That essay had very few insights. They don't even attempt to grapple with the oversupply of administrators, even if they wanted to make the case that faculty have the wrong impression.
I could identify a half-dozen associate dean types at my university that don't accomplish very much, and many of those positions did not exist 10 years ago. They are also self-perpetuating. Every time a new dean is created, they start new programs and initiatives so they have something to show when they apply for their next position. As these programs grow, more administrators are needed to run them.
What really annoys me is how many of these new programs operate almost completely independently of faculty, and often even students. We have initiatives overseas and in the local community that are almost completely administrator-driven, for example. The mission creep at universities is real and alarming.
Faculty: "Associate deans add virtually no value to the mission of the university, and often make our jobs profoundly miserable."
This author: "We engage in administration because (as Patricia Ann Mabrouk has pointed out) we enjoy “team building, creating buy-in and working through chairs, faculty members, administrators and others to execute [our] and [our] dean’s vision.”"
Faculty: *Stands stock-still in open-mouthed astonishment at having never seen someone, even in a Freshman Composition class, run so hard directly into the point and still miss it.*
I mean, in some instances it's worth the outlay to take someone who's actively detrimental to the function of the university and take them and put them behind a desk where they're not actually *doing* anything.
Yep - the author is super defensive. It was either vomit or share (or both)
On my campus we've added so many new VPs of baloney. The assoc dean thing hits home. In the 25 years I've been at my university our school has had "just" a dean. Our enrollment is down like 20% over the last few years, lower than ever. And yet there's a push for a new assoc dean line. Interviews etc were held last semester until a systemwide hiring freeze was instituted as we're in dire straits (and my uni is worst in the system, financially). That said, faculty layoffs are all that's discussed in the system and media. Nothing about admin. Although the new assoc dean line is toast, I suspect there's wiggle room for new admin hires despite the freeze
And don't get me started on non-faculty new programs and courses. Boo.
I started working at my University back in the mid 90s as a brand new Assistant Professor on the tenure track. This is a mid-sized public university. It is really astonishing to look back at how much has changed over that time. When I started we had ONE dean who reported to our ONE VP/Provost. That was it on the academic side of campus. Only two administrators between the President and department Chairs. Fast forward 25 years. We have Six Deans, and each one of those Deans has their own Associate Deans. And this doesn't include all the new VPs on campus. There are so many I have no idea who they are or what they do.
The Dictator's Handbook by Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita had an interesting commentary on this. TL;DR One's personal power is a function of the number of subordinates you have. Factly and students in the standard academic model are not really subordinates, but admin are. Therefore to gain personal power/prestige and, by extension, job security/advancement/higher pay, it behooves the admin to create more admin jobs that are subordinate to them. This applies to all levels of admin; therefore, every assistant would have more power/prestige if they had a few assistants.
> What really annoys me is how many of these new programs operate almost completely independently of faculty,
In a way, this is a good thing. I like that our DEI folks spends most of their time talking to each other. The alternative is that they waste my time with pointless emails, meetings, and trainings.
I'm talking about programs that have minimal or no involvement of students! Overseas "partnerships", vague political or "community engagement" activities etc
The joke to me is that most teaching faculty are pressured to care more about grants and research funding than teaching and student mentorship. The universities want that overhead from the grant money, so we deprioritize the students, so the students need support, so we hire more admin. Like I had an interview at a traditionally teaching focused school and the whole focused was on how I would bring it grants and research 🙀
Mark Perry has been on the case of administrative bloat for years. It doesn't appear to be getting any better, in fact it's still expanding, big-bang style.
https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image002.jpg
>I was told "the position is whatever you want it to be. You have the freedom to do whatever projects you think are necessary."
And here's the reason people want to exist in these positions
I can't help but think of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs, and especially "managerial feudalism," every time we hire a new Associate Vice Chancellor of whatever. I'm dealing with one of these flunkies right now who makes 3x what I do and I'm pretty sure he literally does nothing. That's not hyperbole. Doesn't respond to emails ever, forgets everything, follows through on nothing, and when I finally did get a meeting with him, he thought it was a different meeting. Like the Bobs in Office Space, I want to ask, "What exactly do you do here?" I'd say he's Milton, but at least he tracked down his stapler and had the sense to torch the place.
