In 2023, the AAR tasked the Academic Relations Committee (ARC), of which I’m now chair, with developing a resource for those in leadership positions within a department, especially those new to such roles as chair, graduate director, undergraduate director, and even advisor. These are all positions of central importance in managing life within an academic department, whether helping a new faculty member come onboard or directing students to the correct courses to satisfy their degree requirements. But given the times in which we’re now living—when it is not unusual to learn each month of yet another Humanities program being merged or even whole sectors of a college’s traditional liberal arts programs being closed—it was reasoned that the resource should ideally also help faculty to think through how to cope when working in precarious settings (which can be more often than not). Has the Gen Ed or Core program been revised on your campus, like so many others in the past few years?
