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A law school dean must develop an awareness of himself before attempting to lead the school and demonstrate an awareness of his faculty to the importance of the law school. If his faculty perceives him to be competent as a leader he will be better able to administer the law school. Increasing the frequency and intimacy of contact with faculty members will bolster the perceptions among the faculty of his leader behaviour. A study of how differently law schools and their faculties perceive the leader behaviour of deans and to what degree social distance relates to law school deans' leader behaviour as perceived by themselves and their faculties shows a significant difference between the leader behaviour of law school deans as self‐perceived and perceived by their faculties. As deans inter‐related more frequently in a meaningful way the faculties tended to view their deans as exhibiting more leader behaviour. Eighty‐one deans and 1,001 faculty members from 81 law schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia participated in the study between 1981 and 1982.

The notion of ‘happy dean's office’ (DO) seems to be at best an oxymoron as these units are usually understaffed, overworked and perceived at the very bottom of university hierarchy. Contrary to these beliefs the article aims to identify and analyse DOs which could be labelled as ‘happy’, i.e. units which are good places to work in, according to their staff, and/or are valued high by their students. Happiness is treated symbolically rather than a psychological state of human being and refers to a workplace which provides its employees with satisfaction and well-being, and at the same time is perceived as efficient and effective. Our source material are 16 individual in-depth interviews with managers of DOs at Polish HEIs and 3 focus groups. In most cases we visited the DOs and so could also use some participant observation. These and other DOs at the same HEI share the same legal environment, infrastructure and are situated in the same manner in HEIs structure. What makes them different, and so might influence their level of happiness, are: (1) management style, (2) organisational culture, and (3) students. In our research we focus on the first two aspects, the last one, due to lacking data, is skipped. Basing on our research and practical experience – as one of us has been managing a DO for almost 20 years and the other has been serving as a vice-dean for six years – we want to provide recommendations on how a DO can be turned into a good place to work.

The CW’s long-running horror-drama series Supernatural (2005–) has been accused of undoing progressive advances for women made by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996–2003). While it’s hard to deny the truth in that claim, Supernatural also problematizes conventional gender roles from a very different approach, one that plays with perceptions of masculinity and social class.

Buffy Summers may initially seem to have more in common with Supernatural’s Sam Winchester, a chosen one with special powers who wants a normal life away from the supernatural. However, Buffy shares more in common with Dean Winchester. Embodying popular gendered stereotypes in their introductions, it’s gradually revealed that there is more complexity to each. Both form alliances with Others; both recognize elements of the Other in themselves. Both transgress conventional gender boundaries, complicating the notion of a binary gender system. Both series introduce the seemingly familiar only to alter it into the uncanny. See the little cute blonde virginal cheerleader? She can kick your ass. See the stupid cocky womanizing jock? All he wants is family and a home. This chapter explores the increasingly gender-blended, social-class-crossing behaviours of Supernatural’s Dean Winchester as an heir to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Management of students’ affairs constitutes one of the key elements of the educational process, even though neglected and often treated as a minor issue. In all Polish higher education institutions (HEIs) the units charged with this administrative task are dean’s offices (in Polish, dziekanaty). The pace of work of dean’s offices is related to the schedule of the academic year. While resources are constant throughout the year, the workload differs significantly and peaks around October, when not only the new semester begins but also many students defend their theses and need to receive their award certificates. Work at dean’s office is therefore often demanding with many tasks cumulated in the same very short period of time and repeatable, that is, as many times as the number of students, which can be from 350 to over 700 per employee. This chapter examines innovative ways of managing students’ affairs at selected Polish HEIs. These innovations can be either top-down, that is, provided by HEI authorities responding to the needs of dean’s offices, or bottom-up, that is, worked out by the dean’s office staff (often due to lacking support of HEIs authorities).

Most years, several AIB members are elected as AIB Fellows on account of their excellent international business scholarship, and/or past service as AIB President or Executive Secretary. The Fellows are in charge of electing Eminent Scholars as well as the International Executive and International Educator (formerly, Dean) of the Year, who often provide the focus for Plenary Sessions at AIB Conferences. Their history since 1975 covers over half of the span of the AIB and reflects many issues that dominated that period in terms of research themes, progresses and problems, the internationalization of business education and the role of international business in society and around the globe. Like other organizations, the Fellows Group had their ups and downs, successes and failures – and some fun too!

Understanding one’s personal journey provides for effective learning, growth, and development (Madsen, 2010). Reflection on the influences and experiences of successful women leaders is essential to understanding the factors that have enabled them to obtain and sustain leadership positions in nontraditional career fields. The purpose of this qualitative study was to conceptualize and describe the personal journeys of women who became deans of agriculture. The central research question was, “Describe your personal journey to becoming a dean of agriculture?” Six women deans of agriculture were interviewed and observed in an attempt to recognize the impact their personal journeys have had in developing their leadership styles and sustaining their leadership role. Conclusions were (a) they were first born children, (b) influenced by parental qualities and spousal support, and (c) mentors recognized their gifts and talents and encouraged them to pursue advanced degrees and leadership positions.

