Listen Up! Southeast Tech's Instrument Repair Programs

Ok, so we didn't get down there ourselves recently, but MPR published this nice piece on the violin repair program at Minnesota State College - Southeast Tech, Red Wing. Really great pictures.

CTL has had a number of interactions with the faculty in the band instrument repair program, and given a grant or two to the instrument repair faculty in recent years. These are teachers who, like those in so many of our programs, are respected professionals on the national and international scene, engaged teachers, and critical, deliberate educators.

Good to see them featured on Minnesota Public Radio--and on the Web site. Red Wing has three programs in instrument repair: band, guitar, and violin. Check 'em out!

Leadership: Key Skills

One of the sessions I attended at NCSPOD asked an interesting question. What are the 10 key skills required of academic leaders?

Granted that ten's an arbitrary number, try asking yourself to identify what skills you really expect in someone who's assuming a leadership role at your college or university. One of the first challenges that arose in the session was distinguishing between leadership and management, and what the relationship is between those two domains of skill and knowledge. (We decided that a leader has to have both sets, absolutely.)

It's easy enough to do a Web search for lists of these key characteristics, but what was most useful to me in this session was first to compose my own list. The session leaders suggested that the exercise of generating these lists, done as a group, makes a great workshop for hiring committees, advisory groups, etc. I'd have to agree: what sounds like a pretty simple task elicits many different opinions and assumptions, and without such a discussion those remain implicit--and possibly clashing with one another.