n Copyright © 1999– João Sedycias. All rights reserved. The information below is current as of .

A. My priorities as department chair –

Different metaphors have been used in the past to describe the task of a department or division chair. Some have equated it to “herding cats” (Nancy Marion, “Being Chair,” in CSWEP-American Economic Association Newsletter, Spring 1999) while others have described it as being a thankless task, performed by individuals who have to be at once “beggar, psychologist, mediator, [and] maid” (Robin Wilson, “The Thankless Job of a Chairman,” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 2001). I would like to propose another, more positive metaphor to describe my own personal view and experience as head of a multifaceted language department (2003-2006) and subsequently as chair of a large humanities division (2006-present). The metaphor I have in mind is that of a bridge, something that connects, brings together, and reduces the distance between people. As such, I see my priorities as head of a language department as follows:

  1. To help students acquire usable skills in foreign languages and cultures in order to meet the professional and personal demands of real-life situations. This priority, along with the others that are discussed below, is based on the following principles and beliefs:

    • That foreign languages perform an essential service in equipping students with an international perspective for today’s world and in preparing individuals for career options that rely on understanding different languages and cultures;

    • That the success of our students ought to be measured not only by their ability to understand, speak, read, and write the languages of different cultures, but also by their academic and intellectual growth as a whole;

    • That the knowledge of foreign languages and cultures is indispensable for students to think critically and to communicate effectively. These skills are essential for any educated person to function properly in the world today; and

    • That the study of foreign languages and cultures introduces students to different ways of thinking and experiencing the world, teaching them how to examine and gain valuable perspectives about literary and cultural texts and documents from foreign traditions as well as from their own culture.

  2. To help students acquire usable skills in cross-cultural communication. Not only are these skills very useful to individuals in the teaching profession, they have also become indispensable to people in other fields (business, medicine, engineering, law, social work, civil service, etc.), who increasingly have had to rely on the use of foreign languages to better meet their professional needs.

  3. To help students acquire and develop critical skills. In addition to developing in our students a linguistic and aesthetic appreciation for the foreign language and literature under study, our objective as teachers should also be to foster their ability to read closely, think critically, and critique in a well-informed manner the literature and culture of the target language. We should encourage them to apply these skills (i.e., close reading, critical thinking, and well-crafted writing) not only to the assignments in our classes but also to the cultural and social matrices in which they live, especially as these are compared and contrasted with the course’s subject matter.

  4. To promote participative democracy and shared decision-making in the department. As department chair, I consider it my duty to pursue goals related to collaboration in our unit and to support a form of participative democracy in problem-solving efforts encouraged by faculty involvement, empowerment, and cooperation. I believe that shared decision making results in shared ownership of ideas, initiatives, and programs, and that bringing together our collective experience and expertise significantly increases our chances of achieving excellence as a group.

  5. To serve as a liaison between my department, other departments, and the university administration, providing support and helping to advance my department’s goals in the areas of teaching, research, and service and acting as a staunch advocate for improvement in all of our language and culture programs. As department chair, I see myself as much more than merely a manager of allotted resources. As such, in the past I have tried to locate and secure internal and external resources in order to enhance and improve the professional lives of the professors, students, and staff in my department.

  6. To support and help further the goals of internationalization in the department and the university. I spent seven of the last ten years of my professional life in Brazil, working as a professor and administrator at two major universities in that country (University of Brasilia from 1999 to 2002, and the Federal University of Pernambuco from 2002 to 2006). During this time, I was able to maintain a productive and active dialogue with colleagues in the U.S. and in Europe. Even though we were at colleges and universities in three different continents, we managed to work on and complete several important joint projects in a way that did not seem at all to be affected by the great distances that separated us. Echoing the prophetic words of Marshall McLuhan, who foresaw in the late 1960s that the world would be brought much closer together because of TV and other emerging technologies, I believe my recent experience in South America serves as clear illustration that the world is indeed fast becoming a “global village.” As we have seen recently, events halfway across the world have an almost immediate repercussion in our local communities. These repercussions can be either good or bad, depending largely on how we view and deal with other cultures and civilizations. Whether we decide to open ourselves up and learn more about other peoples or assume a position of isolation, the fact remains that the more information we have about the world beyond our borders, the better off we will be in our own communities. If we choose the isolationist path, we do so at our own peril.

