Table of Contents Acknowledgements Read This First! 1. The "Good Enough" Chair How to Prepare for the Role Passing the Torch But What If You're Not a Good Enough Chair? The Post-Spring Break Juggernaut Write a Department Handbook 2. Faculty Hiring, Support, and Development The Chair's Role in Fostering a More Humane Job Market Be an Unabashed Advocate for Your Finalist How to Welcome a New Hire Getting Junior Colleagues Across the Finish Line 3. Building, Maintaining, and Repairing Department Culture How to Cope with the Service Slackers Service Slackers: A Parable Aggressive Aggression and Passive Aggression How to Organize a Useful Retreat Keeping Secrets 4. Leading During Change Plugging Holes in Your Faculty Brokering a Generational Stalemate Leading Under a Double Existential Threat Is It My Job to Find My Replacement? How to Cope with a Death in Your Department 5. Leading from the Middle Don't Forget That You're a Faculty Member--Sort of; Not an Administrator, Really. Congratulations! Now You're a Boss When Did I Become a Bureaucrat? Chairs Oversee a Class System. And Are Usually Not Very Happy About It.

How to Cope with a Lone-Wolf Dean Should You Stay or Should You Go? 6. Chair: A Person or a Role? How Do I Start Training for the Role? How Can I Prepare Mentally While Waiting to Assume the Role? Three Styles of Leadership Failure .And Other Duties as Assigned A Chair Is Not a Throne 7. Care and Feeding of the Chair Should I Apply to Lead Another Department? Chairing for All the Wrong Reasons Should I Apply for a Deanship to Support My Department? Who Do I Turn to for Advice? How Do I Stay Productive in My Field? Is Chairing Really a Thankless Job? Appendix A: How to Create a Department Handbook Appendix B: The Department Chair in Popular Media Appendix C: What's Your Chair Style?.