Chair Responsibilities

Major responsibilities of chairs can be classified into six broad areas, and include:

Leads the academic unit in setting both short- and long-term goals, in establishing and executing assessment efforts and in using assessment results to promote continuous program improvement
Helps the academic unit understand and engage with major campus initiatives
Serves as the public spokesperson for the academic unit and representative of the unit to the dean
Represents the academic unit at monthly chairs meetings
Submits proposed changes to majors and minors to the AAC
Responsible for communicating with the succeeding chair about direction of the academic program

Submits the academic unit’s Teaching Planning Tool each year
Builds a three-year plan in cooperation with colleagues in the academic unit and with academic units where there is close cooperation
Develops and submits the grid each year in a timely fashion, ensuring it meets college criteria
Collaborates with the dean’s office around curricular pressure points and around under-enrolled courses
Ensures the timely development, approval, offering and review of appropriate courses;
In collaboration with their colleagues, assigns major/minor advisors to students to major, as well as thesis student advising
Identifies equitable solutions to reassigning advising in advance of leaves
Approves transfer-credit requests, as well as other requests that require approval by an academic unit
Meets with students declaring a major
Meets with majors who are planning on going abroad
Regularly reviews student evaluations of teaching and when needed meets with faculty around those evaluations.

Participates in the mentorship of faculty and staff, which can include sitting in on classes and writing of letters of recommendation

In academic units that employ staff the chair usually manages these employees. For example, these include:
- Assistants in instruction
- Applied music instructors
- Applied dance faculty
- Post-Bacs
- Technicians
- Student workers
- Language associates in languages
- Language teaching assistants
Approves timesheets for staff
Conducts an annual review of academic unit staff
Participate in the review of Academic Administrative Assistants (AAAs). This typically entails responding to a survey from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.

Requests resources for contingent and permanent faculty by completing the 3 year plan and participating in the line allocation process.
Oversees hiring of faculty in line with the college’s guideline, in cooperation with colleagues in the academic unit, and the Dean of the Faculty’s Office
If the academic unit has to replace a staff member, the chair works with the Dean of the Faculty’s Office, Human Resources, and other colleagues to fill the position

Serves as central figure available to address questions from students, faculty, staff, parents and others.
In responding to parents, please be aware of the limits the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) places on faculty in this space. Best practice is to always let parents know that before speaking to them, you need to get permission from the student.
Serve as a central figure in addressing and solving student concerns with classes/instructors in the academic unit
Fosters relationships in the academic unit to build a healthy culture
Mediates conflict among constituencies within the academic unit