OM 2.4.1 Appointment and Tenure of Department Chairs and Academic Program Directors Policy Statement

Policy Statement

Appointment. Departmental chairs and academic program directors or equivalent are appointed by the Dean/Institute Director, after substantive consultation with all department faculty members and staff, with approval of the Provost or equivalent.

Initial appointments are to three-year terms and are eligible for re-appointment by the Dean upon evaluation of their performance. Terms normally start at the beginning of the Clarkson fiscal year. Department Chairs and academic program directors or equivalent will bereceive evaluated forannual performance annually,evaluations, with a more detailedcomprehensive review at the end of a three-year term inprior advance ofto renewal. Review by theThe Dean/Institute Director,Director however,may caninitiate occuradditional review at any time during the term of service.

Standard Appointment Process

Chairs and academic program directors or equivalent may be recruited by the Dean/Institute Director from within the unit, from affiliate units, or through an external search at the direction of the Dean/Institute Director and approvalapproved by the Provost.Provost Theor processequivalent. shallAppointment consistprocesses ofmust follow the following:procedures below:

(1) Candidate statements: The Dean shall solicit statements from candidates that outlineoutlining their qualifications, motivations, and future directionvision for the department.future Suchdirection of the department or program. Preferably, these statements would preferablyshould be in written form (email, memo, or similar) but may be providedgiven verbally in the form of a statement mademeeting and recorded in the minutesminutes.

of

(2) a meeting helpOpportunity for thatConfidential purposeInput: amongAll faculty and staff in the department facultyor and staff. (2) Thereprogram shall behave anthe opportunity for individuals to submit confidential personal comments to the Dean.

(3) aAdvisory Ballot: A faculty ballot may be conducted by the current department executive officer or a facultydesignee. memberResults selectedshall forbe the purpose,shared with the results revealed to the department faculty and staff, dean,the Dean, and officethe Office of the Provost.Provost Suchor ballotsequivalent.

shall

a. beThe of anballot advisory capacity to the applicable Dean/Institute Director and the Provost inor determiningequivalent.

the

b. appointment of any given chair. If anyAny faculty member somay requestsrequest tothat the Dean, the vote shallballot be conducted by secret ballot.vote.

When

c. voting, facultyFaculty may submitinclude (anonymous)anonymous comments regarding their vote choice or concerns about the selectionprocess, processsubmitted to the Dean/Institute Director or Provost.Provost or equivalent. 

d. Candidate statements shallmust be shared with department faculty at least one week prior to the any ballot taken unless the department faculty deemsvotes otherwise. 

Term of Office: Department chairs and academic program directors (faculty administrators who oversee degree-granting programs, see OM 2.4.0.B) shall be appointed for three-year terms and are eligible for reappointment. In general, a maximum of two additional 3-year terms is typical, though in exceptional cases, a chair/academic program director may be appointed by the Dean/Institute Director for additional terms.

Before such reappointments, reviews and evaluations of their performance will be obtained from the department/academic program faculty and staff, as well as from appropriate administrative officers and faculty members. The department chair/academic program director can resign prior to the end of the term. Should the Dean/Institute Director desire to remove the chair, the case shall be referenced to a representative faculty review committee before taking action. Such a committee's findings will be reported in writing to the Dean/Institute Director and the Provost to arrive at a decision, with the Provost holding ultimate authority. 

Period of Duty. The department chair/academic program director will be appointed based on the academic year as with any other full time faculty member. The department chair/academic program director is responsible for the performance of department/academic program duties (OM 2.4.0) unless other arrangements are made in writing with the appropriate dean.

Department chairs are permitted to undertake summer assignments with or without additional remuneration within established University policies. 

History

November 1986

Revised February 1972

December 1986

July 1987

July 1996

Revised December 2019

February 2021

November 2023