Research exploring the challenges department chairs face has long suggested the role is difficult and lacks tangible reward (Buller, 2012, 2015; Gmelch et al., 2017). Yet, as higher education demographics, settings, and organizational expectations change and chairs function in more uncertain and increasingly complex institutional environments, it…

Reviews current writing center debates about the peer tutor's role and authority. Presents three case studies investigating the ways in which first-time tutors and their clients enact role and authority in their tutorial relationships. (RS)

A theoretical framework for the process of faculty renewal in the 1980s was proposed, based on examination of the role of department heads as in-house agents of change for staff development. Support for the theory was sought using three empirical statements to test the relationship of department heads' manipulative orientation and social insight…

A regional survey of 141 higher education institutional research offices investigated the following aspects of program administration: research and analysis staff size; educational preparation and experience; location in the organizational hierarchy; functions and tasks; and role in assessment. Four different types of offices are described.…

A list of trustee responsibilities, as adapted from a private college's trustee handbook, includes suggestions for active involvement in decision making, self-education about the institution and issues, and participation in meetings. (MSE)

The findings in the Authority in Nursing Roles Inventory support the premise that in spite of expanded nursing roles emphasizing nursing authority, there are disagreements between nurses' and physicians' perceptions of the authority of nurses as well as areas of dissatisfaction within each professional group. (Author/MLW)

Reasons for conflict between college faculty and administrators are discussed, focusing on the differences in roles and authority structures, persistent daily interpersonal conflicts, unclear standards of judgment, different decision-making intentions, mutual lack of understanding of power status, and irritations common in the boss-employee…

This study examined the hypothesis that the reason people believe the two sexes have different personality traits is because they enact roles that vary in power. Men usually enact a dominant role, expressing personality traits of self-assertion or agency, while women usually enact a subordinate role, expressing the personality traits of…

Perceived influences of biology and English department heads were investigated using a discriminant analysis test of Biglan's model. Attention was directed to the influence of discipline versus the structural variables of department size, type of institution, and highest degree awarded. Questionnaires completed by 586 heads of biology and English…

Student affairs professionals were surveyed for opinions regarding the changing role of women in student affairs. Title changes representative of power-prestige changes are noted. Changes in job descriptions have resulted in increasingly specialized positions. Women are more visible in top leadership positions. (RC)

The need for and importance of effective leadership in nursing education mandates that individual and institutional efforts be committed to reducing role ambiguity, conflict, and overload in the position of assistant dean, whose role is subject to multiple demands and involved with multiple administrative subsystems. (Author/MSE)

Investigates the effects of tutor gender in interaction patterns in postgraduate university seminars and focuses on the discourse patterns of two of these classes. The female tutor used more minimal responses and called on students more often by name and gaze than the male tutor; she occupied less floor-space than the male tutor, and her speaking…

Perceptions of power identified with upper level, noninstructional staff (professional staff) in a complex university were studied based on interviews with professional staff, their superordinates and subordinates, and faculty. Professional staff offices included the upper echelon of the nonacademic staff hierarchy holding such titles as assistant…

The acrimonious disagreement over investment in South Africa is one sign of the collapse of the consensus on the role of a trustee. Some critics hold that trustees are not definers of the institution's good but merely the instruments by which the public's view of that good is carried out. (MLW)

A national survey of 235 directors of programs offering Bachelors of Social Work found that sources of personal, structural, and institutional power were important predictors of power for middle managers in academic settings. Results also direct their programs and manage departmental resources. (Author/MSE)