Department Chair and Program Director Handbook

Every new full-time faculty member (tenure-track and term) is assigned a faculty mentor. The Chair/Director and the Associate Dean will discuss who would be a good fit with the new faculty member. The Associate Dean will then contact the mentor and the new faculty member.

In addition to the "formal" mentor, new faculty may also have informal mentors. It is usually the case that new faculty will seek and get advice from a variety of people. Faculty may need mentoring and advice in any area of their career, including establishing an independent research program, effective teaching, and meaningful service. Mentoring in the department or program might include identifying resources for research projects or materials, going over the syllabi, observing in the classroom, offering suggestions for classroom management, and helping identify useful and appropriate service opportunities.

The Center for Teaching Excellence hosts a wide array of teaching resources for all faculty including workshops, reading groups, learning communities, and online materials.

Please refer to the Part-time Faculty Association Collective Bargaining Agreement for complete information on the terms and conditions of adjunct faculty work at USF.

Interview and Hire Process

Chairs/Directors may contact their professional networks and lists to identify new adjunct hires. When needed, adjunct jobs may be posted on the USF Careers website. Please contact casadminservices@office.usfca.edu to post positions.

Once an applicant is identified, the Chair/Director interviews applicants and makes recommendations to the Associate Dean. It is expected that adjuncts either have or are completing a terminal degree, or have equivalent experience. The decision regarding the acceptable academic credentials of the applicant should be made by the Chair/Director and the department/program's faculty in consultation with the Associate Dean.

Once the Chair/Director identifies a candidate to recommend, they should email their area Associate Dean with the following information:

•     Applicant name, address, phone number, and email
•     CV
•     Rationale for hire
•     Additional documentation if applicable – teaching evaluations, website, portfolio, etc.
•     Course CRN, title, number, and location

The area Associate Dean may choose to interview the applicant, and ultimately, the Associate Dean is responsible for hiring the applicant. Once the hire has been approved by the Associate Dean, the applicant will be sent a letter of intent to hire by the dean's office. (This letter is not a contract; contracts are sent out on census date for the course.)

Soon after the letter of intent to hire is sent to a new adjunct, the new adjunct is entered into USFWorks. USFWorks will send an email with a welcome and onboarding instructions to the new hire. Once the new adjunct has completed online onboarding, Banner will generate a CWID within 48 hours.  After the CWID is generated, the Assistant Director of Academic Planning enters the new adjunct into the course schedule. At this point, the new adjunct will be able to access USF email, Canvas, and online library resources.

In order to finalize the hire, the new adjunct must visit the Human Resources Office (Lone Mountain Main 339) on or before their first day to complete a Form I-9. They must bring supporting documentation from the List of Acceptable Form I-9 Documents that Human Resources will provide. Once the hiring is finalized by Human Resources, the new adjunct will be able to set up their OneCard. If the new adjunct is outside the Bay Area, they should call HR to find an authorized location near them to complete the I-9.

Contracts are sent to the new adjunct's USF email account on the Census Date for assigned course(s), when sufficient enrollment has been confirmed for the course. In the meantime, we encourage new adjuncts to view the Part-Time Faculty New Hire Checklist which includes resources to get started at USF.

Teaching Evaluations

The Chair/Director may look at the evaluations of adjunct faculty. They should make the request to the program assistant of the area Associate Dean (cc the Associate Dean). It is strongly recommended that departments develop a systematic approach to monitoring, evaluating, and mentoring adjunct faculty to ensure strong performance.

Syllabi

Before the semester begins, the Chair/Director should review adjunct faculty's syllabi. While it is not mandatory that an adjunct faculty member use the syllabus originally approved for a course, the syllabus must meet the CAS syllabus guidelines, match the approved course description that appears in the catalog, and maintain the same course learning outcomes that were originally approved.

Class Visits

The Chair/Director or a designated full-time faculty member in the department is encouraged to visit an adjunct's class at least once during their first semester of teaching at USF to provide them with feedback. The Chair/Director may continue to visit an adjunct's class in subsequent semesters as follow-up.

Scheduling

When the Chair/Director makes up the schedule, they can list courses to be taught by adjunct faculty with "TBA" (rather than a name). Once an adjunct faculty member has successfully taught for the department, the Chair/Director can include the adjunct faculty's name in the schedule so that students can be informed of who will be teaching the class. Please note that adjunct faculty (PHP and non-PHP) do not have the right to decide what days and times they will teach nor request the specific classroom they wish to teach in.

Maximum Teaching Load

Adjunct faculty may teach no more than 8 units per term (fall, spring, or summer) and no more than 24 units in a calendar year, regardless of whether they teach in other schools at USF. In rare exceptions, an adjunct faculty member may be allowed to teach more than 8 units in a given semester. Chair/Directors must first receive authorization from the Associate Dean before assigning an adjunct to more than 8 units, and the Associate Dean must seek approval from the Provost’s Office. Unit overages should only be requested due to unusual circumstances and after all other options have been explored. Adjunct faculty must also not exceed the maximum total weekly work hours defined by the Affordable Care Act policies. Please consult with your Associate Dean for more details.

