Leaming, Deryl R. (2007). Academic Leadership: A Practical Guide to Chairing the Department. Second edition. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.

Pages: 491     Price: $40.00     ISBN: 978-1-933371-17-7

Leaming's second edition of his text, Academic Leadership: A Practical Guide to Chairing the Department, offers readers a broad overview of the roles and responsibilities of departmental chairpersons. Today's chairpersons face unprecedented challenges due to the many changes being experienced by higher education institutions: demands for fiscal and educational accountability, growing competition from for-profit colleges and universities, declines in accessibility for middle and low income students, and increased expectations for productivity in teaching, scholarship, and service. These challenges require that department chairpersons become effective change agents as opposed to competent caretakers of routine departmental business. While the work of departmental chairpersons has become both heavier and more complex, the provision of effective professional development for this critical leadership position is quite limited at most colleges and universities. Academic Leadership is a practical primer that most chairpersons, especially those who are new to the position, are likely to find very useful.

The text consists of thirty chapters each addressing a different aspect of a chairperson's duties. The chapters have been organized into five major thematic areas: leadership, the department, legal issues, faculty, students, and career management. Most chapters provide both a very general overview of the topic and related issues, and lists of much more practical and specific pieces of advice. Although some concrete examples from Leaming's own extensive administrative experience are sprinkled throughout text, some readers may find themselves wishing for more illustrations of how Leaming actually used the practices he recommends. The text is highly readable, and the content is well supplemented by the lists of website and published resources found at the end of each chapter. The appendices are likely to be very useful to new chairpersons, and include examples of forms related to faculty appointments, course evaluations, tenure and promotion guidelines, and post-tenure review policies.

Much of the more general advice seems relatively obvious and many of these pieces of advice are presented repeatedly across chapters. Some of the ideas that appear in many chapters included the importance of being fair, honest, open, sensitive, caring, confident, and having effective communications skills and an excellent work ethic. New chairpersons are frequently encouraged to talk with their deans, chairpersons already viewed as competent, and the in-house experts before deciding how to respond to a wide variety of problems arising from personnel or student behaviors. Several chapters address issues to which some department chairpersons may not have given much attention, such as working with various external constituencies to build support for a program, developing outcome assessment programs, and recruiting and retaining students. Throughout the book, readers can expect to come upon ideas and recommendations that hold particular salience for them and their context.

Academic Leadership should prove a useful resource for most department chairpersons. Portions of the text related to tenure and promotion, and to working with difficult colleagues and students, also may be helpful to many faculty. Indeed, because of its topical breadth, the identification of other resources related to each topic, and the many examples provided in the appendices, this text would be a sound addition to the professional library of most academicians.

Reviewed by Melissa L. Heston, Associate Professor, Educational Psychology and Foundations, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA