Michelle Obama’s best-selling book, Becoming, offers a glimpse into her life becoming not only the first lady of the United States but also, and more importantly, a strong African American woman. The former first lady offered a heroine’s account of leadership, divided into three sections: becoming me, becoming us, and becoming more (Obama, 2018). Much like Michelle Obama, a department chair evolves in stages from individualism to collectivism as they transition from being faculty to pseudo-administration. It would be nice if someone had shared with me a book on “becoming” a department chair. Whether becoming a first-time chair or a slightly seasoned department leader, you are armed with only peripheral leadership experience to address a variety of constituents and audiences, who believe you are the panacea.
Connections Are Everything: Putting Relationships at the Heart of Higher Ed
As academic leaders, we are under so much pressure to deliver—enrollment targets, strategic plans, graduation rates, AI policies, and on and on—that we can lose sight of what our students
Isis Artze-Vega, Leo M. Lambert, and Peter Felten
March 4, 2024