The goal of this paper is to identify the attitudes of the chairs of library and information science (LIS) programs in Chinese universities toward the iSchools movement.

The authors collected data from 36 deans or other chairs of LIS by using open‐ended questionnaire and utilized grounded theory to analyze the results.

The result shows that most chairpersons approve the iSchools values of relationship between people, information and technology, nevertheless, they expressed uncertainty regarding the future of iSchools. For the process of adopting the values of iSchools and joining the iSchools movement, the main risks to progress come from within the LIS schools or departments. The consensus among the chairpersons is that the LIS education should reserve its traditional core values, as well as adopt iSchools' values and widely expand in the information profession area.

This study unveiled the attitudes of LIS chairs toward the iSchools movement in China. Its results can help the iSchools movement to develop and promote LIS education innovation globally.

During the last 40 years, the growth and impact of UK business schools have been significant. Relatively few studies have reviewed how business school deans emerge and grow. This paper aims to explore the experiences and psychometric profiles of UK business school leaders to understand their tenures, problems, dilemmas and succession issues.

The study comprised 16 semi‐structured interviews with business school deans and Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) questionnaires completed by deans and aspiring deans (associate deans and heads of department). The study uses the executive life cycle and concepts of social capital as theoretical frameworks to understand the dean's role.

The study revealed a pattern of individuals working in their first deanship at their third business school. Their career trajectories highlighted the usefulness of consultancy skills similar to those of a partner in a professional service firm. The importance of the dean's role in terms of business school fit, creating a differentiation strategy and team building were emphasised. The psychometric preferences of the deans in the sample indicated Jungian extroversion, tough mindedness, seeing patterns and making connections, strategic thinking and a tendency to bring issues to closure. Recommendations are made for the development of a more heterogeneous, transnational cadre of business school deans and improved dialogue with heads of universities to understand the positive contribution of business school leaders as changing business models are needed in turbulent times.

There are few explanations of the roles and functioning of business school deans in practice. The insights gained are valuable for business school deans and are, more broadly, of interest to heads of universities and executive search firms. The paper is theoretically and practically relevant to building leadership capabilities in knowledge intensive organisations and professional service firms.

The purpose of the development of the paper was due to the seemingly endless searching for deans to replace the former dean of three to four years.

The paper was developed around the present relevant secondary data.

The key findings of the paper were that deans were being replaced due to the difference in expectation of the various constituents (e.g. students, faculty, administration, parents) in the performance of the SBA.

Limitations of the study were not providing primary data to support the theory based hypotheses of the study.

Deans need to recognize that there will be conflicting expectations relative to the performance of the dean and that deans have a very short time to effectuate change in academic organizations.

Not having such high turnover in dean's positions should provide the stability of management to bring about change need in institutions of higher education.

Identification of key mistakes made by deans as well as the mistakes made by faculty undermine the performance of deans.

We are seeing a growing number of efforts to strengthen the capacity of leaders in higher education, such as those programs offered by the American Council on Education and the Big Ten Academic Alliance; yet, the existing scholarly literature is limited in this area. The purpose of this paper is to add to the body of scholarship on academic leadership education by summarizing the current state of formal training and development initiatives within the Association of American Universities (AAU), focusing primarily on the experiences and perspectives of academic deans and associate deans.

This study consisted of a qualitative review of current academic leadership initiatives promoted on the AAU member institution websites. Additionally, the author conducted interviews with deans and associate deans from AAU institutions to explore dominant themes associated with academic leadership in more detail.

An analysis of the AAU member websites led to the development of a comprehensive matrix consisting of nearly 30 single-spaced pages of leadership initiatives, separated by institution and coordinating office(s). Based on the interviews with deans and associate deans, three communication-centered themes related to the study and practice of academic leadership emerge: academic leadership as the art of cultivating relationships, academic leadership as a direct response to “wicked problems,” and academic leadership as a mosaic of administrative competencies.

Acknowledging the value of their experience in variety leadership development programs, the responses from current deans and associate deans may encourage the development of future programs in this area – programs that provide opportunities for faculty and staff collaboration and equip current and future leaders with the skills and concepts for navigating the complex and contested environment within which contemporary colleges and universities must survive. Additionally, the initial findings from this project may be included in the curriculum of formal and informal academic leadership initiatives.

As leading academic research institutions, one may expect to find a number of well-developed best practices in the area of leadership training and development. Focusing on this group provides a useful benchmark for understanding the methods and content of academic leadership programs. Furthermore, representing the diversity of American research institutions, the AAU provides a broad sample of institutions for this research project. As a point of entry into this area of research, the conversations with deans and associate deans, coupled with the findings of the AAU website review, provide a unique perspective into academic leadership development – an area of growing scholarly and applied importance.