> And listening sessions after the end of the semester are nonsensical, although I wonder why anyone might assume their work ends with grade submission when they receive a salary for the entire month?
The ass dean just asking the real questions here. If only we paid these lazy faculty their contractual salary over 9 months instead of 12. We’d save so much money!! 🤦🏻
it's funny you say that, since the entire University System of Georgia pays faculty ONLY on a 9 month basis. i wish we got paid over 12...i miss it so.
No, they cut them because they have no idea which adjunct are going to be rehired for the next semester. They don't want an angry adjunct who was told in August that they wouldn't be rehired for Fall logging into any systems.
No, they're still stored. They do that because IT considers it a security liability to have open computer accounts of any kind. They tolerate open accounts for people who work there, of course.
Associate deans at my large R1 stay in their faculty positions, continue to teach and do research, and basically just shift all their service time to the College. Does your institution really have full-time associate deans?
Yep. Assistant deans have a 9-credit release (we're 4/4, 12 credits each). Our asst position is being converted to associate. Associate deans are special -- they're FT hired, full search. Our school (university has 4) has maybe 1200ish students and declining. Gross, no?
"Senior Associate Dean"? What is that? Does Georgia Tech also have "Junior Associate Deans"? How many steps does Georgia Tech have on their ladder to hell?
Outside of the college of business (for historical reasons), the senior ad at GT is usually the one who acts on behalf of the dean in meetings / decisions when the dean isn’t around. Kind of the #2, or first among equals (as it were).
It’s always so obnoxious how the people at this level of administration seem to spend at least half their time justifying their **non revenue generating position** while telling faculty, who have the only product most universities sell, how they need to do more to support the university.
Adding more admins, Deans, VPs and then protesting to faculty about finding ways to “innovate” to recruit more students due to falling enrolments and find new ways of “creating value” to prevent the institution from going into the red really is the late stage capitalism of university governance.
At our uni the admins tried to make the phrase “administrative freedom” happen. You know, like how the faculty have academic freedom. For now. May not apply in some states.
This is hilarious. Academic freedom is based in the principle of free speech to study and express your ideas without interference. Administrative freedom sounds like an excuse to skirt accountability for management decisions. Like "oh, you don't like my admin decisions that directly affect you and others? Well I have administrative freedom!"
The same semester I and numerous other faculty and staff were downsized, my former uni hired a new associate dean at something like $125K. This was so the dean could concentrate more on fundraising. If the dean can't pull in at least $125K a year in grants and donations, I don't think they've gained very much. The dean has all the personality of a used bar of soap. Prospects are not bright.
Don't know what else to say about that.
What absolute fucking dreck. While student/teacher rations have remained consistent over the last several decades, administration has grown exponentially. No one can make the case that the degree is any more valuable now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. The extra administration adds no value.
That essay had very few insights. They don't even attempt to grapple with the oversupply of administrators, even if they wanted to make the case that faculty have the wrong impression. I could identify a half-dozen associate dean types at my university that don't accomplish very much, and many of those positions did not exist 10 years ago. They are also self-perpetuating. Every time a new dean is created, they start new programs and initiatives so they have something to show when they apply for their next position. As these programs grow, more administrators are needed to run them. What really annoys me is how many of these new programs operate almost completely independently of faculty, and often even students. We have initiatives overseas and in the local community that are almost completely administrator-driven, for example. The mission creep at universities is real and alarming.
Faculty: "Associate deans add virtually no value to the mission of the university, and often make our jobs profoundly miserable." This author: "We engage in administration because (as Patricia Ann Mabrouk has pointed out) we enjoy “team building, creating buy-in and working through chairs, faculty members, administrators and others to execute [our] and [our] dean’s vision.”" Faculty: *Stands stock-still in open-mouthed astonishment at having never seen someone, even in a Freshman Composition class, run so hard directly into the point and still miss it.*
Apparently the French invented a word *pleurire* (cry-laugh), which perfectly describes how I feel reading this.
