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and the following
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Workplace Interactions Initiative

Climate Workshops for Department Chairs

Workshops for UW-Madison

Resources

Evaluation

Implementing Workshops at Other Universities

Workshops for UW Madison -- Enhancing Department Climate: A Chair's Role

Recent research shows that "climate" -- the extent to which an individual feels personally safe, listened to, valued, and treated fairly and with respect -- plays an important role in people’s job satisfaction, effectiveness, productivity, engagement, and decisions to remain in or leave a department or area of study. A recent survey of 4,500 tenure-track faculty at 51 colleges and universities found that faculty place great value on departmental climate, culture, and collegiality and that these qualities are critical to faculty retention.¹

WISELI has developed a series of three climate workshops for Department Chairs seeking to improve climate in their departments. Each session engages small groups of department chairs in discussions about climate in their own departments and provides them with opportunities to learn from each other’s experiences and ideas. A brief departmental climate survey administered between the first and second sessions allows chairs to identify specific issues of concern for their own departments. Participating chairs and facilitators will work collaboratively to develop a plan to address these issues. Each of the three sessions and the goals of the workshop series are described below. Information about scheduling and registration for the workshop series is also included below.

Goals:

• To increase awareness of climate and its influence on the research and teaching missions of a department.
• To identify various issues that can influence climate in a department.
• To present research on how unconscious assumptions and biases may influence climate.
• To enable chairs to assess climate in their own departments.
• To provide chairs with opportunities to enhance climate in their departments by learning from each others' experiences and ideas.
• To provide chairs with advice and resources they can use to enhance climate in their departments

Session 1:

• Department chairs will engage in a general discussion of climate and the importance of fostering positive climates. Topics to be discussed include:
  • Definitions of climate.
  • Importance and benefits of fostering positive climates.
  • Results from the recent studies of faculty and academic staff worklife at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  • Results from surveys and in-depth interviews with faculty and staff at UW-Madison.
  • Understanding Climate from others' perspectives.
• Introduction to web-based departmental climate survey.

Chairs will receive survey results for their individual departments, spend some time reviewing these results and have the opportunity to discuss survey findings. They may share with each other some positive results of the survey and comment on what they are doing to achieve these results. They may describe a negative result and solicit advice or suggestions from other chairs, from the facilitator, and/or from provided resource materials. Chairs will also learn about resources and people on campus who can help them in their efforts to enhance climate.

Session 3:

Chairs will meet to discuss how they shared survey findings with their departments and how they identified what areas of department climate need to be improved. Discussion will concentrate on development of an action plan to address areas of concern. Participating chairs and discussion facilitators will share expertise, ideas and resources to aid in developing this action plan. Chairs will also address specific topics such as the influence of strategic planning, leadership styles, organizational structure, and decision-making styles on departmental climate.

When:

Session 1: January 30, 2009, 10:00-11:30am; Room 2065 Mechanical Engineering.
Sessions 2 and 3 will be scheduled in consultation with participating chairs to ensure their availability.

Registration:

Registration is required. To register for this workshop series, please contact us.

Resources

BROCHURE -- Enhancing Department Climate: A Guide for Department Chairs []
(A revised, updated, and condensed version of "WISELI's Recommendations for Enhancing Department Climate)

WISELI's Recommendations for Enhancing Department Climate [] (Also available as )

WISELI's Resources for Department Chairs [] (Also available as )

WISELI Publication: Benefits and Challenges of Diversity []

WISELI Publication: Case Studies for Discussion - Hiring, Retention and Promotion of Women Scientists []

WISELI Library -- Bibliography of Articles on department and campus climate

UW Provost's Office - Department Chairs' Toolkit

UW Provost's Climate Initiative Web Page

Existing Workshops on Campus that address Climate related topics []

UW Policies on Illegal Discrimination and Harassment []

AWIS (Association for Women in Science) Academic Climate Page

Evaluation

Climate survey for individual departments []

Formative evaluation of WISELI's climate workshops for department chairs
[]

Department Climate Workshops: "Typical" Themes []

Department Climate Workshops: Status Spring 2005 (Participation by school/college)
[]

Endnotes

1. Fogg, Piper (September 29, 2006). Young Ph.D.’s Say Collegiality Matters More than Salary. The Chronicle of Higher Education 53( 6): A1. (Available via UW-Madison Libraries for UW-Madison users)

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