Department chair search involves everyone in the department!

There was a seminar by a department chair candidate today. It was very very impressive and inspiring! The candidate was actually a faculty from another department, and I have taken her class!

Leadership principles:
1. Organized.
2. Efficient.
3. Stay positive.

I'm glad she pointed out the importance of being organized. It is often underestimated, but it is a critical skill. If someone's data is messy, how can you trust he or she did the right job?

Open door policy - she will have an open door policy to get to know everyone and it will make it easy for people to get to know her as well.

She considers what needs to be done, what can she do to acheive these, and what steps or strategies she should take to make it happen. She did a lot of research on things that are necessary to carry out a chairperson's job. It sounds basic, but none of the other candidates did this. Sure she has an advantage of being within the university and therefore it must have been easier for her to research our department, but at least other candidates should have dig into actual data more and provide possible solutions. She had a concrete plan on education, administrative, and grand-securing processes, which was very strong and promising.

On the other hand, she has limited experience in extension and interaction with the industry stakeholders. She states that those are her weaknesses, and she will make sure she will learn about it if she is going to be a chair. I had a good impression about it because she knows what she currently lacks and what to do to fill the knowledge gap to better prepare herself for the role.

She mentioned there would be some things that can be done and others that cannot be. We need to be realistic about certain things, of course - but "realistic" is a tricky word because nothing will be done if you were to be realistic and not try to overcome obstacles or stretch your goals. It's about the balance of having practical and reasonable plan and trying to achieve sublime ideals.

Listenig to her talk was motivating and inspiring because it felt like you can make a positive change if it is benefitical and logical. I was convinced that her leadership will make things happen.

Evaluating a professor for a department chair position as a graduate student - this is a rare experience, but this phylosophy of getting everyone involved to pick the best is what makes the US universities open, strong, and always-thriving. If this were to happen in Japan, the search committee would only be comprised of faculty, candidates would only be from within the department, and most likely the most senior or the oldest professor would be appointed with no objection. What a difference in system! So many things are already decided and given to people, like the new era name, and they just accept it. It is only when you go outside the country that you realize the stark differences and become able to look at your own culture from an objective perspective.