The College Administrator’s Survival Guide

by C.K. Gunsalus

Late one afternoon, as you are organizing your new office as department chair, one of the senior members of the department drops by. He affably informs you of his plans for the coming semester: that contrary to the published class schedule, he only teaches on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday, and Thursday morning, so as to have the weekends free for travel; that he expects the office staff to start his coffeemaker by 10 a.m. sharp on his teaching days; and that since he hasn’t been assigned a research assistant, his teaching assistant will do research tasks, including errands. What do you say? What do you do?

Never mind budgets or curriculum reform: staff problems can be the most thorny of any academic administrator’s job. Every day, professors who have never run anything bigger than a seminar find themselves in charge of a complex and volatile organization called a Department of English (or Biology, or Sociology, or Textile Marketing). What should they do?

In this book, a widely respected advisor on academic administration and ethics offers tips, insights, and tools on handling complaints, negotiating disagreements, responding to accusations of misconduct, and dealing with difficult personalities. With humor and generosity, C. K. Gunsalus applies scenarios based on real-life cases, examples from negotiation, law, and child-rearing to guide novice (and experienced) academic administrators through the dilemmas of management in not-entirely-manageable environments.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, Academia, Leadership, Professional Development, Academic

244 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2006

About the author

" Experienced Academic Administrator

A nationally recognized expert on matters of research integrity, whistleblowing, ethics, and professionalism in academia, C. K. Gunsalus is the Director of the National Center for Professional and Research Ethics, Professor Emerita of Business, and Research Professor at the Coordinated Sciences Laboratory. The centerpiece project of the National Center is a national online ethics resource center funded through a $5M grant from the National Science Foundation for which she is the Principal Investigator. She has been on the faculty of the colleges of Business, Law, and Medicine at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as Special Counsel in the Office of University Counsel. In the College of Business, she currently teaches Leadership and Ethics in the MBA program and is the director of the required Professional Responsibility course for all undergraduates in the college. She is a member of the faculty of the Medical Humanities/Social Sciences program in the College of Medicine, where she teaches communication, conflict resolution skills and ethics. Her professional interests include professional ethics, with an emphasis on research and organizational ethics, communication and conflict resolution. Her most recent research examines the efficacy of role play and simulations in professional education.

Previously, she served for many years as an Associate Provost, where she was responsible for a range of academic policy and administrative duties, including department head training/support and academic policy interpretations and revision. During that time, she was known as the "department of yucky problems," with duties encompassing oversight of the discrimination and harassment grievance procedure, problem personnel cases and membership on the workplace violence team. Before that, her experience at the University included technology transfer, management of conflicts of interest, human subject protection, and long-term service as the campus Research Standards Officer with responsibility for responding to allegations of professional misconduct by faculty and students.

A licensed attorney, Ms. Gunsalus graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Illinois College of Law and has an AB with Distinction in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She served on the Committee on Research Integrity of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable Ad Hoc Group on Conflict of Interest. She was a member of the United States Commission on Research Integrity and served for four years as chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility. In 2004, she was elected a Fellow of the AAAS in recognition of her “sustained contributions to the national debate over improving the practical handling of ethical, legal, professional and administrative issues as they affect scientific research.” She has served on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Commission on Professionalism since 2005. In her spare time, Ms. Gunsalus also served 12 years on the Urbana Board of Education (school board), eight of those years as its President. "

Quoted from http://www.gunsalus.net/

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good. I likely should have read it six years ago, when I first started as Chair, though, and so I'm passing this copy along to our new incoming Department Chair, with my notes!

I think the situations she poses and then her analysis of them will be quite useful to a new chair as they prepare for this new role. Being an academic department chair is difficult to prepare for because it's just a lot of different things in a variety of different orders without a lot of predictability, though there is some predictability and there are some constants. The situations she provides are familiar to me, though not always exactly the same, and while she comes at them from the Head perspective and we are far less powerful Chairs in the UW system, her advice is still useful.

Overall, she does touch on some of the most important things that I'd also pass along to anyone preparing for a leadership role in academia, and maybe some of these things translate also to leadership roles outside of the academy (though #1, #4, and #10 are things I likely would not have thought about without reading her book): 1) Know your WHY. 2) LISTEN. To all sides. Actively. (And keep confidences.) 3) Policies are your friends. (And ask for help when things are more than you can deal with on your own.) 4) Have personal scripts prepared for situations you'll likely face. 5) Meetings need a reason or should be canceled. 6) Put things in writing (concisely). 7) Give (specific and deserved) compliments. 8) Be NICE. (But provide specific and unambiguous feedback when necessary.) 9) It is NEVER, ever about YOU. 10) Leave the Department better than you found it.

