Case Study
Dr. Dawn Severide is retiring as chair of her university’s adult education department after 35 years in the department. She worked her way from assistant professor to chair in 15 years, so she has been in charge for almost 20 years, through three college deans and seven university presidents. Dr. Severide served on three state boards until last year, when she arranged for three faculty members from her department to take one of her positions each. She is described as “knowing everyone” and being widely liked and respected. Still, her health has been troubling lately, leading her to attend most meetings remotely and to delegate much of her work on campus to two departmental faculty, Dr. Brian Worthers and Dr. Anna Montgomery, each of whom took over one of Dr. Severide’s state board positions. Dr. Worthers and Dr. Montgomery are associate professors, and each joined the university at the same time.
Dr. Severide’s dean, Dr. Charles Adams, asked her to recommend an acting chair to take her place until a new chair can be fully vetted by the university, probably within a year and probably through a national search. She is thinking about letting Dr. Worthers and Dr. Montgomery decide between themselves who will take over, but Dr. Adams wants the department faculty to vote on an acting chair from all tenured faculty. With only six other faculty in the department, Dr. Severide is concerned that it will be too easy to learn who voted for whom, which could cause discord with whomever does not win the vote.
Additional Background:
• Dr. Adams used to be an adult education faculty member under Dr. Severide.
• There are three male faculty members in the department, including Dr. Worthers.
• Whoever is acting chair cannot be appointed the next chair, per university policy.
• Dr. Montgomery was just awarded a $500,000 research grant.
Discussion
Considering the case study, answer the following:
• What types of power are in play in this scenario?
• What do you see as departmental values with regard to well-being and leadership?
• Are there concerns about trust?
• What do you wish you knew that is not apparent from this presentation of information?
• Finally, what would you recommend be done about filling the acting chair position?
The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Leadership
Case Study
This week, we continue exploring power relationships within the context of diversity and contemporary leadership as applied to our case study. We are provided with additional information:
Dr. Dawn Severide is a U.S. Marine widow who earned her advanced degrees with the assistance of her late husband’s benefits. She is the first in her family to go to college, the first to finish an advanced degree, and the first to earn a doctorate. Dr. Severide is retiring as the first non-Caucasian chair of her university’s adult education department after 35 years in the department. She worked her way from assistant professor to chair in 15 years and has been in charge for almost 20 years, through three college deans and seven university presidents. Dr. Severide served on three state boards until last year, when she arranged for three faculty members from her department to take one of her positions each. She is described as “knowing everyone” and being widely liked and respected. Still, her health has been troubling lately, leading her to attend most meetings by phone or Skype and to delegate much of her work on campus to two departmental faculty, Dr. Brian Worthers, who has two brothers on faculty in different university departments, and Dr. Anna Montgomery, who emigrated from Scotland 20 years ago. They each took over one of Dr. Severide’s state board positions. Both Dr. Worthers and Dr. Montgomery are Associate Professors and each joined the university at the same time.
Dr. Severide’s dean, Dr. Charles Adams, who was adopted from Vietnam in the late 1970s, asked her to recommend an acting chair to take her place until a new chair can be fully vetted by the university, probably within a year and probably through a national search. She is thinking about letting Dr. Worthers and Dr. Montgomery decide between themselves who will take over, but Dr. Adams wants the department faculty to vote on an acting chair from all tenured faculty. With only six other faculty in the department, Dr. Severide is concerned that it will be too easy to learn who voted for whom, which could cause discord with whomever does not win the vote.
You also know that:
• Dr. Adams used to be an adult education faculty member under Dr. Severide.
• There are three male faculty members in the department, including Dr. Worthers.
• Whoever is acting chair cannot be appointed the next chair, per university policy.
• Dr. Montgomery was just awarded a $500K research grant.
• Dr. Worthers and his brothers are triplets whose parents settled in the United States from Kenya.
• Dr. Montgomery is the only Caucasian faculty member.
• Dr. Worthers is suspected to be a closeted homosexual, while Assistant Professor Dr. Bay is openly lesbian, as is one of the administrative assistants.
Discussion
Referring to the case study presented answer the following questions by Thursday to allow your peers sufficient time to respond.
1. What types of power do you now see in play in this scenario?
In this scenario, I see
2. What do you now see as departmental values about well-being and leadership?
3. Are there now concerns about trust?
4. What do you wish you knew that is still not apparent from this presentation of information?
5. What would you now recommend be done about filling the acting chair position?
