Psychologists may have been slow to climb the ranks of academia, but that’s changing. Between 2003 and 2015, the number of psychologists in academic leadership positions grew by 61%, according to the APA Center for Workforce Studies (“Increases in psychologists in academic leadershipopens in new window,” 2020).
Their interpersonal skills, data analysis experience, and understanding of human behavior make psychologists a great fit for academic leadership, say those at the top.
Now, the slashed budgets, falling enrollment, and rapid shift to remote instruction ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic are making the jobs of academic administrators harder—and more essential—than ever. Amid that uncertainty, skills like active listening, problem-solving, and conflict resolution are helping psychologists in leadership positions keep their institutions afloat.
“Since March, it’s really been about crisis management, and that’s required a lot of tough decisions,” says Sarah Mangelsdorf, PhD, president of the University of Rochester.
Mangelsdorf began her career in the University of Michigan’s psychology department. She later held roles such as psychology department chair, dean, provost, and vice chancellor for academic affairs across several universities. Like many of her colleagues, she didn’t picture herself as an academic leader, but she says that psychologists who end up in such roles tend to excel and enjoy the work.
Even in such hard times as these, leaders like psychologist Marvin Chun, PhD, dean of Yale College, are embracing the opportunities afforded by academic administration to improve conditions for faculty and students across the board, for instance by increasing scholarship funds that aid low-income students. Others are applying psychological insights to things like student success and remote work to make learning during a pandemic as impactful as possible.
“Psychologists have this interesting mixture of training that prepares them very well for academic administration,” Mangelsdorf says. “I would encourage more people from the field to consider stepping into these roles.”
Translatable skills for leadership
Those who’ve assumed leadership positions say the work psychologists do on a daily basis sharpens the skills needed to run a higher education institution.
For one, psychologists can use their experience collecting, processing, and analyzing data—and drawing conclusions from it—to assess school- or university-wide trends and determine what changes to make. Mangelsdorf, for example, has run regression models that analyze gender differences in salary at institutions where she has worked. As a result of those analyses, she and her colleagues began to address some of the salary inequities they discovered among genders.
“As psychologists, we have pretty good training in data analytics, and I have found that immensely helpful over the years,” she says.
At Barnard College at Columbia University, President Sian Beilock, PhD, challenges her staff to cite numerical data and to avoid vague generalizations about what “everyone is saying.”
“I want data that show the full picture, because I know that the loudest voice or the most recent data point can change our interpretations,” she says.
Beilock’s experience running a lab with around 20 students and postdoctoral scholars also helped prepare her for the demands of her current role. While some of her students required structured deadlines and evaluations, others thrived with a more hands-off approach.
“I learned that everyone needs to be led in a different way, so I bring that understanding into the leadership I do now,” she says.
Psychologists working in academic administration are even drawing on research they’ve conducted to inform their institution’s priorities. Gail Hackett, PhD, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), studied the role of self-efficacy in career development among women and minority populations. She then channeled those findings into initiatives to improve student retention and graduation rates for those groups at VCU and Arizona State University, where she previously worked.
Others have used their research experience to inform their institution’s COVID-19 response. Psychologist Peter Salovey, PhD, president of Yale University, has studied the effects of message framing on promoting health-related behaviors, including cancer and HIV prevention.
“These lines of work have helped me make scientifically based decisions that both safeguard public health and help to maintain the continuity of the university’s commitment to teaching and learning,” Salovey says.
All but the highest-level administrators should aim to maintain teaching and research activities, says Chun. Even as dean, he still mentors graduate and undergraduate students and conducts neuroimaging research throughout the year, saving heavy writing projects for summer recess.
“Staying active in research and teaching at the university helps me better serve faculty and students because I see their experiences firsthand,” he says.
Conflict resolution
If there’s one thing that can make or break a career in academic administration, it’s interpersonal skills.
“The range of interpersonal conflicts and personnel issues are so vast that they overwhelm people who are not prepared for them,” Hackett says.
The most effective leaders listen, empathize, and work collaboratively with the range of stakeholder groups at a university, including students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni.
“There are so many different constituents that don’t always see eye to eye,” Beilock says. “You effect change by bringing groups together, so it requires seeing where people are and figuring out how to work towards a common goal.”
Psychologists’ broad understanding of personalities, communication, and behavior helps prepare them to manage those conflicts, but some skills that clinicians develop—such as mediation and active listening—can be particularly helpful, says Isiaah Crawford, PhD, president of the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
Throughout his early career, Crawford taught clinical and community psychology courses at Loyola University in Chicago, provided care in a community mental health clinic, and maintained his own psychotherapy practice. He says that clinical work helped shape his problem-solving and coaching skills—and gave him a deep appreciation for the human condition.
“As psychologists, we often engage with people when they’re not at their best, but we can see beyond that to what is possible,” Crawford says. “Administrators apply the same skills to work through a situation and find a mutually beneficial outcome.”
Applying psychological findings
On top of the skills and training that make psychologists successful administrators, applying psychological findings on group dynamics, communication, and other topics can make them highly effective leaders.
Beilock says she relies heavily on what she knows about human behavior. For instance, she’s careful not to make the fundamental attribution error of assuming a person’s behaviors are mainly driven by their personality or identity rather than by situational factors.
Mangelsdorf draws on group behavior literature to understand various aspects of university life, such as the dynamics of faculty senate meetings. Those insights have also helped her form effective search committees. For instance, studies show that in male-dominated fields, a single woman on a committee is not well positioned to advocate for increased gender equity (Fine, E., & Handelsman, J., “Searching for excellence & diversity: A guide for search committeesopens in new window,” Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute, 2012).
She also relies on psychological strategies—including empathic and transparent communication—to strategically enact change, such as in making the unpopular decision to shift to remote learning when the coronavirus pandemic struck in March.
“We can use psychological principles to get people to buy in and to show them their voices are being heard,” Mangelsdorf says.
How to make the move
The best way to learn about academic administration is to dive right in, leaders say. Tell your chair or mentor you’d like to join a search committee or tenure review committee in your department.
“Make yourself available. It always starts with small assignments, and then one thing leads to another,” Chun says.
Beilock also suggests joining a committee that focuses on school or university initiatives, which can help aspiring administrators learn how their department fits into the broader institution. For example, when she was at the University of Chicago, Beilock joined the university senate’s committee of the council, an elected group of faculty that attended biweekly meetings with the president and provost.
“It was the first time I really got to see the operations of an institution outside my lab and my department,” she says. “I got really interested in how you can drive change at an institutional level.”
Declining enrollment, budget reductions, and planning for the uncertainties associated with the pandemic make this a challenging time to lead a higher education institution, Crawford says. Amid such challenges, finding a sense of accomplishment is key. Crawford says he approaches his work as a service-oriented leader and values the daily contributions he makes to the university and its faculty, staff, and students.
“If psychologists are interested in academic leadership, this is the time to step up,” Salovey says. “I hope they will draw from their experiences to guide their colleagues and students through this public health crisis.”