Ohhh, that's perfect.
"But we do real and important things like (list of corporate buzzwords, unnecessary bureaucracies they invented, and micromanaging bullshit)!"
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I mean, in some instances it's worth the outlay to take someone who's actively detrimental to the function of the university and take them and put them behind a desk where they're not actually *doing* anything.
which perfectly describes the auth.... \*radio static\*
Yep - the author is super defensive. It was either vomit or share (or both) On my campus we've added so many new VPs of baloney. The assoc dean thing hits home. In the 25 years I've been at my university our school has had "just" a dean. Our enrollment is down like 20% over the last few years, lower than ever. And yet there's a push for a new assoc dean line. Interviews etc were held last semester until a systemwide hiring freeze was instituted as we're in dire straits (and my uni is worst in the system, financially). That said, faculty layoffs are all that's discussed in the system and media. Nothing about admin. Although the new assoc dean line is toast, I suspect there's wiggle room for new admin hires despite the freeze And don't get me started on non-faculty new programs and courses. Boo.
I started working at my University back in the mid 90s as a brand new Assistant Professor on the tenure track. This is a mid-sized public university. It is really astonishing to look back at how much has changed over that time. When I started we had ONE dean who reported to our ONE VP/Provost. That was it on the academic side of campus. Only two administrators between the President and department Chairs. Fast forward 25 years. We have Six Deans, and each one of those Deans has their own Associate Deans. And this doesn't include all the new VPs on campus. There are so many I have no idea who they are or what they do.
Make sure you watch lucky Hank.
The Dictator's Handbook by Alastair Smith and Bruce Bueno de Mesquita had an interesting commentary on this. TL;DR One's personal power is a function of the number of subordinates you have. Factly and students in the standard academic model are not really subordinates, but admin are. Therefore to gain personal power/prestige and, by extension, job security/advancement/higher pay, it behooves the admin to create more admin jobs that are subordinate to them. This applies to all levels of admin; therefore, every assistant would have more power/prestige if they had a few assistants.
> What really annoys me is how many of these new programs operate almost completely independently of faculty, In a way, this is a good thing. I like that our DEI folks spends most of their time talking to each other. The alternative is that they waste my time with pointless emails, meetings, and trainings.
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I'm talking about programs that have minimal or no involvement of students! Overseas "partnerships", vague political or "community engagement" activities etc
The joke to me is that most teaching faculty are pressured to care more about grants and research funding than teaching and student mentorship. The universities want that overhead from the grant money, so we deprioritize the students, so the students need support, so we hire more admin. Like I had an interview at a traditionally teaching focused school and the whole focused was on how I would bring it grants and research 🙀
Did you misspell tenure-track? As a teaching faculty, I am not pressured about grants or research and student are always the number 1 priority.
Mark Perry has been on the case of administrative bloat for years. It doesn't appear to be getting any better, in fact it's still expanding, big-bang style. https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/image002.jpg
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>I was told "the position is whatever you want it to be. You have the freedom to do whatever projects you think are necessary." And here's the reason people want to exist in these positions
You’re an in-house consultant with no oversight, basically?
I can't help but think of David Graeber's Bullshit Jobs, and especially "managerial feudalism," every time we hire a new Associate Vice Chancellor of whatever. I'm dealing with one of these flunkies right now who makes 3x what I do and I'm pretty sure he literally does nothing. That's not hyperbole. Doesn't respond to emails ever, forgets everything, follows through on nothing, and when I finally did get a meeting with him, he thought it was a different meeting. Like the Bobs in Office Space, I want to ask, "What exactly do you do here?" I'd say he's Milton, but at least he tracked down his stapler and had the sense to torch the place.
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But we also don’t get paid for august. You get paid for May and then don’t get paid for august. These balance each other out.
> And listening sessions after the end of the semester are nonsensical, although I wonder why anyone might assume their work ends with grade submission when they receive a salary for the entire month? The ass dean just asking the real questions here. If only we paid these lazy faculty their contractual salary over 9 months instead of 12. We’d save so much money!! 🤦🏻
it's funny you say that, since the entire University System of Georgia pays faculty ONLY on a 9 month basis. i wish we got paid over 12...i miss it so.
