Search, Appointment, and Evaluation Procedures for Deans, Associate Deans, Academic Department Chairs and Heads, and Academic Program Directors

Search, Appointment, And Evaluation Procedures For Deans, Associate Deans With Faculty Appointments Academic Department Chairs And Heads, And Academic Program Directors

 

I. Introduction

For purposes of simplifying the statement of policies and procedures, the following terms shall be used: College shall refer to College or School; Associate Dean shall refer to Associate Deans with faculty appointments. Chair shall refer to both Chair and Head; Director shall refer to academic program Directors who function analogously to Chairs.

 

II. Search Procedures

  1. The search procedures for the positions of Dean, Associate Dean, Chair, and Directors shall be consistent with campus-wide search procedures published by the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Equal Opportunity and Access.
  2. The appointing authority for Deans shall be the Provost, for Associate Deans shall be the appropriateDean, for Chairs shall be the appropriate Dean, and for Directors shall be the appropriate Dean or the Provost, depending on the Program. The appointing authority shall consult with the person to whom she or he reports before making an offer.
  3. A Search Committee for the Position of Dean shall be constituted and charged by the Provost (appointing authority). The Committee shall be made up of faculty and staff from within the College where the vacancyexists, at least one faculty member from outside the College affected, and at least one academic administrator above the level of Chair (usually a Dean). The majority of the Committee shall be faculty members selected by the appointing authority from a list of nominations provided by the College Personnel Committee. The College Personnel Committee shall solicit nominations and self-nominations of faculty from all departments in the College affected; members of the College Personnel Committee shall not be included in the list of nominations. The number of nominations provided by the College Personnel Committee to the appointing authority must be 1.5 times the number of vacancies to be filled through the nominations process. The appointment of one professional staff member from within the unit affected shall be made by the appointing authority after consultation with the Professional Staff Union (PSU). The appointment of one additional staff representative shall be left to the discretion of the appointing authority. The appointment of one undergraduate and one graduate student from within the unit affected shall be made by the appointing authority after consultation with the Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Senate, respectively. Appointment of individuals from outside the University shall be optional and at the discretion of the appointing authority. The chairperson of the Committee shall be selected by the appointing authority.
  4. A Search Committee for the Position of Chair shall be constituted and charged by the appropriate Dean (appointing authority). The Committee shall be made up of faculty from within the Department affected, plus at least one faculty member (usually a Chair) from outside the Department in which the vacancy exists, and, where appropriate, representation of staff from within the Department. At least three fifths of the Committee shall be departmental faculty members, selected by the appointing authority from a list of nominations provided by the Departmental Personnel Committee. The Departmental Personnel Committee shall solicit nominations and self- nominations of departmental faculty; a maximum of two members of the Departmental Personnel Committee may be included in the list of nominations, except for when there are no other departmental faculty members who are eligible to serve according to department bylaws. The number of nominations provided by the Departmental Personnel Committee to the appointing authority must be 1.5 times the number of vacancies to be filled through this nominations process. Additional faculty members may be selected by the appointing authority. The appointment of student representatives shall be left to the discretion of the appointing authority. The chairperson of the Committee shall be elected by the Search Committee.
  5. A Search Committee for the Position of Director shall be constituted and charged by the appropriate Dean or the Provost (appointing authority). The Committee shall be made up of faculty and staff who are knowledgeable about the Program and who represent those affected. In cases where a Program Personnel Committee exists, the faculty members shall be selected by the appointing authority after consultation with the Committee; in cases where there is no Personnel Committee but there is a Governing Board, the faculty members shall be selected by the appointing authority after consultation with that Board. The appointment of student and staff representatives shall be left to the discretion of the appointing authority. The chairperson of the Committee shall be elected by the Search Committee.
  6.  The appointing authority shall provide a written charge to the Search Committee, describing its responsibilities in recommending candidates for the position. The charge shall be developed in consultation with the Associate Vice Chancellor for Equal Opportunity and Access.
  7. Search procedures for Dean, Associate Dean, Chair, and Directors shall include announcements of vacancies and an opportunity for nominations and self-nominations.
  8. In the appointments of Deans and Directors, the appointing authority shall select the final candidate from a list provided by the Search Committee. The size and nature of the list shall have been mutually agreed on between the Search Committee and the appointing authority.
  9. In the case of Department Chairs, the Search Committee shall solicit feedback from faculty, staff and students and present its recommendation(s) to both the Department and the Dean. If a majority of the Departmental faculty accepts the Search Committee’s recommendation(s) and the Dean agrees, the Dean (appointing authority) shall, with the concurrence of the Provost, proceed with the appointment. If a majority of the Departmental faculty accepts the Search Committee’s recommendation(s) but the Dean does not, the Dean shall meet with the Department to try to achieve a resolution; if that fails, the matter shall be referred to the Provost for resolution. If a majority of the Departmental faculty rejects the Search Committee’srecommendation(s), the Dean shall meet with the Department and the Search Committee to try to resolve thedifficulty. If no resolution can be achieved, the Dean may (1) ask the Search Committee to reopen the search, (2) appoint a new Search Committee, or (3) refer the matter to the Provost for resolution.

