AA/PPS 01.02.11 - Role, Evaluation, and Step-Down Salaries of Department Chairs and School Directors

POLICY STATEMENT

Texas State University is committed to hiring, supporting, and evaluating department chairs and school directors to effectively fulfill roles and responsibilities at the department, school, college, and university levels.

1. PURPOSE

   1. The division of Academic Affairs at Texas State University is organized administratively into programs, departments, schools, and colleges. This policy describes the roles and responsibilities of department chairs and school directors, including performance evaluation procedures.

2. ROLE OF DEPARTMENT CHAIRS AND SCHOOL DIRECTORS

   1. Department chairs and school directors are the chief executives of their departments and schools and are responsible for the implementation of university, college, department, and school policies and for the development, coordination, and administration of all academic programs and activities within their departments and schools. As representatives of their departments and schools, chairs and directors articulate program aspirations, directions, standards, and points of view to other groups inside and outside university community.

   2. The chair and director represent the personnel committee and other faculty and staff in negotiations, considerations, or discussions relative to policy decisions under consideration by other divisions of the university, particularly when those decisions will have a direct or indirect impact on academic issues. Through consultation with and assistance of the personnel committee, the chair and director facilitate and further the day-to-day functions of the unit.

   3. The role and duties of chairs and directors are defined by their responsibilities at the university, college, department, and school levels. These roles and duties include:

      1. University Responsibilities

         1. participating with all administrative officers of the university in the development of academic standards and supporting those standards in all interactions with faculty, students, staff, and the public; and

         2. being familiar with, following, and administering all university and Academic Affairs policies in their departments and schools.

      2. College Responsibilities

         1. knowing existing college policies, participating in the formulation of new policies, and assisting in the implementation of those policies;

         2. assisting and supporting the dean in providing professional and academic leadership for the college, including strategic planning and budget management; and

         3. representing their departments and schools to other departments and schools within the college and to the dean.

      3. * Department and School Responsibilities

         1. in consultation with the dean, maintaining a role as faculty member through activities such as teaching, performing research, scholarship and creative work, and engaging in internal and external professional service;

         2. providing effective and efficient leadership that fosters shared governance.

            Shared governance includes collaboration with the voting faculty and personnel committee in the execution of primary responsibilities for the department and school as required by university policy, as well as seeking regular guidance from the broader faculty and staff. While shared governance is expected in policy and practice, departments and schools may vary in how shared governance is understood and operationalized. Often shared governance will take the form of the participation of personnel committee members or voting faculty in the development of policies and procedures for the unit. Departments and schools may, at their discretion, articulate policies requiring the chair and director to engage directly with faculty and staff in conducting specific departmental affairs. Typical areas of shared governance include:

            1. developing and implementing strategic plans for the department and school;

            2. overseeing and managing the department and school budget and budgets of specific programs housed in the department and school;

            3. recruiting highly qualified faculty while adhering to university goals and guidelines;

            4. administering an academic advising plan for students taking courses in the department and school;

            5. overseeing the development of all faculty and staff;

            6. administering the department and school annual review process, including all salary, merit, and tenure and promotion reviews, for faculty and staff;

            7. administering and reporting faculty workloads; and

            8. overseeing curriculum development and monitoring to assure relevance, conformance with current discipline-specific practices, enrollment growth, and contribution to student success.

         3. approving academic program coordinators;

         4. approving outcomes assessments for academic programs;

         5. providing oversight of department and school academic program reviews and accreditation processes

         6. recruiting qualified staff while adhering to guidelines;

         7. supervising and overseeing training of department and school staff;

         8. communicating all critical matters to the dean;

         9. facilitating effective communication between faculty and administration, including presiding over regular department and school meetings and representing the department and school at college council meetings;

         10. preparing the department’s and school’s schedule of classes and organizing, supervising, and monitoring department and school course registrations each semester; and

         11. providing individual counsel to students, staff, and faculty to resolve or reconcile differences.

3. PROCEDURE FOR EVALUATION OF CHAIRS AND DIRECTORS

   1. The dean of each college is responsible for conducting an annual and systematic evaluation of each chair and director in the college. The purpose of this evaluation is to assess the chair’s and director’s job performance.

