Has anyone here moved from being a professional to managing professionals? Or do others have any advice to offer?
I'm 52 and have been professing for 20 yrs. I've also bought years of service credit in our retirement system so am getting close to retirement (if I want).
Our school has re-organized and will be looking for a new dean of Social Science, Humanites, and Foreign Languages. A colleague asked if I was going to be applying for the job, and the thought has stuck in my mind. Should I?

I still really enjoy teaching and the vacation benefits of a faculty member are unmatched. However the Dean's pay would be between a 50% and 70% increase over my current salary. Long term, these numbers make quite a difference, (even though currently the $ aren't that attractive to me) because we have a defined benefit retirment system in which retirement benefits are calculated on the year of highest salary.

Over the past years, the management class of Colorado Community Colleges has undergone important changes. There is no one at the Dean's level or higher either at our own college or in the State Community College system with an academic Ph.D. Some have academic Master's but most have doctorates in educational administration. Most faculty members are not happy with these changes since the values of the managerial class are quickly diverging from the values of the faculty members.

The department for which this new Dean is responsible is not very large and they are colleagues with whom I have worked for many years. However, in the re-organization the other Deans were shrewd enough to get the two worst faculty members, transferred into this new department. They would both be serious headaches.

I've managed the Philosophy department (as a kind of sub-department within Humanites and Social Sciences) for many years and have been able to turn it into one of the most successful departments in the State college system, but I have no experience whatsoever as a Dean. I have however, been elected by my fellow faculy members for years, to represent our academic interests in curriculum at the State Community College system, so I do have a measure of respect amongst my colleagues. So if anyone here has made this kind of career change, I'm very interested in hearing about your experiences.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13