 

III. Terms of Appointment

  1. Appointments to the positions of Dean, Associate Dean, Chair, and Director are to be made for a fixed period of time to be determined by the appointing authority in consultation with those in the unit affected, and according to the provisions of this document.
  2. The appointment of a Dean shall normally be made for a period of five years.
  3. The appointment of a faculty member to the position of Associate Dean shall normally be made for a period of five years.
  4. The appointment of a faculty member to the position of Chair of a Department shall normally be made for a period of at least three but not more than five years. The term of office within these limits shall be determined by the Dean after consultation with the Departmental Personnel Committee.
  5. The appointment of a faculty member to the position of Director of an academic program shall normally be made for a period of at least three but not more than five years. The term of office shall be determined by the Dean or the Provost after consultation with those individuals within and directly related to the Program.
  6. When the appointment is made, the administrative stipend and professional portions of the salary shall bespecified in writing. If and when the administrator assumes full-time faculty responsibilities his or her salary will be adjusted in accordance with the provisions established at the time of the administrative appointment.
  7. Reappointment of a Dean, Associate Dean, Chair, or Director of an academic program may only be made subsequent to an evaluation conducted according to procedures established by the Faculty Senate.

 

IV. Evaluation of Deans, Associate Deans, and Chairs

  1. Deans shall be evaluated during the fourth year of every fifth year in office.
  2. Associate Deans shall be evaluated during the fourth year of every fifth year in office.
  3. Chairs shall be evaluated during the terminal year of the appointment.
  4. Evaluations shall be conducted by the following evaluation bodies of the faculty:
    1. Evaluation of Chairs shall be conducted by the Departmental Personnel Committee orby a mechanism voted by the Departmental faculty.
    2. Evaluation of Associate Deans shall be conducted by a committee of five faculty members chosen as follows: (1) one member chosen by the College Personnel Committee from its own membership; (2) two members appointed by the College Personnel Committee, who are not members of the College Personnel Committee (3) two members appointed by the Dean; and (4) the Dean shall designate one of the five members to serve as chairperson of the Committee.
    3. Evaluation of Academic Deans shall be conducted by a committee of five faculty members chosen as follows:
      1. one member chosen by the College Personnel Committee from its own membership;
      2. Two members appointed by the College Personnel Committee, who are not members of the College Personnel Committee;
      3. two members appointed by the Provost; and
      4. the Provost shall designate one of the five members to serve as chairperson of the Committee.
    4. The responsibility for conducting the evaluation of the Graduate Dean shall rest with theGraduate Council and the Research Council; conduct of the evaluation of the Dean of the Commonwealth Honors College shall be the joint responsibility of the Commonwealth Honors College Council and Personnel Committee of the Commonwealth Honors College; and conduct of the evaluation of the Dean of the Library shall be the joint responsibility of the Research Library Council of the Faculty Senate and the Library Personnel Committee.
  5. Evaluation procedures. The several evaluations shall be conducted in accordance with the following procedures:
    1. In advance of the evaluation, in analogy with the Annual Faculty Report, the person to be evaluated shall have the opportunity to prepare a written statement of administrative achievements to be submitted to the evaluation body.
    2. Each evaluating body shall adopt a written set of procedures, criteria, and/or evaluating questions which shall form the basis for the evaluation. These procedures, criteria, and questions shall include:
      1. a means to solicit faculty opinion;
      2. a means to solicit student opinion;
      3. a means to solicit the opinions of the subject’s administrative superiors and, if appropriate, subordinates;
      4. a means to solicit opinions of other relevant constituencies; and
      5. a means to preserve the confidentiality of the evaluation data.
    3. Each evaluating body shall prepare a written report and shall invite written comments, to be appended, from the person evaluated.
    4. The written report, together with any appended comments, shall be distributed to the evaluated and their administrative superior. The superior shall receive an additional copyfor inclusion in the personnel file, in analogy with the annual evaluations of faculty members.
    5. Each appointing authority shall inform the Senate Secretary of the completed evaluations annually.
  6. Schedule of evaluations. The frequency of evaluations shall be as follows:
    1. Chairs shall be evaluated during the terminal year of their appointment. It shall be theresponsibility of the appointing authority to initiate the review. By petition of the majority of the departmental faculty (in the case of a Chair), an evaluation may be requested at any time.
    2. Associate Deans shall be evaluated during the terminal year of their appointment. The responsibility for the scheduling of reviews of Associate Deans shall be vested in the Dean’s Office. By petition of one-third of the faculty of a School, College or Faculty, an evaluation may be requested at any time.
    3. Academic Deans shall be evaluated during every fourth year in office. The responsibility for the scheduling of reviews of Deans shall be vested in the Provost’s Office. Not less thansix months prior to the date of the scheduled evaluation, the Provost shall advise the person to be evaluated of the anticipated evaluation. By petition of one-third of the faculty of a School, College or Faculty, an evaluation may be requested at any time.

