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[bioengr]

Glad to be here!  It's a little different than a traditional Dept Chair position, as I'm the Chair in charge of multiple disciplines for 4-5 BS degrees which covers 15ish faculty at a NE College w/2-3000 undergrads.  I look forward to the challenges, esp as this is my first real faculty job after extensive postdoctoral research in biomedicine.  I also look forward to using the info and leaning on the people in this forum as I try to figure out exciting things like assigning profs to classes, hiring/firing adjunct, budgeting etc!  Yay? ;)

[compdoc]

Congratulations! I hope it's a great fit for you.

[anthroid]

Congrats!  Feel free to PM me if there are thorny issues--I've faced a whole passel of them!

[zharkov]

Congrats!

One thing I've found -- in industry and in academia -- is that there are "rules are rules" people and "anything goes people."  So as a chair, you will asked by the anything goes people to waive or allow all kinds of things.  But I'd advise against becoming a "rules are rules" type, since that precludes leadership and judgment.  Also, get a sense about how the school's culture and the dean's leadership style plays into this.

Let me speculate that the reason they brought you in -- with a strong research background -- is that the school wants to move from being soley/primarily focused on teaching to including a more research bent.  That is, moving research from the "wouldn't it be nice" list to the "this is also what we do list."  The possible downside is that the school's leadership figures that this happens for free. 

Harvard runs these summer institutes for chairs; see if the school will spring for you.

[georgiaprof]

All the best, Bioengr!  (and let me know if you need some Advil -- I have a very large bottle!)

[skeptical]

Congrats! Being chair can be fun (but it's best to keep that fact to yourself). Just try to leave it at the office each night.

[gbrown]

I'm sure you won't have this experience, but:

http://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2010/05/19/dinkins