Salary

The salary for adjunct faculty is set contractually as a result of collective bargaining between the USF Part-time Faculty Association and the University. Contact the Dean's Office for current pay scales for PHP, PHP 2, and non-PHP adjunct faculty.

If a course is cancelled fewer than 25 days prior to the first day of class in the Fall semester and fewer than 14 days prior to the start for the Spring semester, adjunct faculty are paid a 10% cancellation fee, or 15% if a course is cancelled the day before class or later. The fee does not apply if the adjunct is assigned a different class, or if the class is converted to directed study. If a class is cancelled before the 25 day window begins, no compensation is paid to the adjunct faculty member.

Reduced Enrollment Courses (Adjunct only)

Some low enrolled courses taught by adjunct faculty may be allowed to run by converting to a Reduced Enrollment Course or "REC". According to the collectively bargained agreement between the administration and the Part-Time Faculty Association, REC (Reduced Enrollment Course rate) is no longer a strict pro-rate, but instead is a single alternate rate - 10/12 (83.3%) - for courses that are at 10 or below on Census Date.  This was intended to provide better protection to adjunct faculty against late “melt” (initially registered students who do not continue through to Census Day), since it provides a clear floor below which compensation will not fall.  
The advantages of REC courses include:

• Adjunct faculty will retain their classroom, class time, and their Canvas site.
• Adjunct faculty will receive the same compensation as they would if the course converted to Directed Study, but without the paperwork hassles and potential delay in payment.
• Adjunct faculty may count REC courses that are evaluated towards PHP eligibility (whereas Directed Study courses are not evaluated nor counted towards PHP eligibility); teaching evaluations are generated when four or more students complete teaching evaluations.

Adjunct faculty are not required to accept the conversion of a low enrolled course to REC, and if the proposed conversion takes place within the 25 day window before classes begin in the Fall semester (or 14 days, in the case of the Spring semester, or 7 days in the case of Summer and Intersession), the adjunct unwilling to accept conversion is eligible for a 10% course cancellation fee. If conversion is expected or proposed by the Dean’s Office prior to that window, an adjunct who is also a PHP member may have the right to request another course originally assigned to a non-PHP member, or if there are no courses assigned to non-PHP, then the department may offer a course taught by a PHP faculty with the least PHP seniority date, as these constitute best practices associated with PHP faculty course assignments.
Formal notification of adjunct faculty teaching low enrolled courses to be converted to REC will come from the Dean's office, but Chairs/Directors/Coordinators are responsible for communicating with adjunct faculty, particularly those being assigned a course that is already low enrolled, so they are not under the impression that an assignment of a low enrolled course will be compensated at 100%.

Establishing a good relationship with departmental staff is of utmost importance. The program assistant (PA) and other staff are the ones who keep the department running on a day-to-day basis. The Chair/Director and the staff are a team that works together to ensure the smooth operation of the department or program. Every new chair/director should meet with the staff to discuss their duties and expectations for each other. It is also a good idea to set up a regular meeting time to check in and make sure that everything is running efficiently.

OPE and Exempt Staff

Program assistants belong to the OPE union. Their salaries are collectively bargained and their job duties are clearly defined. Chairs/Directors should not ask PAs to perform tasks outside of their duties or take on excess work, such as staying overtime or coming in on a weekend. Please consult the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs with any questions about PA workload. Many other full-time staff are exempt. Exempt staff are not unionized, and their duties and compensation vary widely. They typically perform more specialized tasks, and their hours are more loosely defined. However, chairs and directors should communicate with them clearly about their work hours so that they will fulfill the expected needs in the program.

Performance Appraisal

In October of each year, the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs holds an informal meeting with each PA and follows up with the Chair/Director as needed. In March of each year, the Chair/Director will be asked by the Dean's Office to meet with their PA about their performance and fill out an evaluation. This evaluation serves as a recommendation to the Dean's Office and is considered as one of the determinants for evaluating performance. The PA then meets with the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs to discuss performance and goals. This exact procedure may vary, so please be sure to follow the guidelines and deadlines provided by the Dean's Office in March.

Department chairs and/or program directors will also be asked to provide feedback for any exempt staff, who will meet with their supervisors in the Dean's Office at the end of the academic year to discuss performance.

Supervising Staff

Although the Chair or Director oversees much of the activity of the departmental staff, the formal OPE Supervisor is the Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. The Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs will rely on the input and judgment of the Chair and Director, but is ultimately responsible for hiring, formal evaluation, discipline, and termination.

