In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, DS asks:
I realize this is an 'early career' site, but has anyone ever had to write a statement of 'leadership and administration philosophy' when applying for a chair position? I am interested in applying to such a position at another college and am looking for some pointers. There seem to be some obvious things, like how you would mentor faculty, but any advice would be welcome.
I've never had to write a statement like this, so I'm not sure what to advise. But I'm inclined to think one should probably approach it like any other similar kind of statement (e.g. teaching statements, diversity statements, etc.): namely, that you should just explain what you do as an administrator and why you do it.
For example, as I noted in my post on chairing, I generally try to ensure that my department makes decisions in an equitable way - prioritizing open communication, actively encouraging everyone to share their views and priorities, ensuring that people don't dominate each other in departmental conversations, etc. Then, as with other kinds of statements, I imagine it could be good to give actual examples of how one's philosophy works well in practice. I also expect it is probably good to relate any administrative initiatives one has been involved in or spearheaded, such as student retention initiatives or what have you.
However, given that I've neither written nor evaluated a "leadership and administration philosophy" statement before, I'm not entirely sure this is the right approach. What do you all think, particularly those of you readers who have hired a chair before? What did you and your committee look for? What kinds of things come across well? Not so well?
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