 

V. Appointment of Interim Administrators

  1. Should a vacancy necessitate the appointment of an Interim Dean, Chair, or Director, the appointing authority shall make such an appointment, in the case of a Dean, after consultation with the College Personnel Committee and the Chairs of the College Departments, and in the case of the Chair, after consultation with the Departmental Personnel Committee, and in the case of the Director, after consultation with the Program Personnel Committee or Governing Board when there is no Personnel Committee.
  2. The normal term of appointment for an Interim Administrator should not exceed one year.
  3. If a search for a permanent Dean is conducted in a timely fashion but does not result in a permanent appointment by the end of one year, the administration may reappoint the Interim Dean for a second year or may appoint a new Interim Dean for a year, following the procedure described in (1) above.
  4. If a search for a permanent Dean is not initiated in time for the permanent appointment to take effect by the end of one year, the administration shall provide the Senate and the school/college faculty with a written explanation for the delay and, after good faith consultation with the School/College Personnel Committee and the Chairs of the School/College Departments, may reappoint the Interim Dean for a second year or appoint a new Interim Dean for a year.
  5. If a search for a permanent Dean has not been successfully concluded in time for the permanent appointment to take effect by the end of the second year of appointment of an Interim Dean, the following procedure for identifying an Interim Dean for the third year shall be followed:
    1. ​​​​​​​The School or College shall form an Ad Hoc Search Committee consisting of the Chairs of the Department Personnel Committees and the Chair of the School/College Personnel Committee. The Chair of the School/College Personnel Committee shall chair the Ad Hoc Search Committee. If a School or College has no departmental structure, theSchool/College Personnel Committee will serve as the Ad Hoc Search Committee.​​​​​​​
    2. This Ad Hoc Search Committee shall solicit nominations (including self- nominations) of candidates from among the tenure-system faculty in the School or College or from among the Librarians in the Library.​​​​​​​
    3. After consultation with the department Chairs, the Ad Hoc Search Committee shall forward to the Provost an unranked list of recommended candidates selected from among the nominees. Normally, this list should contain no fewer than three names.​​​​​​​
    4. The Provost shall appoint an Interim Dean from this list or, if none of the recommended candidates is acceptable to the Provost, shall request alternative candidates from the Ad Hoc Search Committee. If the Provost and the Ad Hoc Search Committee cannot reach agreement on the selection of an Interim Dean, the Chancellor shall attempt to assist the Provost and the Ad Hoc Search Committee in reaching agreement. If the Chancellor cannot effect an agreement, the Chancellor shall consult with the Rules Committee of the Senate about an appropriate procedure.​​​​​​​
    5. Such an appointment of an Interim Dean for a third year shall be for no longer than one year and shall be renewable only by following the process described in section 5.
  6. If a search for a permanent Chair is conducted in a timely fashion but does not result in a permanent appointment by the end of one year, the administration may reappoint the Interim Chair for a second year or may appoint a new Interim Chair for a year, following the procedure described in (1) above.
  7. If a search for a permanent department Chair is not initiated in time for the permanent appointment to take effect by the end of one year, the administration shall provide the Senate and department faculty with a written explanation for the delay and, after good faith consultation with the Department Personnel Committee, may reappoint the Interim Chair for a second year or appoint a new Interim Chair for a year.
  8. If a search for a permanent Chair has not been successfully concluded in time for the permanent appointment to take effect by the end of the second year of appointment of an Interim Chair, the following procedure for identifying an Interim Chair for the third year shall be followed:
    1. The department shall form an Ad Hoc Search Committee consisting of the members of theDepartment Personnel Committee. The Chair of the Department Personnel Committee shall chair the Ad Hoc Search Committee.​​​​​​​
    2. The Ad Hoc Search Committee shall solicit nominations (including self- nominations) of candidates from among the tenure-system faculty in the department.
    3. After consultation with the department faculty, the Ad Hoc Search Committee shall forward to the dean an unranked list of recommended candidates selected from among the nominees. Normally, this list should contain no fewer than three names.
    4. The Dean shall appoint an Interim Chair from this list or, if none of the recommended candidates is acceptable to the Dean, shall request alternative candidates from the Ad Hoc Search Committee. If the Dean and the Ad Hoc SearchCommittee cannot reach agreement on the selection of an Interim Chair, the Provost shall attempt to assist the Dean and the Ad Hoc Search Committee in reaching agreement. If the Provost cannot effect an agreement, the Provost shall consult with the Rules Committee of the Senate about an appropriate procedure.​​​​​​​
    5. The appointment of an Interim Chair for a third year shall be for no longer than one year and shall be renewable only by following the process described in section 8.