All faculty, both full-time and part-time, must fill out a Request to Be Absent From Class form if they need to miss a class due to planned, legitimate university business or professional development, or jury duty. Faculty who miss class must find an appropriate substitute instructor or equivalent guided instruction or activity. Extra out-of-class assignments or reading does not satisfy this requirement. The Chair/Director must sign off on this form before it comes to the Dean's Office. The form must be submitted to the Dean's Office for approval before the day(s) of absence. In the case of emergencies where the faculty member is unable to prepare this in advance, s/he should notify their Program Assistant, Chair/Director, students, and the Dean's Office Program Assistant in their area as soon as possible.

Faculty may invite professionals from outside the university to substitute during an absence; however, they will need to be added to the system as a "visiting scholar" and go through a criminal background check before the substitution date. To initiate this process, please complete an affiliate form and submit it to humanresources@usfca.edu.

Please refer to Article 17 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for complete information on the promotion and tenure process. Unlike many other universities, departments/programs and chairs/directors do not play an official role in the process of promotion or granting of tenure. Peer review committees do not solicit nor do they expect to receive any assessment of the candidate by the department or program, or from the department chair or program director. The candidate may choose to approach the Chair/Director, or individual members of the department or program, and request a letter of recommendation to be included in the application for tenure and/or promotion.
Faculty should not ask the Program Assistant or student workers (including RA's or TA's) to assist them in preparing tenure and promotion materials. This is not considered part of the PAs' or students' job descriptions.
Similarly, departmental or program funds should not be used to assist faculty in preparing their tenure and promotion materials. The University will pay for reasonable duplicating costs and those associated with the purchase of books directly relevant to the candidate's promotion and tenure file. Candidates should contact their Associate Dean for reimbursement of duplicating costs and book purchases.
 

It can be useful to hold occasional retreats in order to address large-scale issues that cannot be covered during regular meetings. Examples include overhauling the curriculum, preparing the self-study or responding to an external review, or planning for assessment. It may also be useful to hold a retreat to promote team-building or increase communication.
The retreat can take place either on- or off-campus. Off-campus locations can encourage faculty to focus on the discussion at hand and avoid distractions.
Retreats should be held at a minimum of expense, e.g., some departments will hold a potluck if the retreat coincides with a mealtime, or off-campus locations may include the home of a faculty member. On occasion, the Dean's office may be able to provide minimal funding; the Chair/Director should work with the Associate Dean to handle the details.
 

Each department or program should have by-laws that spell out the format, frequency, and general rules for periodic meetings. The by-laws should also describe methods for decision-making, departmental and program roles, and other relevant governing information. Departments and programs may also choose to update their by-laws periodically; the by-laws should contain the methodology for their amendment.
The Chair/Director is responsible for acting on the needs of the department or program, and is also expected to offer a vision for the department or program. A primary way in which this is done is through periodic meetings, since the Chair/Director sets the agenda. Any faculty member has the right to put an item on the agenda, but the Chair/Director ultimately makes the decision about what is discussed in the limited time available. For example, some Chairs/Directors disseminate information that needs no discussion by email. This method may save time, not only because faculty can read the information before the meetings, but also because often even bringing up relatively uncontroversial items at a meeting can lead to lengthy and non-productive discussions. The agenda should contain only substantive issues that can be clarified by an honest and open discussion.
In general, departments or programs meet once a month, but the Chair/Director can call for additional meetings as necessary. The Chair/Director should book the meetings well ahead of time — at the beginning of the semester if possible — so that all members know when all scheduled meetings will take place. At least a week before a scheduled meeting, the Chair/Director should distribute a preliminary agenda and ask members if they have other items they wish to place on the agenda.
All full-time faculty are expected to attend these meetings. Departments or programs may decide whether they wish for adjunct faculty to attend; this should be addressed in the by-laws. The department may ask the Program Assistant (PA) to attend the meetings and take the minutes. The PA should be excused if there are agenda items deemed inappropriate (e.g., PA workload).
 

Academic Program Review (APR) is a process of regular, systematic review and evaluation of academic programs and departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. The purpose is to evaluate the quality of academic programs to identify strengths and weaknesses so that priorities can be established for program improvement and modification. The goal is to promote and maintain academic excellence and ensure that programs are being efficiently administered, meeting their program learning outcomes and working in ways consistent with the University's mission and values.
The typical review cycle is seven years, although the Dean may choose to reduce or lengthen that if necessary.
Details about the APR process, including the current schedule of APRs, USF’s Academic Program Review Guidelines, and the CAS APR Guide for Departments and Programs, are available in the "Academic Program Review" section of the Academic Effectiveness page.
The CAS APR Guide, as of August 2017, is located in Appendix X.
The Chair/Director is responsible for overseeing the department/program tasks for the APR; however, the Chair/Director should delegate tasks so that all full-time faculty are engaged with the APR process. It is crucial that all full-time faculty members participate in writing the self-study; at a minimum, all full-time faculty members must have the opportunity to review and contribute to the document. All full-time faculty members, as well as adjunct faculty, staff, and students will have an opportunity to talk with the reviewers. The Chair/Director works with the Office of the Associate Dean for Academic Effectiveness to ensure that tasks are completed on time, the reviewers have access to the information they need for their evaluation, and the Action Plan is created.
 

