**Executive Summary
This briefing explores one of the most common leadership roles in
academe-- that of a department chair. It draws distinctions between the
skills and knowledge necessary for successful management of an
individual career and those required for farsighted departmental
leadership, which calls for a holistic, organizational-level view of a
program or a department as part of the larger institution. The briefing
describes an in-depth approach to planning, assessment, and improvement
in academic departments, using as a model the Malcolm Baldrige Program
of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
This model was adapted to the needs of higher-education institutions,
with their particular emphases on scholarship, research, service,
outreach, and teaching and instruction. The resulting Excellence in
Higher Education (EHE) model, first developed at Rutgers University in
1994 and now in its seventh version (Ruben, 2007a), provides an
integrated approach to assessment, planning, and improvement, drawing on
the Baldrige model, as well as on standards and language of the
institutional accrediting associations.
The following seven categories of the EHE are seen as interrelated parts
of a unified system: (1) leadership, (2) strategic planning, (3)
beneficiaries and constituencies, (4) programs and services, (5)
faculty/staff and workplace, (6) assessment and information use, and (7)
outcomes and achievements. The briefing elaborates on the application of
the EHE framework by focusing on its categories as well as the EHE
process and several ways that it can be used. The impact of the model is
shown through results of two studies conducted to assess the practical
value of EHE to participants. The briefing then discusses the framework
outcomes in terms of specific improvement initiatives adopted by
departments that have used EHE as well as lessons learned from more than
50 EHE assessments nationwide. Finally, the briefing highlights the
contributions of EHE to fostering successful leadership practices and
ultimately advancing the mission of a department, a program, and the
larger institution.
**
