DEPLOYING PERSONNEL IN THE DEAN’S OFFICE 41 Associate/Assistant Deans and Administrative Fellows Faculty members serving in administrative roles in the dean’s of- fice typically carry the title of associate or assistant deans. The vast majority of colleges have at least one associate or assistant dean (ab- breviated as A/AD in the rest of this chapter). Forty-five percent of CCAS member colleges have two or more associate/assistant deans. The number of A/ADs increases as pressure for the dean’s office to do more increases due to everything from higher student enroll- ments to additional reporting requirements to leading fundraising efforts. In the broadest of terms, A/ADs are assigned to support the office either by function or by division. Functional assistant or associate deans are assigned by func- tion within the college—that is, they work with and represent all units of the college on certain functions such as academic affairs, re- search, or student services. These may be referred to as centralized, operational, or cross-college assignments. In our extensive review of college websites, where A/ADs or professional staff members are present, functional assignments are also in evidence. This holds true even at liberal arts institutions. Functional A/ADs are the most fre- quent type of assignment. As an example, Table 3.1 (p 42) shows the assignments carried by functional associate deans at Oklahoma State University. One associate dean oversees instructional and personnel functions, another oversees academic programs, and a third is in charge of research and facilities. Within those broad titles is a myriad of functional responsibilities requiring the associate dean to serve diverse constituents across the college. Note that each position’s responsibilities follow logical group- ings: the teaching schedule is related to faculty workload; curriculum review is linked to assessment; and supporting grant development is paired with research infrastructure and space. Some responsibilities seem out of place, however. For example: Why are graduate student concerns given to the associate dean for academic programs? Why do graduate teaching stipends fall under the associate dean for research and facilities? Outliers are an out- come of what some call the “shoehorn effect.” In other words, only so many related responsibilities can be packed into the job descrip- tion of a single individual; therefore, it cannot be helped that some miscellaneous responsibilities end up in the portfolio of another A/ AD or staff member. Early in my deanship, one of my associate deans referred to his position as the“associate dean of garbage,” because he was assigned all the leftover responsi- bilities no one else wanted or could manage. That was an indication to me that assignments among the associate deans were ready for adjustment! —BSD