Patricia Davis: Changing an Academic Culture

Authors

  • Tim Burson Queens University of Charlotte
  • Michael Maher University of South Carolina

Keywords:

AACSB accreditation, emphasized excellence in teaching, Dean of School of Business, faculty research activities, faculty workload, case

Abstract

Patricia Davis, the newly hired dean of the Macklin School of Business at Kannapolis College, anxiously waits to hear if faculty will accept or reject her proposal. Davis aspires for the Macklin School to earn accreditation from the prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Attainment of AACSB status will raise the profile of Macklin and make it more competitive in its bid to attract top students. The AACSB accreditation can only be reached, however, if the mission of Macklin is expanded to include an emphasis on faculty engagement in research activities. 

This new emphasis would represent a marked change in the existing culture of the Macklin School. The School has always emphasized excellence in teaching, as evidenced by the faculty hiring process and tenure and promotion guidelines. Attainment of AACSB status would now require each faculty member to build a research portfolio, and some would have to start from scratch. While Davis had secured funding for research travel, she could not promise any pay increases for this increased faculty workload. Faculty are not always the most receptive when it comes to embracing change ... how would the Macklin faculty react to Davis 'proposal?

Downloads

Published

2011-09-01

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Cases

License

Copyright (c) 2011 Southeast Case Research Journal

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).