Annual Department Chairs' Workshop

Are you facing the professional challenge of serving as department chair?

From  July 15-16, 2019, the AHA will offer our second annual  Chairs’ Workshop  in Chicago. Experienced chairs will lead sessions and host collaborative breakout conversations addressing a wide range of issues specific to chairing in our discipline and across a variety of institutional contexts. We will discuss broad leadership issues; strategies for balancing workloads in teaching, research, and administration; and take up issues of curricular innovation, enrollment, and assessment.

Location and Time

Check in at the Aloft Chicago Mag Mile (243 E. Ontario St.) on the evening of Sunday, July 14. The workshop will run from the morning of Monday, July 15, through the afternoon of Tuesday, July 16. All meetings will be hosted in the offices of the American Bar Foundation (420 E. Superior St., Chicago, IL 60611).

Registration

Registration is now full. Chairs may sign up for a waiting list on http://historians.org/myaha (select the Check option and you can pay the full balance if space opens). Refunds will not be processed after June 1, 2019. Payments must be made in full by June 1, 2019.

Fees

AHA institutional members: $975 
AHA institutional nonmembers: $1275

Fees include:

  • Registration for all workshop events
  • Two nights’ accommodation (July 14 and 15) at Aloft Hotel Mag Mile (243 East Ontario Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60611)
  • An all-participants’ workshop dinner at Carmine's on Rush (1043 N Rush Street) on Monday, July 15
  • Onsite lunch and breakfast for each day of the gathering

* Travel expenses to and from the workshop are the responsibility of participants.

Any questions about the workshop can be directed to Megan Connor at  mconnor@historians.org.

2019 Department Chairs' Workshop Agenda (PDF)

 

Exact Scheduling of Sessions is Subject to Change

July 14

Check in at Aloft Hotel Mag Mile (243 East Ontario Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60611) and have dinner on your own. Check in begins at 3:00 PM on Sunday, July 14. If you arrive prior to check in, the hotel has assured us that you may leave your bags at the front desk until your room is ready.

Day 1 (July 15)

**From 8:15, coffee service and continental breakfast available in meeting space (420 E. Superior St., Chicago, IL 60611)

9:00-9:30 am: Welcome and Introductions

James Grossman, Kevin Boyle

9:30-10:15 am: Plenary: Being a Chair: Beyond the Job Description

Elizabeth Lehfeldt, Tyler Stovall, Jeff McClurken

  • Managing teaching, research, and administration
  • Institutional thinking
  • Negotiating new identity as an administrator/becoming a leader on campus
    • Mentoring faculty
    • Advocating for faculty with upper administration
  • Role of chair on broad administrative ecology: level of authority and power in department and within institution

15 min break

10:30-11:30 am: Breakout Session I: Administrative Imperatives

Breakout out by institution type

  • PhD-granting: Tyler Stovall
  • Public non-PhD granting: Elizabeth Lehfeldt
  • Liberal arts college: Jeff McClurken
  • Note: Some institutions will not fit neatly into these categories. Participants should attend the break out group that suits their needs for each institution break out.

Topics to discuss:

  • Assessment and reporting
  • Accreditation/external review
  • Institutional Research
  • General Education requirements

15 min break

11:45-12:45 pm: Breakout Session II: Nitty Gritty of Institutional and Administrative Work

Some topics may be moved to Breakout Session V

Facilitators tailor as they see fit:

  • Budgets: how to
  • Dual Enrollment/Concurrent Enrollment
  • Working with administrators across campus
  • Campus digital environment and imperatives: obligation, opportunity, or otherwise?
  • Fundraising
  • Running an effective meeting

1:00-2:00: Lunch (provided onsite)

2:00-3:15 pm: Plenary: Institutional Context and Building Departmental Culture

Topics to discuss:

  • Building alumni networks
  • Advocate and/or ambassador for the department across campus
  • Power dynamics
  • Faculty/staff relations

15 min break

3:30-4:45 pm: Breakout Session III: Care and Management of Faculty

Some topics may be moved to Breakout Session V

Facilitators tailor as they see fit:

  • Strategies to support contingent faculty
  • Sexual Harassment: policies and best practices
  • Faculty Professional Development
  • Difficult faculty members, department dysfunction
  • Managing tenure and promotion

15 min break

5:00-5:45 pm: Group Lightning Round

Kevin Boyle & James Grossman to run

An open-ended lightning round in which everyone is encouraged to throw out creative ideas about any relevant topic even if they are just ideas with no implementation plan. Two minutes per speaker. Contributions will be used to generate break out topics for Day 2.

Break

7:00-10:00 pm: Workshop Dinner at Carmine's on Rush (1043 N Rush Street), South Room

 

Day 2 (June 28)

**From 8:00, coffee service and continental breakfast available in meeting space (420 E. Superior St., Chicago, IL 60611)

8:30-8:45 am: AHA Programming—How Can We Help You?

James Grossman, Kevin Boyle, Emily Swafford

8:45-9:45 am: Plenary: Equity and Inclusion

Tyler Stovall, Liz Lehfeld, Jeff McClurken

Topics to discuss:

  • What is the role of the chair in working toward equity and inclusion, including race and gender, in the following arenas?
    • Recruiting and training faculty
    • Students
    • Expanding pipeline

15 min break

10:00-10:30 am: Introduction to Enrollments

Elizabeth Lehfeldt

15 min break

10:45-11:45 am: Breakout Session IV: Enrollments

Breakout out by institution type

  • PhD-granting: Tyler Stovall
  • Public non-PhD granting: Elizabeth Lehfeldt
  • Liberal arts college: Jeff McClurken
  • Note: Participants should feel free to attend the break out group that suits their needs for each institution break out.

Topics to discuss:

  • Communicating value of history degree and marketing the major
  • Strategies to manage outside pressures: from administrators, curricular changes, etc
  • How to target specific audiences
  • Mobilizing digital resources
  • General recruitment strategies

12:00-1:00 pm: Lunch (provided onsite)

1:00-2:00 pm: Breakout Session V: Topics Suggested by Lightning Round

15 min break

2:15-3:00 pm: Closing Plenary: Professional Identity & Career Paths

Elizabeth Lehfeldt, Jeffrey McClurken, Tyler Stovall

Click here to see the agenda from the First Annual Department Chairs' Workshop in 2018 (PDF).