ORGANIZATIONAL MODELS FOR THE OFFICE OF THE DEAN 33 With smart, creative staff members serving in these capacities, we have built exper- tise to help chairs and their departments navigate cumbersome issues. Prior to these changes, our chairs and faculty often hit dead ends, leading to frustration and annoy- ance in trying to achieve their goals; now our staff have such deepened understanding of how to navigate the system, they can usually find paths forward that would not be obvious otherwise. By hiring well and training well, our faculty benefit from support staff with expertise in their functional areas that outstrips what a faculty member or chair could ever know. We have not only saved money in this model—as our staff with their deepened expertise know what questions to ask and what cost savings can be gained—we have also saved time and effort on the part of our faculty. We are able offer our faculty better support, e.g., in terms of instrumentation, marketing, travel arrangements, and technical assistance, adding value to their work. One of the reasons the model works is the physical proximity of decanal staff. The associate deans, dean, and chief of staff all are housed in a dean’s suite. The dean’s office is bracketed between two offices, with an executive assistant on one side and the chief of staff on the other. This arrangement allows for information to be shared and questions answers quickly. One risk of this model is poor communication. With such a complex operation, open communication is key. Every week the dean, associate deans, and chief of staff meet for two hours and discuss all issues pertaining to the College. The chief of staff meets biweekly with the directors/senior staff. Then, both groups (senior staff, dean, associate deans and chief of staff) meet monthly. Another challenge is communication and expectations outside of our College. Our approach is a bit different and may not translate to other colleges at the Univer- sity, we sometimes face frustration or confusion among fellow university personnel outside the College. We tend to want to move faster than our colleagues in other areas of the University and, given the higher levels of expertise, we often push for policy and procedure changes at the University level. Another Model: Structure Based Upon Mission and Values In a few instances, an organizational structure unlike any of the standard models has been chosen to reflect the values and mission of an institution. One such example is at The Evergreen State College, shown in this organizational chart (Figure 2.8). Missing from this structure are department chairs or program heads. Why this structure? From its inception, Evergreen has had an interdisciplinary curriculum. Early faculty and administrators judged that traditional structures would silo the disci- plines and make it more difficult to bring them together. Additionally, the College has always had a strong egalitarian ethic, with the view that the faculty should own the curriculum, and be responsible for teaching it and its direction.