WWU Department Chair Check List

This is a check list for new and continuing department chairs. It includes information all departmental chairs should know when assuming the role as the leader of their unit. Most of this information will come from the outgoing chair or director, but it may be necessary to contact members of the Dean’s office or other University officers for information about some of these items.

Faculty Issues / Check / Date
Where is each tenure track facultymember in their promotion and tenureschedule? That is, when does each ofthe department’sfacultymembers come up for tenure, promotion, and peer-review?
Where is each NTT faculty member in their evaluation schedule and progress toward senior instructor?
Are there any specialorunusual contractualagreements with faculty
members regarding their tenure andpromotion? Forinstance,have any facultymembers been given credit forprior service orhas their tenure clock been alteredforsome reason?
Have you reviewed the WWU-faculty collective bargaining unit agreement, as well as the departmental and college evaluation plans?
Do you have a copy in the office of every faculty member’s current CV?
Does the department have clear faculty search procedures? What planning has already been done for new positions?
Development and Fund Raising
What is the department’s development or fund raising plan?
What departmental development efforts are on going?
Are there importantdonors,contacts,orother relationshipthat need to be maintainedor pursued?
What kind of development activitiesdoes the department conduct on aregular basis,i.e. newsletters,receptions, etc.?
Curriculumand Course Scheduling
How does the course scheduling process work?
How does the department decide who teacheswhat?
Are all faculty teachingtheir contractualload?
What are the deadlines forthe course schedule?
Who in the unit actuallydoes the scheduling?(You are ultimately responsible.)
Curriculumand Course Scheduling (cont.)
Do you have a list of availablevacancy-pool faculty that can be used forextra sections or when regular facultyare not available to teach? (You need to follow vacancy pool policies in hiring NTT faculty.)
What is the process for departmental curriculum approval?
Budgeting
Have youreviewed the Department’s budget with the faculty and staff?
What does the department budget look like? That is, what is the unit’s
total budget, howis it allocated,and how much fromother income such as Foundation and self-sustaining funds?
What budget codesdoes the department have and what are their
purposes? Are there restrictions attached to specific codes?
Who does the purchasing for the department?
Do you have a departmental creditcard and who controls it?
How are travel expenses approved and processed?
How are equipment and maintenance costs approved and processed?
Assessment
What is the department’s assessment plan?
Who is responsiblefor assessment?
How often do you conduct assessment?
How is the assessment information used in reviewing and restructuringcourses andprograms?
Advising
What is the department’s advising plan?
Who is responsiblefor advising at thegraduateand undergraduatelevels?
What is the department doing to increase student retention and graduationrates?
Doyouhave clear advising information on your webpage?
Office Staff andOfficeFunctions
Is your office properly staffed?
Does the office staff understand what their roles are and do you?
Office Staff andOfficeFunctions (cont.)
Does the office keep the regular office hours, which is normally from8 to 5?
Have you reviewed appropriate union contracts?
Who covers the office during the lunch hourand other times when the
officestaff might be absent?
Grants and Contracts
What grants and contractsdofacultymembers in the departmenthave?
Who is responsible forthe budgets ofthese grants orcontracts?
What new grants or contractproposalsareintheworks?
EnrollmentManagement
What are your department enrollment targetsfor the year andwhat
mixture of courses will you use to meet these targets?
What are the trends in department’s enrollment inthe last fiveyears? Isyourenrollment increasing,decreasing,orchanging in other ways?
Where do you expectyour enrollment to be in five years?
Have you reviewed recent departmental annual reports?
Student Success
How many majors do you have in each program, and how many graduateeachyear?
What steps has the department taken toincrease retention and graduation
rates?
By-Laws
Does the department have up-to-date by-laws?
Does you department have up-to-date faculty and staff evaluation procedures?
Have these by-laws been approved by the Dean’s office?
Does every facultymember have access to the by-laws?