During July, the newly appointed department chairs assumed their roles to lead their teams into the 2024-2025 academic school year.
With chair positions rotating every three years and the reorganization that took place last fall, there have been several leadership changes. These include the department chair position for the English department and the newly combined communication and theatre arts department. Dr. Jay Self, communication professor and former department chair for communication, now serves as chair of the English department while Brad Carlson, theater professor, has taken on the role of chair for the communication and theater arts department.
Faculty from the communication and theater departments were welcomed to apply for the new chair position before they were combined. Carlson said he was initially drawn to apply because of his strengths in managing people as well as his hope to be an effective leader for others. Carlson initially interviewed with the dean and later participated in a public forum alongside other candidates where they discussed leadership strategies and intentions for the position. Following this forum, there was another round of interviews that involved meeting with the dean once again and recommendations were then made to the provost. Finally, the provost selected Carlson as the department chair.
Jay Self’s transition into chair of the English department followed a different process. Initially, no faculty member applied to be the English department chair, which caused the provost to ask Self in a meeting if he would assume the position. From there, Self met with almost every individual within the English faculty to ensure they would be comfortable with him filling the chair position. He ultimately accepted the position, bringing his experience from his previous role as the communication department chair with him.
“English and what I study, which is rhetoric, are closely related and have some common history,” Self said. “While I am not an expert in the discipline of English, we have some shared history and shared philosophical assumptions.”
For both Carlson and Self, these are early days in their new positions. One struggle they expressed was adapting to an entirely new field of study. While Carlson is familiar with the theater field, he is now also in charge of the communication department. While the two fields share some similarities, communication brings an entirely new set of responsibilities. For Self, he is coming from a communication background and is responsible for learning the functions of the English department; however, due to his prior experience he feels well-equipped for this position.
“It’s been a constant marriage of both a need for information from others on campus but also trying to figure out how to manage two very different departments with different needs, different personnel, different students and different courses,” Carlson said.
While the two new chairs have faced difficulties, they have also had their fair share of good moments as well. Carlson said he has especially liked gaining new insight into the work of the communication department and building new relationships with faculty members. He has also enjoyed seeing the functions of a department from a different perspective, allowing him to see aspects that may not be as evident from a communication faculty standpoint. Self said he is enjoying his new office in McClain Hall and working alongside his wonderful English colleagues.