ABSTRACT
Academic department chairs are in the vanguard of diversity transformation in colleges and universities. Chairs are positioned to develop collaborative intergroup leadership by creating positive relationships among distinct subgroups and developing a single, more inclusive superordinate group within their departments. This chapter discusses prominent barriers to diversity in the academic workplace and specific strategies and innovative practices that chairs have developed to address these barriers. Lack of funding to create new faculty lines that will enable diverse faculty to be hired is the most common barrier cited by department chairs. Barriers cited to diversity in the curriculum by chairs include the need to address core requirements in the curriculum allowing little time for students to take courses outside of the major or minor, lack of student interest, low enrollment, the complexity of approval processes, and faculty pushback. The frequency of turnover among deans and provosts can result in varied, uncertain, and sporadic support for diversity.
