The Research-Productive Department
Strategies from Departments That Excel
J-B Anker Resources for Department Chairs
American society thrives on innovation, which is advanced by the
quality and productivity of research from higher education faculty.
It is therefore typical for the responsibility of nurturing and
sustaining faculty research to fall upon department chairs and
deans at postsecondary schools. In The Research-Productive
Department, the authors recognize the importance of this task,
and share tested strategies for facilitating quality faculty
research and promoting an institution's overall vitality.
Many such books written for department chairs and deans have
chosen to address the full range of leadership and management tasks
that typically occupy this readership. However, few have narrowed
their scope--as this book does--to the important
leadership tasks that influence the overall success of academic
departments in one critical area: research. This book features the
experiences of nearly 40 leaders from well-respected research
institutions from across the country. It offers specific, useful
recommendations for academic leaders seeking to promote high levels
of research productivity, including insight on: recruitment
practices, mentoring programs, reward systems, culture-building
activities, and the distribution of fiscal as well as human
resources.
An eminently practical book, The Research-Productive
Department provides readers with two essential tool sets: a
user-friendly summary of over 40 years of literature on the
characteristics of research-productive organizations, plus a wealth
of descriptive examples of how these characteristics are actually
manifest in a large number of research-productive academic
departments and schools. This book is an engaging exposition of
best practices that readers can adapt as befits their own
institutional settings.
Foreword.
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
1 Blueprint for This Book: A Literature-Based Model of the
Research-Productive Organization.
2 Faculty Recruitment and Selection.
3 Clear Goals That Coordinate Work and Emphasize Research.
4 Shared Culture and Positive Group Climate.
5 Mentoring.
6 Interdisciplinary Collaboration.
7 Communication With Colleagues: Professional Networks.
8 Resources.
9 Teaching.
10 Sufficient Time for Research.
11 Rewards.
12 Brokered Opportunity Structure.
13 Faculty Size and Diversity: The Right Mix of Expertise and
Experience.
14 Leadership and Governance.
15 Final Take-Home Lessons.
Appendix A: Study Origins and Methods.
Appendix B: Pre-Interview Survey.
Appendix C: Semi-Structured Interview Protocol.
Appendix D: Senate Working Group Project on Research
Productivity.
Appendix E: Demographic Survey Results of Participating
Departments (n = 32).
Appendix F: Brief Narrative Description of the University of
Minnesota.
Appendix G: Leaving the University of Minnesota: Results of an
Exploratory Survey of Departed Faculty, 1997-2000.
Appendix H: Related Works.
Bibliography.
Author Index.
Subject Index.
research productivity and excellence in our universities."
--Nils Hasselmo, President, Association of American
Universities
