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Academic Leadership Seminar

Beginning in 2004–05, the Serie Center began a yearlong, weekly seminar designed to help mid-career (post-tenure) faculty to develop knowledge allowing them to become more engaged in institutional service, and to work more effectively as institutional leaders. This seminar gives faculty an opportunity to learn to “think institutionally” when faced with complex institutional issues that affect faculty life and student education.

Seminar Goals

  • Knowledge of the major issues and challenges faced in American higher education, liberal arts colleges and Macalester.
  • Working knowledge of how Macalester is “put together” – the various tasks that must be accomplished in order for the institution to function, and how these tasks are divided into the organizational units of the college.
  • Knowledge of the challenges faced within each operational unit of the college; knowledge of the resource limits within each unit and how trade-offs are made within these constraints; the impact of these challenges and limits on the academic program and education of our students.
  • Knowledge of how critical decisions are made at the institutional level – how information gets channeled, sorted and prioritized in the decision-making process.
  • Perspectives on the nature and role of academic leadership in such areas as mentoring faculty at various stages in their careers, managing academic staff and faculty, developing department and college curriculum, facilitating decision-making within resource constraints, managing and balancing workload, evaluating progress, facilitating change, and negotiating difficult situations.

In the first several iterations of the program, each faculty participant developed a “project of institutional significance.” Beginning with the 2010–2011 cohort, all past participants have been invited to submit proposals for institutional projects to the new “Venture Fund”. Current ALS participants serve as the selection committee.

The Academic Leadership Seminar is now on an every-other-year rotation. The next seminar met during academic year 2017-2018. If you are interested in learning more about the Academic Leadership Seminar or applying to participate, please contact Joan Ostrove ([email protected]).

The Academic Leadership Seminar is funded by the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Provost.

Cohorts in Academic Leadership Seminar

  • 2017-2018 Cohort

    • Xin Yang, Associate Professor & Chair, Asian Languages and Cultures

    • Chuen-Fung Wong, Associate Professor & Chair, Music

    • Susanna Drake, Associate Professor & Chair, Religious Studies

    • Julia Chadaga, Associate Professor, German and Russian Studies

    • Corie Hammers, Associate Professor & Chair, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
  • 2015–2016 Cohort

    • Louisa Bradtmiller, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies

    • John Cannon, Associate Professor and Chair, Physics and Astronomy

    • Devavani Chatterjea, Associate Professor, Biology

    • Amy Damon, Associate Professor, Economics

    • Christina Esposito, Associate Professor and Chair, Linguistics

    • Cynthia Kauffeld, Associate Professor, Hispanic Studies

    • Scott Legge, Associate Professor, Anthropology

    • Alicia Munoz, Associate Professor, Hispanic Studies

    • Roopali Phadke, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies

    • Daniel Trudeau, Associate Professor, Geography
  • 2013–2014 Cohort

    • Andrew Beveridge, Associate Professor, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science

    • Sarah Boyer, Associate Professor, Biology

    • Liang Ding, Associate Professor, Economics

    • Kristi Curry Rogers, Associate Professor, Geology

    • Geoff Gorham, Associate Professor and Chair, Philosophy

    • Nadya Nedelsky, Associate Professor and Chair, International Studies

    • Laura Smith, Associate Professor, Geography

    • Katie Splan, Associate Professor, Chemistry

    • Harry Waters Jr., Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance

    • Chris Wells, Associate Professor, Environmental Studies
  • 2010-2011 Cohort

    • Paul Dosh, Associate Professor, Political Science and Latin American Studies

    • Kelly MacGregor, Associate Professor and Chair, Geology

    • Paul Overvoorde, Associate Professor, Biology

    • Tonnis ter Veldhuis, Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy

    • Juliette Rogers, Associate Professor, French and Francophone Studies
  • 2009-2010 Cohort

    • Holly Barcus, Associate Professor, Geography. Project: (with Erik Larson) worked on a policy to ensure that students on study abroad who conduct independent research projects do so in line with the college’s standards of responsible conduct of research.

    • James Dawes, Associate Professor and (then) Chair, English. Project: worked on a new department chair development program.

    • Julie Dolan, Associate Professor and (then) Chair, Political Science. Project: (with Dianna Shandy and Jim Dawes) worked on a new department chair development program.

    • Joanna Inglot Associate Professor, Art History.

    • Erik Larson, Associate Professor, Sociology. Project: (with Holly Barcus) worked on a policy to ensure that students on study abroad who conduct independent research projects do so in line with the college’s standards of responsible conduct of research.

