Department Chair Community of Practice

This informal forum for department chairs from across the university is an opportunity to share ideas, expertise, practices, and perhaps even challenges. Over a collegial glass of wine, you’ll have a rare chance to talk with your peer group with the aim of making chairing a more enjoyable experience. We’ve scheduled the first Fridays of the month (with one exception) for these gatherings.

How will this work?

For these gatherings, we will pilot the “Communities of Practice” model (Wenger 1998), which means you’re in charge of what’s discussed. You decide which topics are most important for you as chairs right now and each member of the group decides how much or how little to contribute. (For example, the model includes “legitimate peripheral participation” to acknowledge that not everyone wants to join in a discussion even when they chose to attend.)

CETL’s role is simply to facilitate the process for you and to provide the refreshments and appetizers. As with other CETL events, this forum is voluntary, formative, and confidential.

What’s in it for you?

Department chairs are dispersed across the university and we know it can be difficult to share challenges and solutions with one another without a structure. This community of practice for department chairs provides a loose structure for sharing practice, working out approaches to new challenges and—if the group wishes—to make recommendations on procedures that will improve people’s work situations. These communities of practice can forge new links, particularly between schools and colleges to positive effect.

If you’d like to attend these gatherings, please complete our registration form so that we know to order sufficient refreshments.