Faculty meetings

[artalot]

I know we all hate them, but how often do you have them?

My current chair has some sort of allergy to them; we haven't had one all year. My chair is just not great at communicating, so we don't get emails either. The only way to get any information is to stop by the chair's office - this is always a 30 minute discussion about whatever the chair is thinking at the time before you can get to your question.  Chair loves to call individuals into the office to discuss things that should actually be discussed in full faculty meetings. Some of the things are really inappropriate - like making hiring decisions without everyone present.
I literally have no idea what's going on. There were new textbook requirements announced by the Dean to chairs that just never filtered down to us because I didn't know to stop by the office and ask about it. I found out when my textbooks were rejected.

So, ideally, how often would you have faculty meetings? How long should they be? And, most importantly, how do I get my chair to hold them? I've tried hinting. Then I tried outright asking. Finally, I tried going to the Dean, who apparently told the chair to have a meeting. Nothing.

[Liquidambar]

So, ideally, how often would you have faculty meetings? How long should they be? And, most importantly, how do I get my chair to hold them? I've tried hinting. Then I tried outright asking. Finally, I tried going to the Dean, who apparently told the chair to have a meeting. Nothing.

I will await other people's answers to this.  We have a chaotic once-a-semester "welcome back and here are a bunch of miscellaneous announcements" lunch meeting.  It's not enough.  There's no opportunity for discussion.  Some important information is communicated only via hallway rumors.

Department meetings had been stopped years ago, before I joined the department, because they were too acrimonious.  I think they could be re-instituted now because some of the worst offenders have retired, but my current chair and his predecessor have been oddly reluctant to do that.

[OneMoreYear]

When I first started in my department, we had twice monthly, 2-hour faculty meetings. While we did have an agenda, we also had several faculty members who liked to pontificate about their pet projects.

We currently have monthly faculty meetings, which are scheduled for 2 hours.  We have a specific agenda. Chair does fabulous job of keepings things on track. Really cannot say enough positive things about current chair's administrative style. 

I am not sure how to convince your chair to have meetings, as we reduced the frequency of ours. For our department, I think monthly is the correct frequency.

[darkstarrynight]

Our department meets once a month, on the nth specific week day at the same time in the same place. It is scheduled for both Fall and Spring up front and calendar invites are sent out in August through April. We have a LMS "course page" which hosts our agendas, pertinent documents, and applications to review for our doctoral programs. The meetings last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half at most, with the agenda provided in advance and the opportunity for us to add to it the week prior. The chair also celebrates accomplishments by colleagues monthly (e.g., publications). I actually really enjoy the meetings since it brings us together as the hallway may not depending on our schedules.

[Sun_Worshiper]

We meet once a month, usually over Zoom. That is probably about the right amount - certainly I wouldn't want to meet any more frequently than that.

[EdnaMode]

We meet every two weeks in person, for an hour, with a specific agenda that our chair keeps pretty strictly to. The time is one where the majority of faculty can be in the same room at the same time. The department chairs, deans and associate deans, etc. meet on alternating weeks. A lot of our meetings are the chair discussing with us what really happened in the leadership meeting (not just the posted minutes) and what impact that will have on us, and we also discuss other topics relevant to us like changes in general ed, changes to our curriculum, voting for student awards, etc. If there is nothing to talk about, or just items that can be dealt with via email, he has no qualms about canceling the meeting. Our previous chair did something similar, that seems to be the culture in our department. I know some departments meet every week, others once a month.

[Puget]

It sounds like your chair is deeply dysfunctional and I'm not sure department meetings will do much to fix that.

FWIW we meet once a month for an hour. Occasionally if there is nothing to discuss we skip a meeting.

[arcturus]

We meet approximately once per month for about 2 hours, at a time when most faculty are available. These meetings have an agenda and serve both as a conduit for information (sometimes repeating information that was previously distributed by email) and for discussion of department policy/issues. The tone of these meetings has improved due to faculty retirements (yes, the longwinded one has finally moved on to better things...), but the topics are often repetitive, as we still have not resolved certain issues.

I will note that badly run faculty meetings are a waste of everyone's time. So if your chair is dysfunctional, you may be blessed not to have regular meetings. On the other hand, regular meetings do provide the opportunity for faculty to ask questions and for everyone to hear the same response, so everyone can be on the same page going forward, even if it is the wrong page.

[Istiblennius]

Every damn week.

We are a delightful combination of inefficient and passive aggressive. We've got a couple of folks who insist that everyone needs to provide input on every decision, and one of them often doesn't get around to learning about whatever the issue is until during the meeting. It's maddening.

[sinenomine]

We have multiple flavors of faculty meetings, and multiple cadences for them. Full faculty with academic leadership = four or five times a year. Full faculty with elected leadership = at least four times a year. Academic division faculty = once a month. Departments = depends on the size of the department: anything from a few times a year to bi-weekly. This is a school that likes meetings...

[Parasaurolophus]

We have them once a month, on Zoom, for 1-1.5 hours. That seems fine.

[artalot]

Thanks all. I think our issue is that we have a history of chairs who are good at other things, but terrible at running meetings. We used to have meetings once a month, but they were just repetitions of emails and pontificating for 2 hours, so chair decreased frequency and then just stopped them all together. At first, I didn't complain, but enough things have fallen through the cracks that I think we need to go back to once a month. Maybe we could just schedule an hour. 

[Ahania]

We are supposed to have department meetings once a month, so as the Chair, I try to fulfill that requirement.  Our meetings are via Zoom and last anywhere from 1-2 hours.  I send out a report of any pertinent info and an agenda ahead of time. Since I've already sent out all the info from my meetings with the Deans, Provost etc. I don't take up a lot of time telling my faculty what was said, but instead focus on aspects people are most interested in or are most important.  I also try to keep the meetings short by sending out info via email as I get it.  If we have nothing to meet about -- which sometimes happens in the last month of the semester, I send out an email with end of semester reminders and we don't meet.

[Ruralguy]

My dean likes to have these "memo meetings" with dept. chairs. Complete waste of time. if you are just conveying info that can easily be expressed in a written memo (doesn't involve discussion, vote, etc.) then just write the memo!

As for depts., we tend to only meet about once per month at most, and usually only if it involves discussion.

[Puget]

Thanks all. I think our issue is that we have a history of chairs who are good at other things, but terrible at running meetings. We used to have meetings once a month, but they were just repetitions of emails and pontificating for 2 hours, so chair decreased frequency and then just stopped them all together. At first, I didn't complain, but enough things have fallen through the cracks that I think we need to go back to once a month. Maybe we could just schedule an hour.

Can someone other than the chair run the meetings? Appoint someone who is good at keeping things moving forward on the agenda and summarizing and recording decisions as secretary. Probably best if they are someone fairly senior. Running good meetings is not rocket science, but most academics are terrible at it.