Moving from the Classroom to Administration: What Transfers, What Changes, and What Nobody Tells You

It has been two years since I moved away from the classroom to engage in academic administration full-time, after nearly a decade of teaching. Administrative capacity is works in the backstage of academia - as my colleague recently put it - thankless but necessary labour that contributes immensely to what keep universities growing. When you are building a new school and new programmes, what you need are people who understand how a university actually works. Many institutions draw them from the faculty - the Assistant/Associate/Vice Deans roles where academic teaching and research are entwined with administrative responsibilities. And that would seem like a sensible instinct: who better knows students and pedagogy than someone who has taught them?

Having made the move myself, I can say that instinct will be right in some ways, and leave you wanting in some. Some parts of being a teaching carries over well into the role, while in some ways, you may feel like you do not yet have the right skills or tools. Moreover, senior leadership in academia cannot be boxed - and some of what matters most in hard to define or read in an interview.

What Transfers?

As a faculty, you likely have the most face-time with the students.

Knowing the student experience.