B. My management style as department chair –

  1. Administering a department – My management style as department chair can best be described as a coming together of two fairly distinct fields. It combines sound business practices (acquired during the years I spent helping to run an import-export business in south Florida) with the concerns and interests that are central to teachers of languages and literature, and which may not be as transparent or relevant to someone from outside our discipline. I am not, of course, defending here the notion that language departments or institutions of higher learning can, or should, be managed as a business. I do not think that the well-defined management tools that businesses and corporations have historically used can alone suffice to administer successfully the mission, goals, and objectives of a department or university. Conversely, I believe it would be just as unwise to take the opposite, extreme view and dismiss out of hand any contribution that the business world might make to college administrators. I think that some aspects of certain well-established business practices – e.g., the use of strategic long-range plans, regular evaluations, quality control, Alternative Dispute/Conflict Resolution techniques (ADR/ACR), management by objectives, and Total Quality Management, among others – can facilitate the operation of a department or institution. However, these resources should be used only as long as they are part of a broader vision of education that takes into account and addresses the systemic complexities and dynamics unique to academia.

    Therefore, with this in mind, I think a well-run department should enjoy the following:

  2. Governance according to a strategic, long-range plan – Ideally, the department should be administered according to a strategic, long-range plan. This practical guide should direct goal setting and resource allocation, and enable the department to focus its efforts on accomplishing a set of meaningful objectives over a period of time. According to this plan, the chair, working closely with the faculty, staff, and student representatives, would suggest a course of action on how the department can best fulfill its mission, vision, goals, and objectives. Having a well-devised strategic plan helps us put our resources to the best possible use, and the department administration is able to make decisions that fit into a comprehensive team effort. As a department, we can move forward in the direction that we have set for ourselves, within the larger context of the university’s mission and academic objectives.

  3. Well-established channels of communication – Effective communication is crucial in managing a department. As department chair, I have an open-door policy toward all professors, students, and staff in the department. I make myself available to these groups, calling formal or informal meetings as often as needed, to address any legitimate concerns they may have. The same principle applies to any information about the department that may be of use to the public. To that end, I have devoted much time and energy to establishing and maintaining efficient information delivery tools, via the Internet (websites and newsletters via e-mail) or through more conventional means (regular mail and bulletin boards).

  4. Effective conflict resolution – As department chair, I try my best to identify, prevent, and help resolve conflicts in the department at the earliest stage possible. In the past, I have used specific techniques of conflict resolution, such as the ones advocated by:

    As a college administrator, I have successfully employed the following Alternative Dispute/Conflict Resolution techniques (ADR/ACR): a) negotiation, b) mediation, and c) arbitration. In all instances, my goal was to foster a peaceful environment and course of action in order to arrive at a workable resolution, one that would be acceptable to all parties involved and that would preserve the welfare and stability of the department. For a specific example of how these strategies have been successfully put to use, please refer to the conflict resolution page of the Humanities Division at Essex County College (click on “Concerns & Disputes”): http://www.sedycias.com/humanities/frame_conflictres.htm

  5. A strong sense of collegiality, empowerment, and cooperative spirit – I consider it one of my most important duties as an administrator to foster, through a process of consensus building, a working environment that stresses collegiality, empowerment, and a cooperative spirit. As department chair, I take a proactive view on how to further encourage and develop a sense of respect, commitment, connectedness, and cooperation among all individuals in my department, and try to use these qualities as a driving force to resolve emerging issues as they occur in our unit. From past experience, I know that this connectedness grounded in respect for professional expertise and in commitment to the shared goals and values of the profession can be crucial to a department or university.

  6. Motivation on the part of coordinators, directors, and the department chair – I believe that regular, objective assessment and constructive criticism of all personnel in the department should be routine. Special emphasis should be paid to the recognition of accomplishments on the part of professors, students, and staff. The term “accomplishment” as used here could refer to the publication of a book or an article, outstanding performance in teaching, research, or service, or simply a job well done. My experience as a business manager and college administrator has taught me how important, indeed how vital, to all of us that kind of recognition is.

