Leadership in American Academic Geography

American academic geography boomed after the Second World War, and with this growth came an increase in graduate programs awarding doctorates. It was here that transformational leaders often emerged as inspirational department chairs, shaping the content and nature of the discipline and establishing models of leadership, which often fueled the success of programs and sparked shifts in paradigms. Yet, on occasion, departmental chairmanships fell to individuals marked by laissez faire behaviors, and this at times led to disaster. In essence, effective leaders within key academic departments played imperative roles in the discipline's prosperity, and in contrast, mediocrity in leadership contributed to periods of austerity. This book examines the practice of leadership in the most influential geography departments of the twentieth century. It aims to offer not only a historical perspective on the geographic discipline, but also insight to leaders in geography, today and in the future, so that they might be able to avoid failure and instead develop strategies for success by recognizing effective leadership behaviors that foster high levels of achievement.