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Program Director Institute >
Summary of NASPAA Survey of
"What does it take to be a Good MPA/MPP Program Director?"
In October 2004 NASPAA sent out a brief
survey to the primary contacts at each of its 250 member schools, and received 101 responses.
Schools were asked to rank from one to five (five as the highest) the
following categories in terms of their importance. Below are the
categories and average responses:
|
Accreditation: Anticipating data requirements and planning for
future accreditation reviews |
3.6 |
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Budgeting: Advocating for, acquitting and managing scare
resources for the program |
3.7 |
| Career
Advancement: Developing strategies for being “noticed” by an
administrator |
2.2 |
| Community
Relations and Diversity: Engaging a diverse and demographically
changing community and potential student body |
3.6 |
| Data
Management: Understanding and anticipating what data to collect,
store, analyze and report to stakeholders, and deciding what to make
public |
3.4 |
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Interpersonal Relations: With students, colleagues, staff and
administrators |
4.4 |
|
Leadership: Encouraging a commitment to professional public
service among students, faculty and community |
4.1 |
|
Marketing: Developing strategies to recruit prospective
students, faculty, and donors |
3.9 |
| Planning:
For the future of the program, the discipline, the field, and
succession |
3.9 |
| Public
Relations: Representing your program, rather than your own
personal views or interests |
3.5 |
| Rule
Enforcement: Balancing equity with discipline, hearing
grievances, deciding what’s fair |
3.2 |
| Teaching:
Assessing and enhancing the quality of teaching in your program, and
developing competence in curriculum development |
4.0 |
| Time
Management: Dealing with new demands on your time and attention,
balancing teaching, research and administration with personal time |
4.1 |
The chart below shows the average number of
years professors have been teaching, as well as the number of years they
have acted as a program coordinator.
| Average Number of Years Teaching |
16.6 |
| Average Number of Years as Program
Director |
6.5 |
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Below are the responses when asked when asked to describe their
feelings
when asked to take over the coordinator position:
|
Very Reluctant |
Somewhat Reluctant |
Neutral |
Not Reluctant at all |
Thrilled |
| 7 |
22 |
10 |
36 |
16 |
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Some skills
that were deemed essential by the program coordinators are:
- How to deal effectively with University
administration
- How to develop team building skills to
encourage departmental involvement
- To effectively advocate for a program
within the University
- How to motivate and lead faculty
- Learning to listen
- How to adapt to or change the culture of
the school
- To act with integrity and adhere to
one’s ethics
- Patience
- To have an understanding of the school’s
institutional history and an idea of what problems have arisen in the
past
- Knowing what to delegate
- Understanding and applying the latest
technology
- Excellent communication skills
- Working with faculty to help them
fulfill the promise they showed when hired
- Tolerance
- Stress management
- The ability to work with those in other
departments who many not understand professional degrees
- Understanding the strategic plan and
budgeting systems of the University
- Developing partnerships that are
cross-sectional, outside of the Public Affairs arena
- Having a strong understanding of the
department processes as well as the University’s admission and
graduation criteria
- Take care of simple items first
- Setting boundaries so that family time
is no t intruded on by work
- Focus on the big picture, and help the
faculty do the same
- One respondent noted that missing from
the list of questions asked above was the importance of competencies
around organizational design, change and strategic management. The
changing needs of staff, students, and the workforce seem to lead to
rapid changes and realignments for which there are no guidelines for
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