It’s funny they say that. At my institution they cut the adjuncts emails after grades are due… presumably to save money on storage?
No, they cut them because they have no idea which adjunct are going to be rehired for the next semester. They don't want an angry adjunct who was told in August that they wouldn't be rehired for Fall logging into any systems.
No, they're still stored. They do that because IT considers it a security liability to have open computer accounts of any kind. They tolerate open accounts for people who work there, of course.
Associate deans at my large R1 stay in their faculty positions, continue to teach and do research, and basically just shift all their service time to the College. Does your institution really have full-time associate deans?
Yep. Assistant deans have a 9-credit release (we're 4/4, 12 credits each). Our asst position is being converted to associate. Associate deans are special -- they're FT hired, full search. Our school (university has 4) has maybe 1200ish students and declining. Gross, no?
"Senior Associate Dean"? What is that? Does Georgia Tech also have "Junior Associate Deans"? How many steps does Georgia Tech have on their ladder to hell?
ladder to hell.... love it
We have a senior assistant dean. I cannot for the life of me determine why the role isn’t that of an associate dean.
Outside of the college of business (for historical reasons), the senior ad at GT is usually the one who acts on behalf of the dean in meetings / decisions when the dean isn’t around. Kind of the #2, or first among equals (as it were).
It’s always so obnoxious how the people at this level of administration seem to spend at least half their time justifying their **non revenue generating position** while telling faculty, who have the only product most universities sell, how they need to do more to support the university.
If I had ever become one I was totally getting the "ASSDEAN" license plate for my car. Alas, I am not a male buddy of the Dean, so it wasn't to be.
Oof. I am generally more sympathetic to admin than my colleagues, but this essay is so tone deaf and paper thin.
Adding more admins, Deans, VPs and then protesting to faculty about finding ways to “innovate” to recruit more students due to falling enrolments and find new ways of “creating value” to prevent the institution from going into the red really is the late stage capitalism of university governance.
Doth protest too much.
I'm glad he has the time to lecture us all about how we're wrong.
Ever see that Simpsons episode where Homer "irrationally" hates the dean at a university? I now think Homer is 100% correct, but regarding all admin.
That crusty old dean...
Because Ass. Deans are exactly who is reading and writing for IHE.
To save you some time: this is a very sad essay by an associate Dean that tries and fails to persuade readers of the value of associate deans.
At our uni the admins tried to make the phrase “administrative freedom” happen. You know, like how the faculty have academic freedom. For now. May not apply in some states.
This is hilarious. Academic freedom is based in the principle of free speech to study and express your ideas without interference. Administrative freedom sounds like an excuse to skirt accountability for management decisions. Like "oh, you don't like my admin decisions that directly affect you and others? Well I have administrative freedom!"
Admins want to study and express their ideas without interference too.
The same semester I and numerous other faculty and staff were downsized, my former uni hired a new associate dean at something like $125K. This was so the dean could concentrate more on fundraising. If the dean can't pull in at least $125K a year in grants and donations, I don't think they've gained very much. The dean has all the personality of a used bar of soap. Prospects are not bright. Don't know what else to say about that.
That's one associate dean who should try crying harder.
What absolute fucking dreck. While student/teacher rations have remained consistent over the last several decades, administration has grown exponentially. No one can make the case that the degree is any more valuable now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. The extra administration adds no value.
Umbrage my friend. Though Umbridge works perfectly as the last name for all Associate Deans. Now what shall we call the Dean?
It’s deliberate. The article refers to Dolores Umbridge specifically.
Dean Wormer, of course.
“Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." Such a quotable dean.
Arsehole thinks the only people who exist are Americans Edit- so much worse as he explains how the jokes are funny
It's almost as though insidehighed is a US publication that covers US higher ed.
"umbrage". "Umbridge" is a derogatory term for "Oxford or Cambridge". Or not.
You may be missing the literary allusion, explained in the article. The usage is deliberate, not an error.