Leadership and Faculty Development

One of the most important functions deans provide for their schools is helping to shape the culture of the school. Changing a culture is also one of the most difficult things to do. Steve Denning, author of The Leader's Guide to Radical Management, explained that, "...an organization’s culture comprises ...

Times of high anxiety tend to bring out reactivity. There’s no question we’re living in anxious times, and theological schools are not exempt from the stress or threats of the era. In anxous times leaders can expect to see an increase in the number of cases of employees ...

Recently I spoke with a seminary dean in her fourth year in office. After four years she is stepping down, but takes some pride in having hit the top end of the average tenure for faculty in that office. While she had taken some undergraduate education courses she spoke of ...

Deans in theological schools tend to come from the Faculty, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's a question of who is most willing to serve (or, who missed the meeting when the vote was taken!). Sometimes it's a decision based of budget constraints. Sometimes it's political. More often than ...

Deans in theological schools face increasing demands to demonstrate educational effectiveness from accrediting agencies and constituents. For many theological schools, and for new deans, this can seem like an imposing challenge. Demonstrating educational effectiveness falls to the office of the dean in most schools, highlighting again, that theological school deans ...