Embracing Advancement as an Academic Leader
Serving as a dean, president, provost, or other academic leader at an institution comes with considerable advancement work, something in which you may not have any prior experience. You’ll need to learn to build and foster relationships with donors and to work closely with your development team.
As we gear up for CASE’s Development for Deans and Academic Leaders: Fall Session this November, we sat down with faculty member Maureen MacDonald, professor and dean of science at McMaster University, to hear more about her career path to becoming a dean, how she’s embracing advancement, and what she’s most looking forward to at the conference.
CASE: Describe your career path. How did you get to your current role as dean?
Maureen MacDonald: I received numerous degrees in the sciences and after a post-doctoral research fellowships at the University of British Columbia and the University of Western Ontario I started my academic career as a faculty member at Wilfrid Laurier University. Since 2000, I’ve been a faculty member in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, where I’ve been the dean of science since 2017. My administrative path truly began when I returned to McMaster in 2014 from a research leave at Loughborough University in the U.K. In a sense, I think my long dormant administrative gene was activated during that year and I have not looked back. In 2015 I was selected to be the first director of a newly created School of Interdisciplinary Science under a wonderful mentor, Dean of Science, Robert Baker and when he announced he would become the vice president of research, I applied to be dean. What is hidden in this story is the fact that like many women, my candidacy for each of these new positions came at the personal suggestion of someone in a leadership position. I try every day to remember that fact and be sure that I am passing along that favour.
CASE: What excites you the most about what you do?
MM: I love my job and that has been quite a surprise to me. I knew that I would be intrigued by the challenge and I suspected that I would have some skills and talents that could be effectively leveraged, but the fact that I enjoy so much about this job has been a little shocking. What excites me the most is the opportunities that present themselves for me to be a connector. Every day I have the privilege of connecting people with other people and people with opportunities. Of course, sometimes the pace is a little overwhelming and I have had to develop more discipline and focus in terms of what connections I am able to foster personally, but being able to facilitate such a broad range of authentic experiences for engaged and passionate individuals is truly amazing.
CASE: How did you get involved with your institution’s fundraising efforts? Did you have any previous fundraising experience?
MM: Based on my preparation for my interviews for the dean position, I had some idea that fundraising might be part of my portfolio, but frankly, I was hoping that those tasks would be left in the capable hands of others. I like to call myself a “functioning introvert” and my childhood experiences of selling chocolate bars for sports teams was the extent of my fundraising past. Despite that, I knew that many of the wonderful resources and opportunities at McMaster had been facilitated through the good will of donors and I was appreciative of that. While I was the director of the School of Interdisciplinary Science, Dean Baker sent me to CASE’s Development for Deans with our associate dean of research and our advancement officer. The first talk I attended was one by Lorna Somers and I was amazed to hear that she was also from McMaster. It would not be an understatement to say that lecture “had me at hello.”
CASE: How would you describe your leadership style?
MM: One of the main aspects of my leadership style is that I am focussed on relationships. That is certainly something I have had to adjust since taking on the portfolio of dean of science since the number of relationships make it unfeasible that they can all be managed in the same ways I managed them when I had smaller portfolios. I think that most people around me know that my dominant characteristics are that I am organized, detail oriented, enthusiastic, ambitious, and creative. The areas I am working on are effective delegating, team building, and communication.
CASE: What’s the best professional leadership advice you’ve received?
MM: I recently completed an eight month program with the Academy of Innovative Higher Educations Leadership sponsored jointly by Georgetown and Arizona State Universities and I learned so much through that process. One very valuable piece of information was called the Leaders Mindset from Neil Stroul at Georgetown. He told us that most leaders can categorize their work into three areas: administering, managing, and leading. Of these, administering is focussed on maintenance, managing is focussed on current operations and the goals are usually to improve and address, and leading is forward facing. To be effective we need to operation in all three categories, yet I routinely find my days filled with administering and managing. The issue is that in an organization many people have job duties related to administering and managing, but few with leading so if the leaders are not spending time forward facing, the risk is that the organization will not move forward. I printed out a slide with this information and keep it by my desk to remind me to walk away from my email and enable those around me to administer and manage effectively without me slowing them down.
CASE: What are some of the challenges facing higher education today?
MM: There are many challenges facing higher education, but the key for leaders is to frame those as opportunities. We have shifts in our society that are unprecedented in terms of speed and magnitude and those range from political and economic to cultural. It is imperative that higher education leaders stay connected and engaged in these conversations because we have an incredible opportunity to influence the knowledge and skills of future generations. I heard a recent quote that resonated with me: “I am not sure who discovered water, but I am pretty sure it was not a fish.” That reminds me that we need to pick our heads up, ask whose voice is not even at the table, let alone not being heard, and be open to new ways of knowing and doing. Interestingly, wholehearted engagement in advancement has provided one avenue for that to me as the range of people I interact with has expanded through development and advancement work.
CASE: As a past attendee of Development for Deans, what were some of the most valuable takeaways from the conference?
MM: Where to begin?
- Approach your job with the philosophy that you are doing advancement and development work 100% of the time in all that you do.
- Remember that most donors indicate that they get great joy in giving and that you are simply facilitating that joyful experience.
- Trust your development officer. They are the expert here.
- Think BIG and then think BIGGER.
- Don’t forget the why at the centre of any ask. What and how are nice but why is essential.
- Measure what matters the most.
- Take care of yourself or you won’t be able to achieve anything.
- Refine your own vision and your own story so it is ready to be heard.
CASE: As a member of the faculty for this years’ conference, what are you most excited to share?
MM: I am most excited to share my experiences as a relative newcomer to the role of dean. I can still remember vividly my first advancement meetings and the stress of being asked for the first time what my vision was for my faculty. I want to encourage others to embrace the potential associated with engagement in advancement activities.
CASE: What’s your favorite CASE resource?
MM: Lorna Somers! No seriously, like many organizations, the best resources are the people you meet and build relationships with from the staff to the conference attendees. It has certainly expanded my network beyond my typical scientific conference connections.