The role of academic deans is critical to the success of higher education academic institutions. However, little is known about the leadership styles of these chief academic officers. This study illustrated the leadership approach of Ohio's academic deans in the 13 state-supported universities. This quantitative study researched and analyzed whether differences exists between the leadership styles of academic deans and the independent variables of age, number of faculty supervised, and number of years of experience. Blake and Mouton's 1964 managerial grid was utilized for this study. Blake and Mouton's theory was based on five predominant leadership styles: Impoverished (1, 1), Country Club (1, 9), Authoritarian (9, 1), Team Leader (9, 9), and Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5). The results of this study were developed by conducting a review of related literature that was based on concerned for task and people. Data for this study were gathered using a researcher-designed instrument along with the Hall, Harvey, and Williams (1995) Styles of Leadership Survey to gather information about the academic deans. The surveys were administered through U.S. mail to the deans' office addresses. ANOVA methodology was used to analyze the data. It appears from the results of this study that no significant independent differences existed among the leadership styles and the independent variables. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]