At a certain time — usually after tenure — many a professor is urged to step up and take a turn leading the department. But is there also a time when you should be urged to step down as department chair? Does the post come with a shelf life? And how long is too long?
One of us knew a department chair who stayed in the job for more than 30 years. He took pride in how well he managed his colleagues and kept the peace. Privately, however, his colleagues complained that the departmental climate was uninspiring and stifling, but knew he wouldn’t tolerate a challenge to his authority. Clearly, the chair was reigning over — rather than serving — his colleagues.
As you might guess, when the administration eventually asked the chair to step down, he did not go quietly. After campus officials introduced term limits for department heads, he abruptly quit the institution, leaving a trail of recriminations.
A well-respected, experienced, and effective chair can provide a stabilizing force to help departments achieve excellence. At the same time, however, an extended tenure as chair can be counterproductive to the interests of your department and to your own career.
You need to know when to go. Here are some key issues to consider in the important decision about whether to stay the course or open the job up to someone else.
How long have you been chair? Many colleges and universities set term limits for department heads. The limits are meant to benefit the chair, the department, and the administration.
In our experience, two consecutive three-year terms are a reasonable run for anyone. The first term is the “shakedown cruise” — time to get your sea legs and see the department and the larger institution in a new light, especially where written policies, unwritten folkways, and politics are concerned. During the second term you should hit your cruising speed and make changes that you believe will improve the department.
After six years, your enthusiasm for the work — not to mention your political capital in the department, and outside it — may be on the wane, so your effectiveness may be compromised.
Have you accomplished what you set out to do? Being chair requires attention to many constituencies (students, faculty members, administrators) and to many daily details (course schedules, visiting scholars, the farewell gala for graduating seniors). Big-ticket items — overseeing curriculum revision, lobbying for a larger budget, or increasing tenure lines — take time, effort, and, occasionally, some shrewd horse-trading.
Successful chairs identify a limited number of grand plans and focus on pursuing those few. If you’ve achieved your set aims, then perhaps it’s time to let someone else take the departmental helm. If you haven’t met your goals after five or so years, then be realistic: You probably won’t. At that point, too, consider giving up the position rather than keep pushing an idea that isn’t going to take.
Has the routine become too routine? There’s a fine line between being comfortable as chair and being bored.
Boredom can set in for any position or career. But in an administrative post, it’s not merely your own future and needs that are at stake. When the job fails to inspire any excitement in you, it probably means that you are turning in a lackluster performance. And it’s time to let someone else take over.
Has your scholarly agenda stalled? Being a chair can become a convenient excuse not to pursue your own scholarship or stay abreast of developments in your field. After all, there’s always something else that needs to be done in your administrative duties.
The problem, of course, is that the longer you are away from the “frontiers of knowledge,” the harder it will be to regain momentum when you do leave the chair’s job. Even though you are largely focused on advancing your colleagues’ scholarly efforts — you should be the cheerleader in chief — the best chairs we know devote a few precious hours a week to keeping their own research agenda alive. They reserve predictable “do not disturb” times during the week to stay intellectually productive.
Failing to take such steps makes leaving the chair much more difficult, and you want to be able to leave on your terms.
Is your teaching moribund? Most chairs teach a reduced course load; some don’t teach at all. Others won’t take the chair’s job unless they can teach at least one class a term to keep their hand in the game.
Being out of the classroom for too long can create problems. We know of one former chair who reinvented himself in the classroom when he returned to teaching. He junked all of his old notes and picked new textbooks to start fresh. However, we know of others who worried that their teaching skills were rusty and that their understanding of students was dated.
Many skilled chairs relish the opportunity to return to teaching. If you’re feeling that itch, it may be time to surrender the chair’s job and head back into the classroom. And if you’re not, it might be time to accept that you are no longer interested in a faculty career and should pursue a promotion in administration.
Do other faculty members want the job? Rotating the chair is usually in everyone’s best interest. Consequently, grooming future leadership should be part of your transition responsibility.
Be conscientious in handing out departmental assignments (e.g., leading a faculty search or serving on the tenure-and-promotion committee) that will enable promising colleagues to demonstrate their leadership potential. Support their attendance in leadership-training opportunities. If no one shows interest in stepping up, strategize how to make the best case to administration for an external chair the next time around. (That alone may inspire someone in the department to take the job.)
Do you aspire to a senior administrative post? Deans usually started out as successful department chairs, and provosts often were great deans, and so on. If you do want to move up, then you should have a well-timed conversation with your dean or provost about your options.
Remaining department chair for too long will not help you move up. Establish your competence in the role of chair first, and then embark on a fact-finding mission to determine the existence of other opportunities for you on your campus. Gauge support for such a move. If you do not want to move up at your own institution, then consider moving elsewhere, which means searching for open positions that fit your skills.
What if your colleagues beg you to stay on as chair? It’s nice to be appreciated, but you don’t want to wait until they do want you out. And you don’t want to be known around the campus as a Chair for Life. A sinecure system often does little for those working under it.
Unless there is a compelling reason — say, for example, no viable candidates in the department have tenure yet — do not agree to stay on. If the administration also pressures you to stay, make it clear that this term is your last.
What is the best exit strategy? It is time to accept some accolades for a job well done, so a celebration with your colleagues will help both you and them get some closure on your service. Negotiate a sabbatical leave to begin when you step down. Your absence not only will help you refresh your research and teaching skills but will drive home the message that a new era will be unfolding in the department.
Dana S. Dunn is a professor and former chair of psychology at Moravian College. Jane S. Halonen is a professor of psychology and former dean of arts and sciences at the University of West Florida.
