Resources for Department Chairs

New Academic Department Chairs often have many questions and need to know where to turn for answers. Since most colleges have a unique mission, culture, and past experiences, one of the best places to start is with your Dean, Associate Deans, and other Chairs in your college. They can share the “how it is done in this college” perspective that is not captured in most university-wide documents.

But like you, they are busy people and may be difficult to find when you need an answer. Plus, you may want to check the accuracy of their answers (legends and myths become reality when repeated enough). Being able to find the answer yourself will make you a more successful academic department Chair. Where should you start?

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Academic Contacts

Under Academic Affairs, the Faculty Success webpage is full of links to areas that can help. While there is a section specifically labeled “Resources for Department Chairs,” many other topics are covered such as Classroom Resources, Faculty Development, Research & Grant Writing, Governance, Policy & Procedures, and Student Support Referrals. Every department Chair should spend some time reviewing the resource links on this page. The various links will take you to the answers to many of the questions you may have.

One of the links on the Faculty Success webpage will take you to the Faculty Handbook and while the version is as of December 2018 and therefore some of the information is dated, there is a wealth of topics addressed that are useful to know.

To locate the Leadership Team and the Provost Office staff in Academic Affairs go to https://www.shsu.edu/dept/academic-affairs/leadership. You can find the duties of the Provost Staff here.

Understanding the university’s Academic Policies is essential to the department Chair. Those policies can be found here.

Every year, the department Chair will update the catalog. In addition, you may want to create new courses, programs, minors, or certificates. Academic Planning and Program Development is the office to contact for help.

Both the department and the academic programs will need to be assessed. Help with this process is available here.

Registrar’s Office Contacts

Class scheduling and managing class enrollment involve the Registrar’s Office. Class scheduling and managing class enrollments are ongoing activities. For setting up your semester schedule, here are some Schedule Build Resources. During the registration period, to add seats to a section email. Forms for canceling a course, course maintenance, instructor change, etc. are available here.

In addition to class scheduling and maintenance, the Registrar’s Office is also where you will find the Academic Calendar, the Final Exam Schedule, the Registration Schedule, and Add, Drop, and Resignation Deadlines.