Exploring the preparation and readiness for the department chair role

The growing shortage of community college leaders in the United States is expected to increase steadily in the next few years due to a mass retirement of deans, presidents and provosts. The failure of community colleges in California to prepare to replenish the leadership pipeline threatens the mission, function, and livelihood of these essential institutions. Those who hold the title of president, provost, or dean often begin their leadership path as a chair of an academic department. Department chairs have historically and typically assumed their role with no formal knowledge and skill preparation to enable them to serve effectively. This study explored how prepared and role-ready department chair perceived themselves to be upon assuming the role. Qualitative methodology and a multiple case-study approach was employed to collect data. The process involved open-ended interviews with twelve department chairs employed within a large community college district. The study used the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition and Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory to explore contributing factors from previous experience that contributed to the preparation and role-readiness of department chairs. A goal of the study was to gather findings that would potentially assist colleges in the professional development of future chairs. Findings were consistent with the body of scholarly work on the role preparation/readiness of department chairs. The majority of chairs received no regular, planned or formal knowledge and skill preparation prior to entering the role. This study found that while most of the participants perceived themselves to be ready to accept the role, they were not prepared to engage in the actions required by the position. This study examined various elements from study participants' professional, academic and life experiences which were felt to be of relevance to their preparation and readiness to serve in the role of department chair. Based on the findings the following recommendations were made: 1) The establishment of in-house professional development programs for faculty interested in leadership positions within the institution, 2) The establishment of a preparatory program for newly elected department chairs combining didactic and mentoring strategies, and 3) Further research on the topic of this study targeting a significantly larger number of participants and using quantitative methodology in addition to qualitative.