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Department/Program Chair Responsibilities

Department/Program Chairs are full-time faculty members with administrative duties and are responsible for their respective academic areas. The Chair position is an appointed position, and Chairs serve at the pleasure of their Associate Dean/Dean. 

Department/Program Chairs play a leadership role in working with the faculty members of their discipline(s) to accomplish the goals of the Department/Program which serve the mission the University.  Input from adjunct faculty members is to be encouraged and considered but the full-time faculty of a discipline, under the leadership of the Chair, are collectively responsible for the quality and growth of their academic programs. 

Therefore, Department/Program Chairs are charged with the following responsibilities, for which they have departmental/program authority and report to the Associate Dean of their School (or Dean in the absence of an Associate Dean).

Students

  • Advocate for all students, especially those majoring in the department’s programs
  • Assign faculty to serve as academic advisors for students on the Parkville Campus and help advise students, especially when other faculty are not available
  • Seek resolution at the department/program level for student complaints, as per University policy

Full-Time Faculty

  • Communicate with all faculty of the discipline (full-time and adjunct) regarding academic matters of the departmental/program and the University
  • (Chairs are to be kept informed by their Associate Deans/Deans)
  • Guide full-time faculty in developing annual professional development goals for teaching, scholarship and service
  • Conduct annual performance reviews of all full-time faculty in the department/program (including an interview) and submit those reviews to the Associate Dean/Dean
  • Make recommendations to the Associate Dean regarding faculty travel to professional conferences/workshops
  • Submit recommendations to the Associate Dean regarding faculty who apply for sabbatical, promotion and/or tenure
  • Submit recommendations to the Associate Dean regarding faculty overload needs for the department
  • Organize and administer faculty search committees for the Department/Program and chair the search committees or designate a full-time faculty member
  • Orient and mentor new faculty in the Department/Program (a task that should also be shared with other full-time faculty of the department/program)

Adjunct Faculty

  • Arrange for adjunct faculty to teach in the Department’s/Program’s Parkville programs
  • Review the credentials of individuals who apply to teach in the department’s programs as adjunct faculty for any Campus Center or Online and approve adjunct faculty to teach for Park
  • Evaluate the performance of adjunct faculty annually based on information provided by the School for Extended Learning, the School for Online Learning and/or information the department collects.  The source for evaluative information depends upon the location and mode of instruction involved.  The Chair will determine whether each adjunct faulty member is approved for continuation as a Park instructor, discontinued or continued with stipulation.

Curriculum/ Assessment

  • Schedule classes for the Department’s/Program's Parkville programs
  • Implement a course rotation schedule that reduces the number of low-enrollment classes, and assures students’ ability to graduate in a timely manner
  • Submit class scheduling information and recommendations for overload teaching to their Associate Dean
  • Submit requests for curricular changes to the Curriculum Committee (via their Associate Dean) or Graduate Academic Council, as appropriate
  • Submit Department/Program information to their Associate Dean for catalog updates
  • Coordinate the approval by full-time faculty of textbooks for courses in the department’s program and update the approved textbook list for the College for Distance Learning
  • Communicate with the discipline’s  Program Coordinator(s) (proposed title: Assistant Chair for Assessment) to ensure that the standards set by the full-time faculty of the discipline and the University Assessment Committee are maintained.
  • Review requests from Campus Centers for Special Topics Courses and forward recommendations to the Academic Support Specialist for final review by the Dean of the College for Distance Learning.
  • Submit Program Review materials for their Department/Program upon request from their Associate Dean.

Budget

  • Hold signature authority and management responsibility for the Department/Program’s budget (as per University purchasing procedures)

Submit requests (with justification) to their Associate Dean for the department/program’s budget as a part of the annual budget planning process

Collaboration with Other Offices

  • Keep the Associate Dean of their School informed about departmental/program matters (Associate Deans will keep their Deans informed, including the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Dean of the College of Distance Learning (CDL).  Associate Deans will also collaborate with Associate Deans in the CDL.
  • Work with faculty and Admissions staff to coordinate departmental/program recruitment/retention activitie
  • Collaborate with the Dean of Graduate Studies to advance existing graduate programs and develop new graduate programs (as needed)

July 2005

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