Streamlining a move from a faculty position to a leadership role

Mechanical engineering is the Swiss army knife of the discipline – you can pursue so many avenues within a degree in it. And, quite frankly, university leadership is similarly multifaceted – and rewarding. My role, as head of the Virginia Tech department of mechanical engineering, is a service position, guiding the department, faculty and students, all while helping others grow into their talents.

One of my goals is to raise our profile. Mechanical engineering was one of the original programmes offered in 1872, and the department is now among the largest within the university, with more than 1,500 students and 14,000 alums. As best-in-class, mechanical engineering supports nine research centres, more than 35 labs and nine instructional labs. 

With a programme this large, I want us to be more thoughtful and intentional on how we manage engagement. While I didn’t expect to take on the leadership role, I relish the chance to make our programme the best it can be. To wit: in the past, we tended to wait for companies and organisations to contact us, but I’d like to see us do more industry outreach and interact even more closely with alumni. I’m growing our engagement team to have more bandwidth. 

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Another goal is to ensure that mechanical engineering is a key part of the future when it comes to collaborating with others on a global scale. We regularly collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders across the world, so in my tenure as department head thus far I’ve established new resources for graduate student travel and built the beginning of a framework to forge even more industry relationships and partnerships. 

Last year, for example, we published an award-winning article on high-technology and low-environmental-impact solutions to monitor, control and contain large outdoor fires that resulted from the work of 15 co-authors. These co-authors collaborated from entities including two US-based universities, the United States Forest Service, research organisations in Spain and Japan, two universities in China and Japan, and other high-profile stakeholders. To me, this is not only incredibly rewarding, but it signals the future – leveraging the best resources from around the globe to find answers for our most pressing challenges. 

Techniques that serve us well as leaders in higher education

Before I moved into higher education, I worked in industry, first as a senior engineer and then as a vice-president of research and development, so I brought a mix of industry expertise and administrative leadership into my role as professor in the College of Engineering. During my time in industry, I held positions that included managing large numbers of staff and engineers, so I was accustomed to supervisory positions, helping people develop and reach their potential. So, when I was offered the department head position, I felt comfortable taking it. I’d been interim department head for the better part of a year, so I knew what to expect. 

But I’ve found these tips immensely helpful in optimising faculty relations as a department head:

• Communicate freely: Keep an open-door policy and be transparent and approachable. I genuinely enjoy talking to and listening to people, and that’s an advantage for me.
• Build trust: If you communicate openly, you’ll build trust. I make a point of always showing integrity, fairness and consistency. 
• Lead by example: This is closely related to building trust; demonstrate what you want to see in faculty and set high standards for yourself. And if you fall short, own it.
• Respect faculty expertise and autonomy: Acknowledge and value faculty contributions and knowledge. I know through my own experience that faculty run their own “mini businesses” with their teaching and research. 
• Support faculty development, teaching and research endeavours: Your faculty are of critical importance, and they need to know and feel that.
• Collaborate in decision-making using shared governance: Seek input and advice from the staff and faculty who understand the topic to come up with the best solution. 
• Be supportive: Address concerns related to workload, professional development and work-life balance. Advocate for faculty and staff when needed within the institution.
• Celebrate wins: Amplify individual and collective achievements and show appreciation for individuals’ contributions.
• Create leadership roles that are right-sized: Make the associate department head roles such that faculty can still do the things they love – research, teaching and service – while delivering excellent support for students and the department.
• Give up your calendar: Leverage your administrative assistant to support you in creating meetings, keeping you on schedule, planning department events and task support. 
• Be flexible: There will be difficult conversations, especially when you are trying to change things. Communicate the changes to people ahead of time, hear what their concerns may be, and work together to come up with the best solutions. 
• Create a concise strategic plan: Stand up a task group to make a strategic plan that people can understand in a one-page graphic or a few sentences that describe your mission and vision. This will help you support why you are doing things in the future.

Something that I am still trying to balance is how to engage in what I love about academia – research, writing up findings and mentoring students – while still prioritising leading the department. Perhaps I’ll report back in this space once I’ve figured that one out.

Brian Lattimer is department head and Nicholas and Rebecca des Champs chair in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

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