    • Mary Montgomery, Associate Professor, Biology.

    • Bill Mosley, Associate Professor, Geography.

    • Wang Ping, Associate Professor, English.

    • Dianna Shandy, Associate Professor and (then) Chair, Anthropology. Project: (with Julie Dolan and Jim Dawes) worked on a new department chair development program.
  • 2007–2008 Cohort

    • Kendrick Brown, Psychology

    • John Craddock, Geology

    • Paul Fisher, Chemistry

    • Keith Kuwata, Chemistry

    • Brooke Lea, Psychology

    • Joan Ostrove, Psychology

    • Raymond Robertson, Economics

    • Satoko Suzuki, Asian Languages and Cultures

    • Ray Rogers, Geology

    • Beth Severy-Hoven, Classics

    • Libby Shoop, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science

    • Joelle Vitiello, French and Francophone Studies

    • Chris Willcox, Art
  • 2005–2006 Cohort

    • Adrienne Christiansen, Associate Professor of Political Science. Development of recorded presentation that helps advanced students in various majors to give effective oral presentations in those disciplines.

    • Janet Folina, Associate Professor and (then) Chair of Philosophy. Compilation and development of models that assess the quality of departmental programs and majors.

    • Susan Fox, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. Creation of an outreach program for girls in computer science.

    • Arjun Guneratne, Associate Professor and (then) Chair of Anthropology. Creation of a Social Theory course that would introduce unifying principles in the social sciences in fulfillment of the social science distribution requirement. Arjun later changed his project to the leadership of a reading group on Global Warming.

    • Duchess Harris, Associate Professor of American Studies. Creation and implementation of a plan for fundraising, as part of the capital campaign, for an endowed lecture on Race and Ethnicity in American Studies.

    • Gary Krueger, Professor of Economics. Development of an econometric model for the impact of fiscal decisions by the institution on student choices.

    • Leola Johnson, Associate Professor and Chair of Humanities, Media and Cultural Studies. Compilation of information on courses at Macalester that use the urban environment, and the creation of a website sharing this information and other resources related to teaching in the city. This website is at http://www.macalester.edu/intothecity.

    • Eric Wiertelak, Professor of Psychology. Did not choose to do a project and did not take a course release.

    • Karl Wirth, Associate Professor of Geology. Creation of a peer observation program for the development and evaluation of teaching excellence. The Serie Center later adopted Wirth’s project as the ongoing “Mid-Course Interview” program.
  • 2004-2005 Cohort

    • David Blaney, Associate Professor and (then) Chair, Political Science. Developing a model for chairs to track and interact better with department alumni/ae.

    • Terry Boychuk, Associate Professor and (then) Chair, Sociology. Development of a First-Year Course on the liberal arts college.

    • Beth Cleary, Associate Professor and (then) Chair, Theatre and Dance. Developing strategies to increase the visibility of faculty work in the Fine Arts Division.

    • Toni Dorca, (then) Associate Professor and (then) Chair, Hispanic and Latin American Studies. With David Moore, developing advice to department chairs based on an examination of college practices in selecting study abroad programs.

    • Tom Halverson, (then) Associate Professor, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. Development of recommendations for college strategic planning about the ideal size of the student body.

    • Danny Kaplan, Professor, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. Joined seminar without course release. Prior institutional projects included developing a case for a shift in institutional policy away from “need blind” financial aid.

    • Andrew Latham, Associate Professor, Political Science. Joined seminar without course release as the Associate Director of the CST. Institutional leadership included co-directing Project Pericles at Macalester and leading initiatives in civic engagement that helped establish the Institute for Global Citizenship, in which he served as Associate Dean.

    • Karine Moe, (then) Associate Professor, Economics. With Karen Saxe, interviewed the untenured faculty about their mentoring experience, and developed recommendations for a more formal mentoring program at Macalester. As Associate Director of the CST the subsequent year, she followed through on these recommendations in establishing a new program.

    • David Moore, Associate Professor, International Studies. With Toni Dorca, development of advice to department chairs based on an examination of college practices in selecting study abroad programs.

    • Sonita Sarker, Associate Professor, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Through interviews with faculty, development of a report on how faculty in different disciplines acknowledge and incorporate new knowledge and changing paradigms in their teaching.

    • Karen Saxe, Professor, Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science. With Karine Moe, through interviews with pre-tenure faculty, made recommendations for a more formal mentoring program that ultimately became the Serie Center’s “Connected Colleagues” program.

    • Tom Varberg, Professor, Chemistry. Development of a model and advice to chairs on the creation and maintenance of departmental websites.