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's little here that isn't found in pretty much any other book about leadership. That's not an insult; it merely shows that leadership is a specific skill that can be learned (and it also shows that I've read too many books about leadership). But what I like about this book is its specific focus on the university context. That angle was new, and I thought it was right on. I resonated with everything Gunsalus said about moving to the admin side of higher ed:

When you take on an administrative role, you become--like it or not--an authority figure. There are few places where this is as problematic as in an academic environment, because ambivalence about authority is pervasive. You've heard the jokes about academic administration being like herding cats, and you've likely made comments yourself about overreaching bureaucrats. Now you've become one. (11)

It is a major transition to move from a professorship where one largely controls one's own intellectual agenda to a position in which one can be nibbled to death by administrivia: the tyranny of the in-box, telephone, drop-in visitors, email, and the latest form or survey required by some bureaucrat in University Hall. (12)

The tone is conversational and friendly, and I would recommend that any new university faculty read this as preparation for being a useful part of the community.

[Cheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many five star reviews, I imagine, for books on budgets and trustee boards, but this one is worth it...if you are into that sort of thing. ;) I appreciated the case study format, which helped flesh out some of the principles described.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the revised edition (2021). This book is everything a trusted mentor tells you in great detail, all wrapped in a tidy package. Required reading for college administrators.

[Anon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Prose is wonderful, but fiction is fiction that sells. This is the leader of some of the most notorious civil rights complaint retaliation cases at the UIUC when Asst Provost some of which had to be litigated in Chicago US Dept of Ed due to public support and leadership that caused stalking of 2 high school girls who quit UIUC high school to go to local public schools after retaliation for sexual harassment complaints. The stalking put them into a psychiatric hospital for 6 months per the local papers in that part of the 1990s in Urbana IL, and this is the genuine article who set up a stalking afterwards using UIUC staff raging at being reported to the police as police reporting staff enrages at UIUC also a state felony for UIUC staff but also civil rights legal requirement to never engage in at a rape/assault victim still being poison pen lettered inflammatory opposite to court records with a convicted felon per IDFPR since 2010 with a rap sheet since the 1993, by the UIUC per FOIA listing UIUC staff set up by Tina to stalk victim permanently listing everywhere victims had ever lived since already 9 years later by the date of the FOIA exposure reported ongoing now with UIUC staff refusing to terminate stalking with SSN DOB from FERPA protected sources required terminate in 1994 no further contact, victims can't end the UIUC. So pretty picture is a scam. The UIUC continues to operate creating and conducting real fear instead, with engagement in cases like this as a terrorist act per a US attorney at one point, to instill fear as this does in any ordinary person.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a smart and clear guide that helps academic administrators anticipate and cope with the types of scenarios they might encounter will working, in particular, as the chair of a department. Filled with excellent advice, it's the pieces of oft-repeated guidance that resonate the most for me: thinking about how to listen more than talk, crafting clear opening lines and responses to contentious questions, documenting problems for the benefit of yourself and others, and being generous (but honest) with praise.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing wrong with it, but not really a fun bedtime read, so after having it on my night table for 1 year (and being a college administrator for that year), I surrender.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful read. Lots of tips in there. Lots of questioning about what career I want! I'd like to work for her.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing can replace experience, but this book will undoubtedly help someone new to a leadership role in a higher education setting have an easier process of continuing in the role. Rich in its consideration of the very human people who make up the joys and complications of working in a higher education setting, the book fairly considers how to provide evaluation, support, meaningful communication and much more. While veteran leaders may find some elements a little plain, there is still much that will have them nodding in agreement here.

A recommended read for anyone working in or around a higher education system.

[Jeff Grann · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that hits its stride with juicy vignettes. The advise is good, but feels repetitive - know yourself, be cautious, follow process, seek counsel. Unique in its focus on leadership skills of college administrators - a very important area that could use deeper study.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some chapters stand out for their usefulness (Embrace Your Fate and Negotiation) while others are less useful to a community college administrator (focusing on research faculty), but every chapter has something useful for a new administrator.

[Michael Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for academic administrators... and the cover photo is worth 2000 words and says it all (replace phone with email to update to modern times).