Leadership for scholarly excellence: a qualitative examination of department chair facilitation methods to promote research productivity in pre-tenure biological sciences faculty

Leading a large, highly productive department that must compete on the global stage requires an increasingly broad skill-set. This study investigates whether there are methods that life science department chairs can employ to enhance the research productivity of their pre-tenure faculty and examines if leadership at the department chair level matters. Using a qualitative approach to examine six highly successful life science departments and their leaders as well as focus group interviews with nine pre-tenure faculty members, this study brings new discovery to the field of department chair leadership. This study validates the importance of department chair leadership while revealing the special skill-set that is important, the positive effects of mentoring on pre-tenure faculty, and that motivation may be linked to the culture of an organization. The results of this research are important for higher education institutions looking to build department of scholarly excellence, especially in the life sciences.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor

Educational Leadership, Research and Counseling

Year dc:date.available

2006

Author dc:creator

• Pourciau, Todd Anthony

• department chairs
• fully engaged leadership
• mentoring
• research productivity
• scholarly excellence
• biological sciences

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Identifier

etd-11152006-103338
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1227

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.lsu.edu:gradschool_dissertations-2226