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[rugger101]

I've been department head for a while and I'm starting to consider applying for dean or other positions in upper admin.  What's the best way to represent my accomplishments in the areas of leadership, promoting diversity, reform, development, etc? Create a separate statement together with my philosophy or include as sections in an already lengthy CV?

[octoprof]

I've been department head for a while and I'm starting to consider applying for dean or other positions in upper admin.  What's the best way to represent my accomplishments in the areas of leadership, promoting diversity, reform, development, etc? Create a separate statement together with my philosophy or include as sections in an already lengthy CV?

WHy not include them in your CV (that's what I've seen from dean candidates when we were searching). And, move them to the front and move your teaching/research sections to the back.   The order of your CV sections is a signal of what you think is important.

[cgfunmathguy]

I've been department head for a while and I'm starting to consider applying for dean or other positions in upper admin.  What's the best way to represent my accomplishments in the areas of leadership, promoting diversity, reform, development, etc? Create a separate statement together with my philosophy or include as sections in an already lengthy CV?

WHy not include them in your CV (that's what I've seen from dean candidates when we were searching). And, move them to the front and move your teaching/research sections to the back.   The order of your CV sections is a signal of what you think is important.

This. I have an administrative CV (that I haven't used yet) because I have some administrative experience. Administrative Experience is listed first, Other Higher Education Experience (Teaching) next, then Other Experience. If you have leadership experience outside higher ed, you might want to put it ahead of teaching, but that depends on the significance of the experience. However you do it, your CV needs to fit you and tell people "I WANT TO BE A DEAN!!!!"

[simplesimon]

I've been department head for a while and I'm starting to consider applying for dean or other positions in upper admin.  What's the best way to represent my accomplishments in the areas of leadership, promoting diversity, reform, development, etc? Create a separate statement together with my philosophy or include as sections in an already lengthy CV?

Check your Private Messages for my reply.

[science_expat]

This is interesting and something I haven't thought about. What kind of stuff would you list under "administrative experience"? Off the top of my head I can think of chairing committees and/or program reviews, course design re-design, and leading initiatives with measurable outcomes. But at my place a lot of this happens after one becomes dean so I'm afraid the section would be fairly thin.

Any thoughts on how to structure it and what else to include?

[cgfunmathguy]

This is interesting and something I haven't thought about. What kind of stuff would you list under "administrative experience"? Off the top of my head I can think of chairing committees and/or program reviews, course design re-design, and leading initiatives with measurable outcomes. But at my place a lot of this happens after one becomes dean so I'm afraid the section would be fairly thin.

Any thoughts on how to structure it and what else to include?

Have you chaired a search committee? What about serving as a program director or as the department's director of undergraduate (or graduate) studies? Have you served as department chair? Are you the one who wrote a portion (or all) of the course schedule for your department? Have you chaired a departmental committee? All of these would count as administrative experience, I would think.

[anthroid]

This is interesting and something I haven't thought about. What kind of stuff would you list under "administrative experience"? Off the top of my head I can think of chairing committees and/or program reviews, course design re-design, and leading initiatives with measurable outcomes. But at my place a lot of this happens after one becomes dean so I'm afraid the section would be fairly thin.

Any thoughts on how to structure it and what else to include?

Have you chaired a search committee? What about serving as a program director or as the department's director of undergraduate (or graduate) studies? Have you served as department chair? Are you the one who wrote a portion (or all) of the course schedule for your department? Have you chaired a departmental committee? All of these would count as administrative experience, I would think.

And budget management, tenure-stream (or the equivalent) faculty evaluation--especially important across disciplines if possible--creating faculty development opportunities for the department or school, mentoring junior faculty in teaching, scholarship, and service, encouraging faculty participation in regional and national conferences, "friend-raising,".... there are loads of things department chairs do and don't even think about it, but much of what a department chair does is what a dean does.  The dean just does it for an entire school or college rather than just one department.  Think about how to apply what it is you're doing now to a variety of disciplines.

[science_expat]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm director of a research institute so am at an equivalent level to department chair in terms of line managerial and budgetary responsibilities. And I mentor staff, chair committees, etc...

I'll probably be applying for dean in a couple of years time so this discussion is really interesting to me. I think that many of the points you raise are what would be expected at my level so might be seen internally as "padding" if they were to show up on my CV. Though I can certainly see pointing them out in the application (and interview) and possibly in a CV for an external post.