  7. Effective personnel management and mentoring of junior faculty – As department chair and a senior member of the faculty, I consider it my duty (and also that of my colleagues with similar rank) to make as explicit as possible to our junior faculty what their responsibilities are in the department and university. It is also our duty to provide conditions for junior faculty to meet these responsibilities in teaching, service, and scholarship, to make sure they are able to apply for and attain tenure in our department.

  8. Clear evaluation guidelines that stress excellence – This refers to periodic evaluations of all facets of the department’s operation. In addition to personnel, all other aspects of the department (e.g., physical plant and infrastructure, programs, degrees, policies, procedures, mission, goals, and objectives) should be evaluated on a regular basis, so we can get the very best cost-benefit ratio possible in our unit. By seeing to it that all steps in our operation are properly evaluated for quality and effectiveness, we will be in a better position to make sure that our students get the very best education possible, in order to compete successfully with graduates from other comparable institutions.

  9. Fiscal responsibility – By that I mean primarily working with a budget that meets the needs of the department in a manner that is both effective and responsible. By exercising sound control over the finances of the department, we will ensure appropriate financial support from the university administration in the future. Moreover, if we are able to secure outside resources (by way of grants and partnerships with external entities), our position vis-à-vis the university administration and the institution as a whole improves significantly. I believe that with fiscal responsibility and a measure of financial autonomy come the respect and even admiration usually afforded those who have their financial house in order.

  10. Use of new technology to improve and enhance teaching, research, and service – As department chair, I consider it my duty to be a staunch advocate for the acquisition and use of computers, the Internet, satellite feeds, “smart” classrooms, and other high-tech services and equipment to assist the professors in the department in their teaching, research, and service in foreign languages and literatures as well as the division’s staff in the essential clerical work they do for all of us.

C. My experience as an administrator –

  1. Administrative experience in academia: I have held teaching/administrative posts at California State University-Sacramento (CSUS), the University of the Virgin Islands, and SUNY-Buffalo. At SUNY-Buffalo, I worked as Administrative Assistant at the Center for Critical Languages. This extremely cost-effective self-instructional language program was the largest of its kind in the United States at the time, offering instruction in as many as eighteen different languages. I coordinated and supervised all administrative aspects of the program. At CSUS, I co-directed the study-abroad program in Burgos, Spain, where I was directly responsible for all administrative, academic, and domestic (room and board) aspects of a program that usually catered to 100+ students every summer.

  2. At my present appointment (Full Professor of Spanish and English at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey), I have served as Chair of the Division of Humanities from August 2006 to the present, and in this capacity I have been in charge of all matters relating to the administration of this unit, the largest in the College. My duties as Division Chair include the recruitment, development, evaluation, and supervision of permanent and part-time faculty (total of 30 full-time professors, 120+ part-time instructors, and over eight thousand students enrolled in the Division every semester), strategic long-range planning, curriculum reform and development, preparation and management of the Division’s budget, procurement of external resources, and scheduling of classes and special events. In addition to this major administrative post in the Division of Humanities, I am also involved in a major effort on the part of Essex County College to increase the number of Hispanic/Latino students on campus. To this end, I have been working closely with a number of community organizations with the objective of establishing long-lasting partnerships between my college and Spanish and Portuguese-speaking enclaves in New Jersey and other parts of the U.S.

  3. At my last appointment (Associate Professor of Spanish and English at the Federal University of Pernambuco, in Recife, Brazil), I served as Chair of the Department of Letters from August 2003 to August 2006, and in this capacity I was in charge of all matters relating to the administration of this unit, the largest in the College of Arts and Communication (total of 50 permanent professors, 20+ part-time instructors, and over one thousand majors). The Federal University of Pernambuco is a major Research 1 / Doctoral extensive public university (Carnegie Classification) with a student body of 30 thousand, ranked among the seven best institutions of higher learning in Brazil. The Department of Letters, which has consistently received the highest rating from the Brazilian Ministry of Education, offers the B.A., the “Licenciatura” (a teaching-oriented B.A.), the Master’s, and Doctorate degrees in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, in Portuguese language and Lusophone literature, and in foreign languages and their respective literatures (English, Spanish, French, and German). In addition to this major administrative post in the Department of Letters, I also served as Coordinator of the English Area from 2002 to 2004, and I served on several committees that had a direct bearing on how this academic unit was run: the Department’s Board of Directors, Curriculum Reform Committee, International Cooperation Committee (study-abroad and faculty and student exchange programs), and examining committees in public competitive examinations (“concursos,” for government jobs and academic positions in Brazil).

