who were hired around the same time are coming due for chairship.  We are all looking forward to our turn, and we talk among ourselves about our visions for the future--the changes we'd like to make, even just small ones.  We have a council of chairs that meets about a dozen times a year, and it is pretty powerful, thanks to far-seeing predecessors. 

I don't know if this is the case at your school or something that you have considered, but it may be that you will be working with chairs across the campus.  Do you know any of them?  Are there mentors among them who will guide you?  And are their toxic chairs that you will be thrown together with?

I hope this perspective will help you with your decision.

[gbrown]

I've taken on a chair job and it's dumped me in a no-man's land between administration and faculty. If you're interested, see my new post on "Now that I'm chair, we're no longer friends?"

[professorgb]

Glad I will not have to be back to this forum so often anymore, resigned to my chair position, have to say that this forum was one of the most supportive and helpful venues for me as chair. Anonymity did help. However, for all of you who put effort, time, constructive criticism, honesty, humor, wit, and candid commentary, you are to be congratulated and if it were not for anonymity, I would send a personal card to everyone. I hope I did my part throughout these years too. So long :-) onto faculty freedom and some thinking.

[mccartan]

Accept the assignment, but do it with the dean's commitment to send you to a training for new department chairs.  Many disciplinary associations have these, or we would welcome you to the one we offer through the Council of Colleges of Arts & Sciences.  Visit www.ccas.net for details.

[subsavant]

Sounds like you need to do it, and it sounds like Dean needs you to do it -- so negotiate like crazy to get resources both for yourself (they really need to pay you more to do this, and let you teach less), and for your department (whatever the market will bear - start with TA's, operating budget, maybe even a new faculty line; it doesn't hurt to ask).

Actually, being head with no resources is pretty easy -- no money for raises means performance reviews are superfluous, no one can get made when you turn down their request for [fill in the blank]. No new faculty means no search committees. It will help if you delegate as much as possible.

FYI -- becoming chair as Associate Prof is usually the kiss of death for promotion. I know several Associate Profs who became chair and retired as Associate Profs - or will do so. You school may be small enough to consider service in promotion, but most places its research and publications.