[hongkyongnae]

This is interesting and something I haven't thought about. What kind of stuff would you list under "administrative experience"? Off the top of my head I can think of chairing committees and/or program reviews, course design re-design, and leading initiatives with measurable outcomes. But at my place a lot of this happens after one becomes dean so I'm afraid the section would be fairly thin.

Any thoughts on how to structure it and what else to include?

Have you chaired a search committee? What about serving as a program director or as the department's director of undergraduate (or graduate) studies? Have you served as department chair? Are you the one who wrote a portion (or all) of the course schedule for your department? Have you chaired a departmental committee? All of these would count as administrative experience, I would think.

And budget management, tenure-stream (or the equivalent) faculty evaluation--especially important across disciplines if possible--creating faculty development opportunities for the department or school, mentoring junior faculty in teaching, scholarship, and service, encouraging faculty participation in regional and national conferences, "friend-raising,".... there are loads of things department chairs do and don't even think about it, but much of what a department chair does is what a dean does.  The dean just does it for an entire school or college rather than just one department.  Think about how to apply what it is you're doing now to a variety of disciplines.

these are all very good points. what i would add is one way to frame all this.

i think a good tactic is to put in the problems you have confronted AND the results that came out of your actions. in my cover letter i often put this in the form of challenges/problems i have faced, how i dealt with them, and what resulted.

for example, majors in the asian studies program was low when i took over the directorship. so, after consulting with folks i helped fund (with existing tuition remission funds) an "Asian Studies Ambassador" who was an undergrad. each semester the ambassador went to classes and promoted the program. in the first year number of majors increased by 34 percent. saw problem, created viable plan, it worked.

deans are often about tackling problems and solving them in a way that directly promotes/contributes the university/college mission. if you couch your past activities and future plans that way, you will be on your way to the glory, power, and sex-appeal that surrounds all deans. ;)

good luck to you.

[anthroid]

This is interesting and something I haven't thought about. What kind of stuff would you list under "administrative experience"? Off the top of my head I can think of chairing committees and/or program reviews, course design re-design, and leading initiatives with measurable outcomes. But at my place a lot of this happens after one becomes dean so I'm afraid the section would be fairly thin.

Any thoughts on how to structure it and what else to include?

Have you chaired a search committee? What about serving as a program director or as the department's director of undergraduate (or graduate) studies? Have you served as department chair? Are you the one who wrote a portion (or all) of the course schedule for your department? Have you chaired a departmental committee? All of these would count as administrative experience, I would think.

And budget management, tenure-stream (or the equivalent) faculty evaluation--especially important across disciplines if possible--creating faculty development opportunities for the department or school, mentoring junior faculty in teaching, scholarship, and service, encouraging faculty participation in regional and national conferences, "friend-raising,".... there are loads of things department chairs do and don't even think about it, but much of what a department chair does is what a dean does.  The dean just does it for an entire school or college rather than just one department.  Think about how to apply what it is you're doing now to a variety of disciplines.

these are all very good points. what i would add is one way to frame all this.

i think a good tactic is to put in the problems you have confronted AND the results that came out of your actions. in my cover letter i often put this in the form of challenges/problems i have faced, how i dealt with them, and what resulted.

for example, majors in the asian studies program was low when i took over the directorship. so, after consulting with folks i helped fund (with existing tuition remission funds) an "Asian Studies Ambassador" who was an undergrad. each semester the ambassador went to classes and promoted the program. in the first year number of majors increased by 34 percent. saw problem, created viable plan, it worked.

deans are often about tackling problems and solving them in a way that directly promotes/contributes the university/college mission. if you couch your past activities and future plans that way, you will be on your way to the glory, power, and sex-appeal that surrounds all deans. ;)

good luck to you.

Please use standard capitalization, punctuation, and grammar on this forum for college professors.  Your posts are very difficult to read.

I don't know how you conduct yourself as dean, but I think it's important to serve as something of a role model (at least in terms of written communication) as an administrator.

That being said, you make a good point (I think...it's really very hard to read your post!) about being specific about identifying problems and solutions--but be sure that they are real problems, not "I saved the college $100 by rationing staples."