    For more information on the U.S. equivalent of my former Brazilian rank and position (Professor Adjunto) and the differences between the Brazilian and U.S. university systems, please visit the following page: http://www.sedycias.com/univsystem_01.htm.

  4. At my appointment before the Federal University of Pernambuco (Visiting Full Professor of Spanish and English at the University of Brasilia in Brasilia, Brazil, 1999-2002), I was actively involved in all administrative and pedagogical aspects of UnB’s Master’s Program in Applied Linguistics. I was invited to relocate to Brazil specifically to help establish and develop this graduate program, and served as a senior member on the team that got it approved by the Brazilian federal government. In addition to designing and establishing a peer-reviewed bilingual academic journal on applied linguistics for the University of Brasilia (Tópicos em lingüística aplicada – Issues in Applied Linguistics), I proposed and implemented new graduate courses focusing on the use of computers and the Internet in the teaching of foreign languages, and established new research groups that made it easier to network with other universities in Brazil.

  5. Administrative experience outside academia: In May 1996 I joined Biscayne Marketing, Inc., of Miami, Florida, as Manager of their Purchasing and Marketing Departments, and worked there until March 1999. A tri-lingual (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) import-export company with an annual sales volume in excess of 22 million dollars, Biscayne Marketing dealt in computer hardware and other high-tech products, trading between Asia, the United States, and Latin America. In addition to putting my knowledge of foreign languages and cultures to use in a very practical sense, as manager of two important departments in this company, I became familiar with several modern management concepts and techniques. Foremost among these was the management method known as Total Quality Management (TQM), a program of continuous improvement of product and service quality predicated on well-defined managerial tools, procedures, and goals. Closely related to these concepts are certain guidelines that have become a major driving force in American higher education over the past twenty years such as Outcomes Assessment, Accountability, and Transparency. My current views on student outcomes assessment, accountability, and transparency in higher education to a great extent have been informed and shaped by the lively ongoing debate on many U.S. colleges and universities dealing with these pressing issues. As such, I share many of the concerns, hopes, and expectations of participants in this dialogue such as:

  6. Entrepreneurial activities related to academia: I have been fortunate to be able to parlay the managerial skills that I acquired in my business activities outside the academy (see above information) into the successful establishment of a number of academic service and consulting centers. These free-market ventures involved professors and students, and were implemented during my tenure as Chair of the Department of Letters at the Federal University of Pernambuco, in Recife, Brazil. The most prominent and lucrative of these enterprises were the Prolingua – Center for Graduate Examinations in Foreign Languages, which provided much-needed and highly specialized services in foreign language testing to all of the Federal University of Pernambuco’s ten colleges and professional schools, and the Translog – Center for Translation and Interpretation in Foreign Languages. These centers were devised and established in order: a) to provide a viable working and training environment for our students in the areas of testing, translation, and interpretation in foreign languages; and b) to find new ways to secure outside funding for the Department. I believe the business model used to set up and run these ventures could easily be transferred from one country or culture to another, with equally successful results, and I look forward to pursuing similar projects on behalf of my home institution in the U.S.

  7. Knowledge of and experience with the latest educational technologies: I am familiar with and have extensively used innovative methods such as computer, satellite, and Internet-aided instruction in my classes and administrative work. I have designed and handwritten the HTML source code for several educational websites, including my present Division’s Internet portal (http://www.sedycias.com/humanities/). These sites are listed on the main page of my personal website: http://www.sedycias.com/ (once there, go to “Other websites that I have designed” at the end of the page). With regard to my Division’s Internet portal, this site was established with the objective of making pertinent information readily available to students, faculty, administrators, and other interested parties. The Humanities Division at Essex County College is currently using this site to disseminate information and to support its ongoing and future programs. We have transformed into interactive PDF files and posted online all frequently used forms and documents, especially those required by adjunct instructors seeking employment in our Division. The objective was to streamline as much as possible a process that otherwise might be too cumbersome and take time away from other essential activities and services. As far as my training and experience in foreign language teaching is concerned, the emphasis at the institutions where I have taught has consistently been on proficiency-oriented instruction.

