Question 1 - As one of the academic leaders of your institution, you have been charged with the development of a Teaching Center for Excellence that would provide professional development and training opportunities for faculty members across all disciplines. As the leader, you will need to develop a plan for the successful implementation and managing of the center. Therefore, your leadership role requires you to design and present a comprehensive plan that will take into consideration:

1. Stakeholders' involvement

2. Communication

3. Institutional Mission

4. Federal/State mandates or indicatives that require budgetary allocation

5. Institutional purpose for establishing the Center

6. Connection to other organizations and initiatives within the university

You must write a white paper for your Board of Trustees and your recommendations and strategies must relate to research and theory in leadership, change management, supervision, communications, interpersonal effectiveness, and human and fiscal resources.

You are to:

A. Provide a context for the current situation your institution is in regarding professional development and why it is needed. What is your vision for such a Center?

B. Describe the theories, models, approaches, and specific strategies you would implement to address these issues and explain why you chose them over others

C. Provide a timeline for implementation of your short and long term goals and how you will evaluate them

D. Include the financial, legal, technological, and ethical implications and ramifications of your recommendations.

E. Explain how you will acquire and incorporate diverse ideas and insure that diverse needs were met in addressing these issues.

F. Describe how you will involve your management team and work with them and the internal and external environments to implement and then assess the effectiveness of your recommendations.

G. Describe the fundamentals of the operation of such a Center including personnel, physical and technological resources, and hours of operation.

Question 2 - The Council for Aid to Education (http://www.cae.org/) has recently developed the College Learning Assessment (CLA) to measure students' critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written communication skills. The exam is currently available to institutions on a voluntary basis.

The Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) offers an authentic approach to the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education through a continuous improvement model, and recognizes faculty as central actors in educational improvement efforts. The CLA assists faculty, department chairs, school administrators and others interested in programmatic change to improve teaching and learning, particularly with respect to strengthening higher order skills (CAE, 2012).

Supporters have argued this kind of standardized test is necessary to determine student learning outcomes in postsecondary institutions, while critics fear standardized testing of college learning can become too simplistic to be an effective tool given the diversity of institutions and curricula available through higher education in this country. The CLA has not yet considered whether this standardized approach is relevant for adult students. Using a specific methodology to frame your discussion, consider whether this test would be appropriate for adults who are pursuing occupational credentials or if the test would be more appropriate for those students who take full general education sequences. Utilizing at least five references, outline your views and provide a clear and empirical rational for your decisions. Include the following:

A. A review of the literature from experts regarding this type of study, from both content and a research methodology perspective. Do not include any literature on p-12 testing and learning.

B. What is the value/significance of this study type? Include problem and purpose statements, definitions, along with your research questions.

C. What ethical issues might arise during and from this type of study?

D. What data would need to be collected? Include how you will select the participants and the tools needed to collect the data. Explain why you consider this to be valid sources of data for decision making.

E. What collection methods are best suited to your study?

F. How would you potentially analyze your data?

G. What might be the limitations and delimitations of your study from a methodological perspective?

Question 3 - In a Harvard Business Review article (May-June 2000) titled "Don't Hire the Wrong CEO," authors Warren Bennis and James O'Toole wrote:

Leadership is a combination of personal behaviors that allow an individual to enlist dedicated followers and create leaders in the process. (They are) great because they demonstrate integrity, provide meaning, generate trust and communicate values. In doing so they engage their followers, humanely push people to meet their challenging goals, and all the while develop leadership skills in others. Real leaders, in a phrase, move the human heart.

As an educational leader discuss how you interpret this quote and how you would work to ensure that future leaders develop important knowledge and skills demonstrating the meaning of this quote as well as identify factors and key actions you believe must be included to engage schools and institutions of higher education in constructive collaboration. Remember that leaders are found at every level of the institution and in every aspect of the life of a post secondary institution. However, is the concept of ‘servant leadership' still valid in the current post secondary environment. What current social mores and moral conventions impact leadership in post secondary institutions? Are leaders meant to be agents of change or protectors of the status quo? Support your position/s with appropriate research based references.

Naufal, M. (2000) Successful leaders in the non-profit sector: Ten qualities for top performance. Retrieved November 29, 2005 from http://www.rayberndtson.com/articles/successleaders.pdf