Sessions

Department and division chairs can prevent many issues from mushrooming into major problems through early intervention. Sometimes chairs delay difficult conversations with colleagues because they lack expertise to encourage change or to deliver bad news tactfully. How can the department or division chair understand better why a faculty member is less effective than expected? What […]

An attorney will lead a discussion of the chair’s role in faculty performance evaluation for reappointment, tenure, and promotion. Topics for discussion include the importance of adhering to effective procedures and institutional policies to ensure equity-minded evaluation when documenting professional performance, the role of student evaluations of instruction, peer review of teaching, the evaluation of […]

An attorney with experience in relevant cases will discuss inclusive hiring practices from the viewpoint of the department or division chair role. Discussion will focus on the importance of following effective procedures and institutional policies in drafting the position description, appointing the search committee, managing candidate files, checking references, and interviewing candidates on the phone, […]

The department or division operating budget is often viewed as a simple set of line-item allocations. Chairs will learn what a budget is (and isn’t), the different types of budgets, how their unit budgets fit into the larger institutional picture, effective practices for budget management, how to support colleague chairs in the budget process, and […]

Good data can inform decisions about revisions to existing academic programs, help determine new curricular directions, and suggest strategies for attracting students to the major. How can departmental or divisional level data—including data from learning-outcomes assessments, program reviews, campus satisfaction surveys, enrollment trends, and national surveys such as the National Survey of Student Engagement—be used […]

What are the strategies that experienced chairs employ to build and maintain an inclusive atmosphere within a department or division? What lessons have they learned about working with their colleagues, students, and staff members toward departmental goals? How can chairs encourage diverse points of view and respect for all department or division members? What is […]

Few chairs planned to serve as administrators, managers, or chairs when they were in graduate school or starting their academic careers. Most job descriptions for department chairs are simply lists of activities for which the chair is responsible, suggesting that chairs are task- oriented managers who schedule courses, handle students’ complaints, order equipment, prepare reports […]