The Executive Director of Business Affairs monitors each department's budget along with the Chair/Director. All budgetary documents including the monthly statement are available in Banner. In order to learn how to view and manage the budget, the Chair/Director should arrange to meet with a member of the Office of Budget and Planning for Banner Finance training.

Major/Minor Fair

One method for recruiting new students is participation in the Major/Minor Fair. This event occurs during the Fall semester; an e-mail is sent in advance inviting faculty to participate. Each department and program is assigned a table; it should be staffed with faculty who can answer questions posed by potential majors and minors. It is important to have a supply of handouts for the students, listing the courses needed to complete the major/minor and potential job areas for graduates. It is also a good idea to ask one or two current major/minor students to come and talk with prospective majors/minors.

Advising Undeclared Students

An excellent way to recruit for the department or program is to advise undeclared students. If you are interested in pursuing this, contact the Center for Academic and Student Achievement (CASA).

Introductory Core Courses, First-Year Seminars, and Students in Transition Seminars

Many departments and programs have found that introductory courses that fulfill a Core requirement are an excellent means for recruiting new students. First-Year Seminars or Students in Transition seminars are also excellent ways to publicize majors and programs to incoming students, and departments are strongly encouraged to consider offering them.
 

Advising is a time-intensive process, but one that can be extremely valuable for both faculty and students. It is an opportunity to provide mentorship and guidance, and a primary way in which students receive one-on-one interaction with faculty. Advisors and advisees work together to create a challenging, comprehensive and realistic academic plan based on the advisee's interests and the requirements of the major.
Students are responsible for:

• Understanding their reasons for going to college
• Thinking carefully about choosing a major
• Making their own decisions based upon informed judgment
• Arranging advising appointments well before it is time to register for classes
• Preparing for advising meetings by bringing a draft of their class schedule
• Asking relevant academic questions
• Seeking out information related to planning their academic career
• Becoming knowledgeable about services available on campus
• Understanding degree and program requirements

Faculty Advisors are responsible for:

• Proactively engaging advisees in the academic planning process
• Helping to develop their 4-year plan to stay on track for graduation
• Referring students to WebTrack, the College's on-line advising tutorial
• Monitoring the academic progress of their advisees
• Making effective referrals to other campus offices
• Communicating clearly to their advisees the regular times during which they are available for consultation

In addition to advising, the department chair or program director is responsible for:

• Recruiting faculty for orientation and advising events
• Serving on or facilitating the selection of faculty members for formal grade appeal panels.
• Working with CASA to determine the academic status of students within their department/major, such as probations and academic disqualifications

The College is responsible for:

• Assuring that there are clear policies, procedures, and resources to support the advising process
• Supporting faculty members in the development of effective advising skills
• Providing appropriate recognition for the role that faculty members play in the academic advising system
• Conducting ongoing assessment of the advising program
• Coordinating advising and registration for all new incoming students
   

Please refer to the Student Conduct, University Standards, Policies and Procedures section of the Fogcutter Student Handbook for information on the process for handling issues around academic dishonesty.

Referrals for student/faculty and student/student complaints are made to the Center for Academic and Student Achievement. The parties involved are consulted in an attempt to find an amicable solution. As the complaints are handled on a case-by-case basis, chairs may or may not be consulted.

Please see the University Catalog for a description of the process. The Chair/Director may initially contact the Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Academic Student Services for consultation and support.

Please see the Policy Against Unlawful Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation for a complete description of the University's policy. The Chair/Director should report any conduct of which s/he has direct knowledge and that s/he believes constitutes harassment in violation of University policy. The Chair/Director may initially contact the Associate Dean or the Dean about the matter, or s/he may directly contact one of the University's designated and trained intake officers. They are:

• Center for Academic and Student Achievement, Student Life; University Center, 3rd Floor; Charlene Lobo Soriano, University Advisor, 415-422-6841
• Human Resources; Lone Mountain, Room 339; Diane Nelson, Director of Human Resources, 415-422-6707
   

All correspondence from parents should be directed to the Dean of Academic Student Services. In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, all information pertaining to a student, such as their performance, enrollment, grade, or attendance is considered confidential. Faculty, including Chairs and Directors, should not share any of this information with any other person, including parents, other relatives, or friends, unless the student has provided written permission to share this information with those people.