Academic Affairs
President's Academic Leadership Institute (PALI)
About PALI
Executive Summary: Academic Leadership and Management at the University of Missouri
In the fall of 1998, University of Missouri President Pacheco established an Ad-hoc Committee to offer advice on how to develop and support academic leadership and explore the essential role academic department chairs play in providing quality academic programs at the University. The impetus for the Committee stemmed from several key priorities outlined in the University's Strategic Plan including enhancing (1) student success, (2) research and scholarship, and (3) program quality.
- The Ad-hoc Committee was made up of 16 academic leaders and senior administrators from across the University System. After considerable deliberation, the Committee reached several conclusions about academic leadership:
- Because the University aspires to greater accomplishments over time, it must rely, at its core, on high quality academic leadership. Nothing is more central to achieving the University's mission and goals.
- The theme of attracting and supporting high quality academic leadership needs to permeate every layer of the University to be reflected, encouraged and sustained in University systems and processes.
A central expectation of all academic leaders needs to be that they will support and encourage the advancement of those academic leaders reporting to them. Their performance assessment will address their success in doing so.
The committee also identified a core set of knowledge, skills, and qualities that all department chairs should possess and they relate to three domains of knowledge: (1) University Organization, Operations and Environment, (2) Departmental Leadership and Management, and (3) Interpersonal Effectiveness. These themes are all inter-related and can be used to guide programs designed to enhance academic leadership.
In the spirit of enhancing cooperation between UM and campus administration and campus departmental program leadership, the Committee offered a number of guiding principles to support specific efforts. Some of the key principles were:
- Department chairs operate in a dynamic and complex environment which can be facilitated or thwarted by surrounding University systems. Systems include the panoply of policies, processes (e.g., budgeting, purchasing) rules and procedures. This reality suggests that any effort to support chairs should address both the personal and the system dimensions.
- Opportunities for regular dialogue between senior system leaders and campus departmental leadership need to be developed. Case studies of successful organizations point to the frequent and direct contact between the CEO and other levels of management. President/Chancellor and deans/chairs would both benefit from more dialogue.
- The president's other current initiative on performance management is both timely and potentially helpful to department chairs. It offers the likelihood that the chancellors will be encouraged and expected to engage deans in discussions about how they plan to support their chairs' efforts to improve their leadership capacity. That, in turn, will prompt discussions between deans and chairs toward shared clarity about roles, priorities and goals.
- Chairs have complex roles. They are charged with leading both programs and faculty. These require different skill sets. It is the belief of this group that effective chairs contribute positively to effective programs and productive faculty.
Investments in department leadership capacity, whether through CEO time or development opportunities should yield significant returns.
- As a result of these deliberations, the Committee supported the notion of developing the President's Institute for Academic Leadership and Management. The Institute will serve as the foundation for programs to promote academic leadership on the University campuses. It should have significant funding, address the needs of department chairs but be open to deans and other academic leaders, complement other on-going campus programs and resources for chairs and department staff, and tailor the offerings to meet the needs of those involved.
Working with the campuses, the program can offer professional development activities for academic leaders, align with campus efforts, and work cooperatively with the key academic leaders on each campus. It can help build the support necessary to develop academic leaders to address the goals of the University Strategic Plan.
For more information about the program contact:
Dr. Steve Graham
Director, President's Academic Leadership Institute
309 University Hall
University of Missouri System
Columbia, MO 65211
Phone: 573-884-3360
Email: grahams@umsystem.edu