 

VI. Appointment of Acting Administrators

  1. ​​​​​​​Should a vacancy necessitate the appointment of an Acting Dean or Chair, the appointing authority shall make such an appointment, in the case of a Dean, after consultation with the College Personnel Committee and the Chairs of the College Departments, and in the case of the Chair, after consultation with the Departmental Personnel Committee.
  2. The normal term of appointment of an Acting Administrator should not exceed one year. The appointment authority may extend the term of office of an Acting Administrator only with the consent of the College Personnel Committee or the Departmental Personnel Committee, whichever is appropriate.

 

VII. Removal Procedures for Administrators​​​​​​​

  1. If, at any time during an Administrator’s appointment, a sizable portion of the Department (in the case of a Chair) or of the College (in the case of a Dean or Associate Deans) seeks removal of the Administrator, a petition, containing the reasons for the request and signatures of the petitioner, shall be submitted to the appropriate appointing authority. A copy of the petition without names or signatures shall be sent to the Administrator. The appointing authority, after consulting with the affected Administrator, the petitioners and the Departmental faculty in the case of a Chair or the College Chairs and the College Personal Committee in the case of a Dean Associate Dean, shall make a decision regarding the removal of the Administrator. The decision shall be conveyed in writing to the Administrator and the petitioners.​​​​​​​
  2. If, at any time during an Administrator’s appointment, the appointing authority believes there is just cause for removal, the appointing authority must first consult with the affected Administrator and faculty in the affected unit, and then notify the Administrator in writing of the action to be taken. Copies of the notification shall be sent to the Provost in the case of a Chair or Associate Dean and the Chancellor in the case of a Dean, as well as to the Departmental Personnel Committee in the case of a Chair and the College Personnel Committee in the case of a Dean and Associate Dean.​​​​​​​
  3. An Administrator who has been notified by the appointing authority of her and his impending removal from office shall have the right to appeal the decision to the Provost (in the case of a Chair or Associate Dean or the Chancellor (in the case of a Dean). The decision at the appeal level shall be final.

Sources: Trustee Doc. 93-080, 82-021, 86-014A,  90-029, 90-029A, 90-29C1, The Morris Report, 24-032

Academic Leadership Appointments Policies
Search, Appointment, and Evaluation Procedures for Deans, Associate Deans, Academic Department Chairs and Heads, and Academic Program Directors

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