The Managerial Roles of Chief Academic Officers

Cosmopolitans or Locals: Who Will Lead the Next Generation of Community Colleges?

“…Officer (CAO) position has been identified of crucial importance to the success of the community college, and of equal importance to that of the president's position, in terms of academic affairs (Birnbaum & Umbach, 2001;Mech, 1997;Vaughan, 1990). The potential shortage of community college leaders, particularly presidents, has been widely reported (Boggs, 2003;Campbell, 2002;Carroll, 2004).…”

Collective Bargaining And Faculty Unionization: An Administrative Perspective

“…These two constituents often hold conflicting views and priorities causing the academic dean to experience role conflict and role ambiguity (Bowker, 1981;Bray, 2008;Wolverton, Wolverton, & Gmelch, 1999). Mech (1997) While the administrators interviewed for this study addressed role conflict and the impact of such on job satisfaction, symbolic interactionism affords a similar view for the administrator who experienced the same role conflict and role strain. From a symbolic interactionism theoretical lens the experiences, interactions, and resulting views one holds after participating in an event and forming one's own perspective will thus impact that individual's behavior and active choice making in the future.…”

“…The reported unaddressed areas included connecting theory to research and understanding how race, ethnicity, gender, and social class (issues related to the contemporary higher education institution) affect the individual's experience and related perceptions. Other studies reported administrative training deficits in the areas of conflict resolution, managerial skills, role responsibilities, and skills needed for decision making (Birnbaum, 1988;Mech, 1997;Murray et al, 2000).…”

“…In response to this rugged and often twisted terrain, increased competition and a finite pool of financial resources, the chief academic officers in these institutions are faced with multiple realities and allegiances. The call for quality, regulation, and collaboration comes from not only faculty members, students, and higher ranking administrators within the academic institutions, but also from community and business liaisons, research sponsors, and state and federal legislatures and courts (Anderson, Murray, & Olivarez, 2002;Bowker, 1981;Mech, 1997).…”

“…The roles of these chief academic officers include the integration of interests of the various academic constituencies and disciplines in terms of creating a common purpose and institutional commitment, committee work, student counseling related to academic affairs and procedures, information dissemination between students, faculty and administration, resource allocation, disturbance handling, serving as community liaison, research teaching figurehead, or spokesperson, and negotiating collective bargaining agreements (Anderson et al, 2002;Bowker, 1981;Mech, 1997). With the current trend to expand the mission statements at many of these colleges and universities, the list of expectations continues to grow.…”