“Large and complex departments can be unwieldy for a chair to manage and may contribute to the isolation or benign neglect of pre-tenure faculty. The Panel notices that three Emerson departments are relatively enormous, with two of them having only two full professors and the third a total of nine full professors. The complexity of these large departments, the numerous subspecialties within them, and the scarcity of full professors—all this concerns the Panel (and must surely tax the chairs of these three large enterprises). The Panel wonders if such a departmental workplace is likely to inhibit a junior colleague’s job success and satisfaction. While huge departments are surely stimulating, early-stage colleagues need attentive supervision and encouragement from their department chair as well as opportunities to mingle with, imitate, and learn from full professors in their midst.”
— The Evolution of Emerson College: Modeling and Shaping the Culture of Culture
