Faculty versus Administrative Positions: A Discussion with Karin Lewis

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In this episode you’ll hear: key characteristics of administrative and faculty roles, ideas about administrative leadership versus management, questions to consider if you’re on the fence about which route to pursue, lessons learned, and ways to cultivate collaborative and supportive working relationships in either role.

Our guest is: Dr. Karin Lewis, an associate professor in the Teaching and Learning Department in the College of Education and P-16 Integration at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). She teaches undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in cognition, learning, and human development, writing for inquiry, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, and she mentors doctoral students in their scholarship. She has an extensive network of colleagues and scholars as Past-Chair of the UTRGV Women’s Faculty Network and President-Elect of the UTRGV Faculty Senate with a demonstrated record of collegial collaboration and leadership among her colleagues across the university, as well as nationally. She brings experience as a peer reviewer and editor for several publishers and academic journals, as well as professional conferences, such as AERA. She demonstrates a steadfast commitment to productive collaboration, an ethic of care, social justice, and culturally responsive transformative pedagogies, with expertise in qualitative research methodologies.

Prior to joining the faculty at UTRGV, for nine years Karin served as Assistant Provost of Undergraduate Education and Executive Director of the Department of Academic Enhancement at the University of Kentucky.

Your host is: Dr. Dana Malone, a higher education scholar and practitioner. Dana first met Karin as a doctorate student at the University of Kentucky when Karin hired her as a graduate TA to teach courses offered out of Academic Enhancement.

Listeners to this episode might be interested in:

• Brown, B. (2018). Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Random House Books.
• Covey, S. (2013). 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon & Schuster.
• Gordon, J. (2017). The Power of Positive Leadership: How and Why Positive Leaders Transform Teams and Organizations and Change the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Sinek, S. (2011). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Penguin Group.
• The work of Dr. Wayne Dyer, Coach John Wooden, and Maya Angelou, as well as the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania
• Podcasts: Unlocking Us, Dr. Brené Brown; Dare to Lead, Dr. Brené Brown; Super Soul Conversations, Oprah Winfrey and The Happiness Lab, Dr. Laurie Santos

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