The Impact of COVID-19 on Academic Department Chairs: Heightened Complexity, Accentuated Liminality, and Competing Perceptions of Reinvention

This article explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic department chairs. Through a survey of 172 department chairs in the United States, the central findings of this research—intensified challenges, a multidirectional leadership pivot, and competing perceptions of higher education reinvention—reinforce the liminality of the academic chairperson role, highlight the need for increased training and development opportunities for individuals engaged in this work, and offer a reminder of ensuring that the broader perspectives of department chairs are included in efforts to reinvent institutions of higher education. These findings depict crisis leadership as a required competency for academic leaders.