4. ANNUAL EVALUATION PROCEDURES

   1. The college dean will develop a process for conducting annual evaluations of each chair and director. At a minimum, this process will include:

      1. soliciting the faculty’s evaluation of their chair and director, using a performance-based instrument with a core of questions used throughout the university;

      2. reviewing the chair’s and director’s performance with regard to department and school goals, objectives, initiatives, and policies;

      3. conducting a personal interview with the chair and director and reviewing other information pertinent to job performance; and teaching, scholarly, and professional service responsibilities;

      4. providing evaluation results, along with recommendations for the improvement of job performance, to the department’s chair and director, faculty, and staff;

      5. providing a written summary of the chair’s and director’s evaluation results to the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs (EVPAA); and

      6. initiating the annual evaluation, obtaining faculty and staff input by March 10, and reaching closure on the process no later than April 15 of each academic year.

5. PROCEDURES FOR SUMMATIVE REVIEW

   1. At least once every four years, in addition to the annual evaluation described in Section 04., the dean of the college will provide a summative review of the chair’s and director’s performance to the faculty and staff of the department and school and the provost and EVPAA by March 30.

      1. This review will be based upon a comprehensive written evaluation of the chair’s and director’s work during the previous three annual evaluations and the current year. The review will include, but not be limited to, a careful consideration of the views of the faculty, staff, and students.

      2. The dean will call (or attend) two meetings of the unit’s personnel: an introductory meeting for all stakeholders to set out the procedures and timeline for the review and the concluding meeting described in Section 05.01 e.

      3. The summative evaluation process will include a non-voting external observer from outside the college to which the chair and director belongs – a faculty senator or past senator who has broad knowledge of university policies and procedures. The Faculty Senate, in collaboration with the college dean, will appoint the external observer. At a minimum, the external observer will attend the introductory meeting. Throughout the review process, the external reviewer will be available to all stakeholders to receive comments in confidence and to convey them to the dean, preserving anonymity.

      4. Colleges are encouraged to employ confidential methods of gathering input from department and school faculty of all ranks, staff members, students who have interacted with the chair or director in their role as chief executive of the unit, and other constituencies, as may be appropriate.

      5. After soliciting and receiving information from faculty, staff, students, and the external observer, the dean will meet with the personnel committee in the chair’s and director’s department and school to discuss the chair’s and director’s performance. The chair and director shall not attend this meeting.

      6. The review will include a recommendation considering the reappointment of the chair that is the result of a secret ballot vote of the personnel committee, which has been tallied by two of its members.

      7. The dean will also meet with the chair and director so that the chair and director may explain or respond to their preliminary evaluation.

      8. The dean will provide the chair and director with a summative review recommending reappointment or non-renewal as chair and director.

      9. The chair and director may respond to the dean in writing.

      10. The dean’s recommendation will be forwarded to the provost and EVPAA and president for their approval or rejection.

      11. If the provost and EVPAA and president agree that continued service as chair and director is appropriate, the results of the summative review will serve as the basis for developing performance expectations for the following four-year period.

   2. The provost and EVPAA will develop a schedule for conducting summative reviews that will result in approximately one-fourth of the chairs and directors undergoing a summative review each year.

   3. Although the summative review outlined in this policy is normally conducted once every four years, nothing in the above sections shall be interpreted to prohibit more frequent summative reviews at the discretion of the provost and EVPAA nor to contradict the policy stated in the Texas State University System Rules and Regulations, that “administrative officers … shall serve without fixed term subject to the pleasure of the president and the Board.”

6. PROCEDURES FOR COMPENSATION OF CHAIRS AND DIRECTORS RETURNING TO FACULTY

   1. Compensation for chairs and directors returning to faculty will vary based on longevity and tenure in office.

   2. In general, chairs and directors typically will receive a nine-month salary equal to 75 percent of their 12-month salary, exclusive of a chair’s and director’s stipend, if applicable. In unusual cases of successful and lengthy tenure, chairs may receive more than the typical return-to-faculty salary. In cases of short or unsuccessful tenures, chairs and directors may receive less than the typical return-to-faculty salary.

   3. In those colleges with significant salary compression or other unusual circumstances, chair’s and director’s step-down salaries will be no less than the average of tenured faculty at the chair’s and director’s rank.

7. REVIEWER OF THIS PPS

   1. Reviewer of this PPS includes the following

      Position	Date
      Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs	October 1 E5Y

8. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

   This PPS has been approved by the following individual in their official capacity and represents Texas State Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded.

   Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs; senior reviewer of this PPS