"And the new Associate Dean is ..."

Like law deans (see Dan's list here), associate deans come and go. 

In selecting an associate dean, a dean may seek faculty-wide input.  Alternatively, the dean may make the appointment without consulting the general faculty (but perhaps relying on the wisdom of a few confidants). 

It seems to me that the associate dean can have a greater impact on my academic life than might the top dean.  Will my request for a sabbatical be granted?  May I have permission to accept a visiting appointment elsewhere?  What courses will I be teaching?  When will I be teaching those courses?   Might I participate in one of our summer foreign programs?  On what committees will I serve?  Will I receive a summer stipend?  Come salary time, does this person share my views on the merits of teaching / scholarship / service?  Etc.

My experience is limited to one institution (and my deans have taken different approaches).  I'm curious to know the approach(es) adopted by deans at other law schools in the appointment or designation of the associate dean(s).  And I hope some of our readers who are, or were, deans will share their thoughts on how they went about making this important selection to their leadership team. 

Comments

[anon]

I've never heard of a school where there was faculty-wide input on the selection of an associate or vice dean, other than to take one giant, collective, step backward when the Dean started looking for volunteers.

[Jacqui Lipton]

I've not heard of that either. In my experience through the last three deans, it has been purely decanal choice.

[Rick Garnett]

I'm an associate dean, and I assume that the fact that I am one means (among other things) that my sound-thinking colleagues were not asked to vote on whether I should be one.