    My recent work at Essex County (ECC) College in the field of Alternative Dispute/Conflict Resolution (ADR/ACR) illustrates my general approach to leadership and my interest in applying technological innovations to academic settings. The idea behind the conflict resolution procedure that I instituted at ECC, and especially the interactive Student Concern Report form that I designed and wrote the source code for, was to streamline as much as possible the conflict resolution process in my division, placing the onus of argumentation and documentation where it rightfully belongs: on the grieving party initiating the complaint/grievance. This has proven to be an excellent opportunity for our students to use their oral and written communicative skills to argue something of relevance to them (i.e., their well-being in a given class and ultimately their final grade in the course). Past experience has shown that only those students who are truly serious about their concerns/complaints take the time to go through all the steps of the conflict resolution process. The procedure we currently have in place has enabled us to achieve two important goals: 1) to identify those professors and instructors who could be doing a better job at educating our students and who should look for ways to improve their performance; and 2) to provide an effective, well-structured, and transparent means for students to voice their concerns and at the same time to discourage them from filing frivolous or bogus complaints. While reluctant at first to embrace the idea of a formal procedure involving Alternative Dispute/Conflict Resolution techniques, the Humanities faculty now see the inherent value of such a structure, and fully support this Division-wide effort. The results have been very positive, and we have been able to address and resolve many problems that in the past had gone unresolved due in part to the lack of well-documented supporting evidence. Our next step will be to develop a similar procedure to address conflict resolution issues involving administration, faculty, and staff.

  8. International experience in administration, teaching, and directing study-abroad programs: As I mention in item 6 above, I spent seven of the last ten years of my professional life in Brazil, working as a professor and administrator at two major universities in that country (University of Brasilia from 1999 to 2002, and the Federal University of Pernambuco from 2002 to 2006). At both schools I was involved in the teaching of Spanish and Portuguese as foreign languages (Portuguese to international students and Spanish to Brazilian nationals). Of special importance during this period was my research and publication on the teaching of Portuguese to Spanish-speaking students, “Como implementar um programa de português numa faculdade de estudos liberais: Problemas e estratégias,” published in Tópicos em português língua estrangeira, edited by Maria Jandyra Cunha and Percília Santos. Brasilia: Editora da Universidade de Brasília, 2002. The Portuguese version of this article can be found at http://www.sedycias.com/ptguese2.htm and its English counterpart at http://www.sedycias.com/ptguese.htm.

    My work co-directing CSUS’s study-abroad program in Burgos, Spain (see item 17 above) allowed my students and myself not only to maintain that all-important connection with the living language but also to keep abreast of the latest developments in Spanish academic circles. I greatly enjoyed the time I spent abroad on such programs and would welcome the possibility of again participating in them.

    My experience with study-abroad programs has shown that students learn well and mature quickly when studying in a different culture. In our increasingly interconnected "global village," it has become apparent that the truly educated person is one who has had firsthand knowledge of other languages and cultures, both as preparation for responsible citizenship and, in a more practical way, as a basis for a career. In the words of former Senator J. William Fulbright, founder of the Fulbright Exchange Program, "perhaps the greatest power of educational exchange is the power to convert nations into peoples and to translate ideologies into human aspirations."

    On a personal note, I guess I see something of myself – having had the good fortune to grow up in very diverse linguistic and cultural milieus in North and South America – in the wondrous and life-changing experiences of many of my students as they come in contact with a culture, language, and physical environment different from what they are used to. In terms of formal education, the study-abroad component adds a much needed international dimension that seldom regular classroom instruction can match. Indeed, study abroad can be one of the most rewarding and exciting experiences in a college student's career. Getting to know another culture, living in a new environment, learning a new language, meeting new people: all these add up to a kind of education different from what one acquires on campus. Equally important for American students is the discovery of their own country, its customs, traditions, and values, as they come to see it from a foreign vantage point. It is not surprising, therefore, that so many students who have returned from overseas study say that the experience changed their lives in ways, for the most part inherently positive, they could not have predicted.

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