The way that department heads learn the chair role was studied through interviews with 39 department heads randomly selected from nine colleges within a single university. Four types of roles were identified. Faculty-oriented department heads described their primary responsibilities as recruiting, developing, and evaluating faculty members; facilitating the work of the faculty; and reducing intradepartmental conflict. Externally-oriented department heads described their primary responsibilities as representers, brokers, negotiators, or grantsmen, and their goals were to increase both the number and funding level of research grants and contracts, to obtain additional space and equipment, and to enhance the department's image. Program-oriented department heads described their primary responsibility as program development. Among their goals were to increase the number of student-credit-hours generated and the number of undergraduate majors and graduate students in their departments. Management-oriented department heads described their primary responsibilities as leadership, facilitator, or coordinator to indicate that their job was to procure and allocate departmental resources and to effectively run the department. Perceived sources of stress, important extradepartmental involvement, and patterns of socialization were also identified for each type of department head. Among the responses are the following: externally-oriented department heads derived their role expectations from experience as successful grantsmen or as leaders in professional associations, while program-oriented department heads reported that their experience as practicing professionals or as academic administrators influenced their role expectations. Implications for the selection and training of department heads are considered. (SW)