Questions tagged [administration]

On the administration or running of an academic department or organization, or the people associated with this role. [administration] is mainly concerned with overseeing regular operations, while [governance] involves strategic tasks of setting goals and direction.

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What are the benefits of becoming an academic administrator?

Why do some professors choose to go into academic administration (e.g., become associate deans, etc.)? I've always assumed the main attraction is that they get paid more. But I've also thought that if I wanted to make more money than I do as a…
taxypayer22847
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Saying no to miscellaneous administrative tasks as a Grad student

In my university, graduate students under scholarship have to perform certain tasks like tutoring and grading. I have no problem with that since it is part of the contract. There are also some miscellaneous tasks like offering to help out for a…
yoyostein
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How should I publicize a university event of wide interest?

I am a mathematics professor, and recently I invited (using my own grant funding) a speaker to campus give a lecture on popular math. As I expected, he gave a wonderful talk that any undergraduate could have enjoyed. I decided to try to publicize…
Anonymous
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Should I volunteer as the department chair?

My department's chair was due to renew this year. There was a search where, through an anonymous survey, short-listed candidates represented tenured faculty members with the most support from colleagues. But the search failed as all short-listed…
user2574706
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Suggestions on how to organize a chair rotation

I am suggesting a chair rotation for a department in sciences. I was wondering about pitfalls and advantages, things to watch out for, best practices and general advice. If you have organized such an an arrangement or have been part of one I would…
Maesumi
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How to organize digital documents for administrative work?

As professor I have to organize a lot of digital documents. I have working systems to do this for research and teaching and I am quite happy with these. Moreover, questions on such topics have already been asked, e.g., here or here. However, for…
Dirk
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How do departments determine the optimal quantity of elective offerings?

In my department, we have a problem in trying to determine how many credits of electives we should offer. At first, it seems that it should be a simple equation to take the number of students enrolled at the department multiplied by the elective…
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How do schools have the same number of each week day?

My school is currently on a 14 week schedule where we're supposed to have 14 Mondays, 14 Tuesdays, etc. each semester. Because of various holidays, that's harder than it sounds, and so we have a couple days that have to get adjusted; for instance,…
Henry
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When do registrar's offices usually request course schedules?

At approximately what time in the fall semester, do most universities (in the US, say) request that departments submit their spring schedules? At my university, the date keeps moving earlier and earlier; this year, it is on the second day of…
academic
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What is an FTE and what are its variations?

What is an FTE, how is it used, and what are the varieties of FTE calculation that you might see in academia?
RoboKaren
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Are universities always disorganized?

I've been a faculty member at two universities. Both have been very "disorganized," generally speaking. By "disorganized," I mean things like: Faculty are not formally hired until after the semester begins (due to administrative failure to sign…
prof102448
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Power of a Department Chair?

What powers does a Department Chair have in a University setting? For instance, is a Dept. Chair the "boss" of a tenured full professor within the department?
Provo
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What skills are necessary to become President(Rector, Chancellor)?

Recently on my University he dies and now I was wondering how should be the ideal candidate. Taking into account that he/she is the one above all the faculties. Does he/she need to have a Doctor degree? and of what kind? Does he/she needs to speaks…
Ed_
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What is the benefit to having administrative tasks in academia?

I see that some professors are super busy with administrative tasks like deanship, directorship, etc. Is there any benefit to having such administrative tasks in academia? If so, how?
user366312
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How much has student usage of social media increased Universities’ internet traffic bills over the last 20 years?

Not counting those that ban social media, but counting student Wi-Fi provision such as UK Eduroam.
Mark Green
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