DU Symposium 2019

In the summer of 2019 the Vice Provost of Faculty Affairs and the Faculty Senate hosted a summer symposium. For the DU 2019 summer symposium, thirty four faculty from across campus came together for two days to engage in collective problem solving around an issue of shared concern: Creating collaborative department cultures and chairs.  This was a new kind of opportunity for faculty, one that brought together colleagues from across disciplines and ranks to discuss big ideas, possibilities, and opportunities. We gathered together with a shared purpose: Improving the lives of faculty members in their department. We know that being within a truly fair and fundamentally just collaborative depart culture and climate is among most important interventions for the quality of faculty life.  That quality of life is what predicts affective commitment to institutional goals and challenges that require innovations across boundaries and disciplines. The presence of open, fair, and transparent departmental deliberation and decision processes and a departmental leader who sees it as their primary responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the process is a necessary condition of a collaborative climate. Such a climate both requires and generates faculty commitment, belonging, and results in greater professional success and satisfaction.

The Chair Advisory Board (CAB) is responsible for setting the agenda and coordinating quarterly meetings for better communication with the Provost and all chairs, directors, and people in similar roles. CAB facilitates peer-learning opportunities for Chairs & Directors through Huddles, Peer-to-Peer Solution Seeking Clinics, and individual consultation. CAB’s works supports the entire “life-cycle” of the chair through onboarding, professional development, off-boarding, and chair transition.

Benefits: Decrease stress and fatigue by equipping Chairs with the tools needed to more effectively balance their workload expectations with their own scholarly goals; to create a network where chairs can share insights with one another and more effectively communicate needs to their Deans and the Provost; establish a feedback loop between departments and the Provost.

Often the scope, role, and responsibilities of the chair, and what is or should be legitimately outside of the purview ofthe chair, are not entirely clear. Some see the chair as a manager, as the first line of administrative leadership,and/or as a collaborative leader. Even within the same department, faculty may have different ideas of what power a chair can and should assume.
There are three general principles of effective leadership:

• Transparency: Making all kinds of information available and easy to find;
• Uniformity: Leveling the field and dealing equitably with all faculty;
• Assistance: Attending to the needs of faculty by offering mentoring and other types of help.

The presence of an open, transparent, and credible process and a chair who sees it as their primary responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the process is a necessary condition of a collaborative departmental climate—one which both requires and generates faculty commitment and belonging. Given their vital role, chair training is essential.

Chairs who are well-trained and practiced in the art of deliberative decision-making will be well-equipped to run department or unit meetings in a fair and transparent way where all voices are heard. Open and credible decision- making processes will generate better decisions, which are more responsive to the felt needs of faculty and students, with an enhanced commitment to their successful implementation.

To learn more about DDM, please visit our DDM web page.

IETACT targets university units and involves training of chairs,directors, and IE leaders with the end goal of implementing positive practices for improving inclusive climate in all units. It involves the creation of a cross-campus yearly IE training and workshop for new chairs and directors and campus IE leaders.The purpose behind such an endeavor would be multifold: building campus community networks around IE engagement;providing hands-on experiential ideas, solutions, and best practices for Chairs & Directors (C&Ds)– or their equivalent –to support and mentor faculty and staff in IE issues and endeavors; and encouraging policies, practices, and everyday conversations that ensure all feel accepted and a sense of belonging on the DU campus. Readings and best practice documents from trainings would be housed on a C&Ds portfolio toolkit resource site, easily accessible to C&Ds looking for information to support and inform IE-related issues. We know that inclusivity at all levels produces a higher performing university, and thus a campus-wide initiative,specifically geared toward C&D leadership has the potential to help faculty feel better supported at the department level,and thereby to improve and increase faculty happiness andengagement, and ultimately retention rates.

Inclusive climate is an existential element that underlines all faculty activities. More broadly, it is a prerequisite for a healthy, well-functioning unit, and a leading indicator of employee satisfaction and program success. MOARS focuses on mentoring of individuals and therefore aims to strengthen their ability to integrate into and build a positive, inclusive environment. Historically, mentoring initiatives have targeted new tenure-track faculty at DU.Yet, given the call for ongoing growth related to inclusive excellence a more coordinated effort for informal andformal mentoring and onboarding across ranks and professorial series is needed. The diversity of DU faculty isa strength that helps provide guidance for how faculty can feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work interms of our diverse social identities, our varied departmental/divisional contexts, the stage of our career,our professorial life and responsibilities, and our competing interests that impact balance across work and life priorities.

Inclusive climate is an existential element that underlines all faculty activities. More broadly, it is a prerequisite for a healthy, well-functioning unit, and a leading indicator of employee satisfaction and program success. MOARS focuses on mentoring of individuals and therefore aims to strengthen their ability to integrate into and build a positive, inclusive environment. Historically, mentoring initiatives have targeted new tenure-track faculty at DU.Yet, given the call for ongoing growth related to inclusive excellence a more coordinated effort for informal andformal mentoring and onboarding across ranks and professorial series is needed. The diversity of DU faculty isa strength that helps provide guidance for how faculty can feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work interms of our diverse social identities, our varied departmental/divisional contexts, the stage of our career,our professorial life and responsibilities, and our competing interests that impact balance across work and life priorities.