Leading the Mathematical Sciences Department: A Resource for Chairs

Being an academic department chair is a profession for which there are few resources––either for those doing the job who have lots of questions but few answers, or as preparation for those who are just beginning and may not know all the questions to ask. In either case, you now have a rich resource from the Mathematical Association of America to which you can turn for ideas, guidance, and reflection on the unique and critical position in academe you occupy

Leading the Mathematical Sciences Department: A Resource for Chairs provides insights and advice from mathematical science department chairs and administrators. The focus is on leadership rather than the technical details of management. The Wisdom of Practice contains advice from presidents, vice-presidents, provosts, deans, and chairs. The Case Studies are scenarios based upon real situations encountered by chairs. Some may sound very familiar. There are no answers but instead the cases are intended for you to think about how you would handle the situation. The Issues papers cover topics that chairs told us they wanted to know about and present strategies by the writers of the papers.

The book can provide you with a self-guided professional development experience as you think through the cases and issues or you can work through the book with colleagues, using it as a basis for discussion. Although the book targets chairs of departments of mathematical sciences, the material will be useful to chairs of all academic departments.