Policy Title

Procedures:  In many instances, department chairs serve as program directors for the major and/or minor programs they oversee as part of their assigned duties. In departments with sufficient complexity, separate program directors may be appointed by the dean to oversee individual academic programs.

Appointment: When a program director position becomes vacant, the department chair will, in consultation with the dean, review faculty rosters to identify qualified individuals for consideration, discuss the opportunity with qualified individuals, establish an appropriate selection process should more than one individual be qualified and show interest, establish the job description and appropriate reassigned time to fulfill the program director duties. The dean provides a letter of appointment to the selected candidate. For additional details, see the Faculty Reassigned Time policy. 

Roles and Responsibilities:  The primary role of the program director is to foster a quality educational program for students. In general, program directors are responsible for the following duties:   

• Provides oversight to ensure program quality.
• Conducts program meetings and acts as liaison between chair and program faculty.
• Proposes changes in the curriculum, degree requirements, etc. to the chair after approval of faculty.
• Recommends yearly course offerings, course rotations, and class times to the chair.
• Prepares program reports and facilitates and/or assists with external accreditation activities and/or academic program reviews.
• Participates in recruitment and marketing activities, including new student orientations and admissions events.
• Coordinates review of program goal and assessment data with program faculty; recommends programmatic changes based on that review; and submits annual program assessment reports that documents program revisions resulting from use of data.
• Reviews program information for accuracy and consistency, both in print and in electronic formats, including catalog and web site content.
• Coordinates advising for the program.
•  Additional duties as assigned by the department chair or dean and/or determined by accreditation requirements.
• When an academic program is stand alone, and under the administrative oversight of the college dean, the role of the program director may include additional responsibilities and a different term of appointment.

Evaluation: Program directors submit annual reports using Faculty180 as the basis for annual performance evaluation by the department chair and dean. The timeframe and deadlines for program directors to submit their annual reports are established by each college. The annual report documents the program director’s activities and achievements in the four categories of faculty role for which they are accountable—Student Intellectual Development, Scholarly Activity, Professional Stewardship, and Academic Responsibility—as well as in their performance meeting program director responsibilities as articulated in their job descriptions. Chairs review program director annual reports and provide a written evaluative response that addresses each of the four categories as well as performance in meeting program director responsibilities. In cases where the department chair serves as the program director, the dean evaluates the chair’s performance in both chair and program director roles. The chair and dean will review the program director’s performance to determine whether the arrangement should continue the following year. 

Compensation: Faculty members, excluding department chairs, who assume added responsibilities as academic degree program directors typically receive three credit/contact hours of reassigned time per year. Undergraduate or graduate program directors may receive additional reassigned time during the year if they have some combination of the following factors: an exceptionally large or complex program; exceptionally demanding accreditation requirements; exceptional recruitment responsibilities; and/or exceptionally complex assessment requirements. Teaching loads and associated reassigned time for program directors will be adjusted by the chair and dean through the annual evaluation process as circumstances change. When an academic program is stand alone, and under the administrative oversight of the college dean, the program director may have a different term of appointment and receive additional compensation, as approved by the dean and Chief Academic Officer. For additional details, see the Faculty Reassigned Time policy. 

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