Your role as a Department Leader involves many new responsibilities and building new relationships across the College. This position comes with challenges and opportunities to grow and will certainly never be boring.
Please see the newest Department Leader Handbook (2023) which provides helpful orientation info.
The IAs are here to help you navigate the transition, and assist with some key areas of your job: mentorship/connecting with other department leaders, developing a department online/blended learning strategy, annual program reviews, program renewal, hiring and orienting new faculty, developing faculty teaching skills, and curriculum development and revision.
Three key transitions for new department leaders described by John Bennet (cited in Hecht, et. al) are:
Irene W. D. Hecht, Mary Lou Higgerson, Walter H . Gmelch, Allan Tucker. “Roles and Responsibilities of Department Chairs.” The Department Chair as Academic Leader (Phoenix, AZ: ACE Oryx Press, 1999). Chapter 2. Retrieved from http://college.emory.edu/faculty/documents/articles/power-of-department-chair.pdf.
The framework below for a department leader’s responsibilities falling into 8 core areas can be useful for both understanding and being effective in your role.
Image based on roles identified in Hecht, et.al. (1999)’s paper “Roles and Responsibilities of Department Chairs" (PDF).
