Bridging the Faculty-Admin Divide: Strategies for Success

Christina Sax Provost and Vice

President for Academic Affairs, Maryland

University for Integrative Health

csax@muih.edu@cmsax

Christine Royce Professor and Chair, Teacher Education

Department, Shippensburg University

caroyc@ship.edu@caroyce

Overview

• The vitality of PCO units depends upon collaborative and cooperative relationship of administrators & faculty.

• Need to bridge the divide between differentiated sets of values, priorities, and constraints.

• Insight into a successful faculty-admin partnership– Critical factors in its development and sustainability

– Examples of its spinoff activities

– Framework for developing and strengthening such relationships

Collaboration Produces Innovation

Innovation refers to the introduction of a new

idea, method or device or a “change that creates a new dimension of performance.”1

White, S.C. & Glickman, T.S., Innovation in Higher Education: Implications for the Future, New Directions for Higher Education, vol 2007, issue 137, March 15, 2007

Creativity

Enterprise

Flexibility

Adaptation

Many Pieces of the Collaborative Puzzle

Faculty Online PDGovernance

Structure

Students

Immediate

Growth/

Future Needs

Internal

Course

Offerings

Administration

External

Program

Offerings

ROI/

Sustainability

Community

Stakeholders

Potential stakeholder groups and topics of focus/concern involved in collaborative projects

Collaboration as Professional Development:Support Structures and Barriers

People and

Interpersonal

Relationships

Personal

Considerations and

Commitments

Institutional Structures Intellectual and

Psychosocial

Characteristics

Caffarella, R.S., Zinn, L.F., Professional Development for Faculty: A Conceptual Framework of Barriers and Supports, Innovative Higher Education, vol 23, number 4, Summer, 1999

Faculty-Administrative Collaboration - Your Experiences?

• Successful faculty-admin partnership: What made it successful?

• Unsuccessful faculty-admin relationship: What made it go awry?

Differing Priorities

Faculty Priorities

• Department/Personal program goals, development & opportunities

• Collaboration and networking with “like minded” individuals

• Expansion of teaching areas; interests, and financial income

Administrator Priorities

• Focus on institutional view

• Respond to external pressures

• Problem solving

• Maximize resources

• True collaborations

• Flexible, open minded

Frameworks for Bridging the Divide

A perfect mix of ….

• Enabling Conditions

• Collaborative Resources

• Interpersonal Values

Enabling Conditions for Successful Collaboration

1. Compelling direction• Energizes, orients, and engages• Clear, challenging, consequential purpose

2. Enabling structure• Respect the balance of diverse skills & perspectives

3. Supportive context• Access to information, resources, models, rewards

4. Shared mindset• Commitment to project goals & success, possibly for

different reasonsHaas, M & Mortensen, M., The Secrets of Great Teamwork, Harvard Business Review, June 2016

Hackman, J. R., Leading teams: Setting the stage for great performances, Harvard Business School Press, 2002

Sharing of Collaborative Resources

• Informational

– Knowledge, skills, expertise

• Social

– Awareness, access, position in a network

• Personal

– Time and energy

Cross, R., Rebele, R., Grant, A., Collaborative Overload, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2016

Interpersonal Values

• Trust

• Respect

• Confidence

• Open minded

• Ego-less (well, kinda )

• Comfortable with the grey zone

Southcentral PA Education Collaborative (SPEC)

• Co-formed and led by faculty & admin based on a need

• Regional network of PK20 educational institutions

– 11 school districts, 2 intermediate units, Shippensburg Univ

• Engaged in activities designed to meet the common STEM and technology-enhanced education needs of its students, teachers, and faculty

SPEC – Compelling Direction

• Goals that equally energize, orient, and engage

• Overarching Goal– Strengthen university-school district relationships

• Why - Faculty Goals– Inform university teacher education curriculum

– Develop PK20 professional learning community

• Why - Administrator Goals– Develop new enrollment pipelines

– Develop new revenue streams

SPEC – Enabling Structure

• Joint leadership that respects the balance of diverse skills & perspectives

• Administrator– Organize, coordinate, communications, internal & external

PR, information flow to upper administration

• Faculty– School districts & leaders, relevant content & activities,

follow-up links

• Building respect – “Here’s how I can help you achieve your goals”

Administrative Actions that Foster Collaborative Learning

Supporting group activity and leadership development

in order to promote change, learning and achievement.

Develop environments committed to professionalization

that confront isolation.

Help to establish guidelines and incentives that

encourage group members to work collaboratively.

Mullen, C.A., Hutinger, J.L.., The Principal’s Role in Fostering Collaborative Learning Communities Through Faculty Study Group Development, Theory Into Practice, 47:276-285, 2008

SPEC – Supportive Context

• Provide mutual access to information, resources, models, rewards

• Administrator

– Identify resources to support faculty: money, staff, space, information, data, senior leaders

• Faculty

– Teach administrator: PK12 goals, needs, models, standard reporting & data

Administrative Roles in Collaborative Learning

(Co)-facilitator of groups.

Time builder for regular meetings and provider of

human and material resources.

Mullen, C.A., Hutinger, J.L.., The Principal’s Role in Fostering Collaborative Learning Communities Through Faculty Study Group Development, Theory Into Practice, 47:276-285, 2008

SPEC – Shared Mindset

• Mutual commitment to overarching project success, albeit for different reasons

• Champions within their own constituencies

– Sub-goals can be achieved through overarching project goals

• Focus on project success, not individual accomplishments

SPEC Outcomes

• Stronger, ongoing, open dialogue between university and school districts– Feedback on univ teacher education curriculum, ongoing SD needs

• Ongoing quarterly meetings• Analysis of the strategic STEM, educational technology, and

teacher/faculty development plans of SPEC members• Shared content development; guest speakers• Peer exchange among PK12 teachers & university teacher

education faculty• PK12 teacher workshops• PK12 educational technology conference• PA Department of Environmental Protection education grants

New Program Development

• Programs– Initial MAT Science Education & its evolution to MAT STEM

Education

– Certificate in Online Teaching, Learning, and Technology

• Enabling Structure– Respect for shared expertise: content & online design,

delivery, administration

• Shared Mindset– Shared sacrifice to launch with very low enrollments: low

pay for faculty, loss leader for admin

Pursuit of National Opportunity

• Opportunity to purse a science education initiative with a national foundation

– First need to demonstrate feasibility & impact internally

• Compelling Direction (but for different reasons)

– National prestige

– Grow enrollments

– Drive academic innovation

• Supportive Context

– Faculty & admin collaborate to identify and address concerns and barriers, unique to their skills, perspectives, constituencies

Finding Collaborators

• Don’t silo yourself – get to know lots of people, from different areas, internally and externally

• Notice what people say and do

• Watch for collaborative patterns

• Be intentional in cultivating collaborators

• Mirror and reciprocate what you’re looking for

Your Collaborators & Projects?

• Identify potential partner & new activity ripe for faculty-admin partnership

• Identify 1-3 first steps to make this happen

• Record this on index card; place index card in envelope; seal & address envelope to yourself

• Sax/Royce will mail envelope to you in 1 month as a reminder & checkpoint on your progress

PLEASE SHARE YOUR IDEAS NOW!

Thank You and Contact Information!

Christina Sax

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Maryland University for Integrative Healthcsax@muih.edu

@cmsax

Christine Royce

Professor and Chair, Teacher Education Department,

Shippensburg University

caroyc@ship.edu

@caroyce