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Position Descriptions

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER COLLEGE OF NURSING
Department Chairs Position Description	Subsection: 3.2.7
Section 3.0 - Position Description	Originating Date: February, 1986
Responsible Reviewing Agency: Executive Council	Revised: March, 1998 Revised: April, 2006 Revised: March, 2008 Revised: August, 2012 Deleted: April, 2015

General Position Description:

Department Chairs are appointed by the Dean and responsible to the Dean for leadership in development, implementation, and evaluation of department goals and assures their consistency with the College’s mission and goals. General areas of responsibility include the recruitment, mentorship evaluation, and career development of faculty; the quality and staffing of departmental course offerings; promotion of the department’s specialty areas; obtaining and managing resources and information; and making timely reports as needed for the College Annual Report, accreditation reports, or as requested by the Dean. Department Chairs have responsibility for working collaboratively with the Associate and Division Assistant Deans and Academic Program Directors to accomplish department, program, and College goals. As members of the faculty, Department Chairs also participate in the tripartite faculty role of teaching, research, and service.

Curriculum:

Department Chairs collaborate with Program Directors to ensure the quality of courses taught out of their unit. They assure adherence to all policies related to curricular planning, implementation, and evaluation and student admission, retention, progression, and graduation.

Faculty:

Department Chairs encourage and facilitate faculty’s career development and scholarly activity, and they mentor faculty in their teaching, scholarship, and service activities. They are responsible for making teaching assignments to cover the department’s assigned courses, collaborate with the Associate Dean for Academic Programs and the appropriate Academic Program Director in making assignments to graduate courses, and in considering equity in the faculty's total workload. They have responsibility for recruitment of faculty, recommending the appointment of new faculty to the Dean considering input from department faculty and others, and they ensure orientation of new faculty. Department Chairs evaluate the performance of faculty in the Department, holding faculty accountable for their responsibilities in their tripartite roles, encourage faculty toward promotion and tenure, and make recommendations to the Dean for merit salary increases. Department Chairs approve travel support for educational and presentation opportunities for faculty, and recommend to the Dean educational leave, sabbatical leave, and nominations for faculty awards and scholarships. They recommend contractual agreements for faculty practice to the Morehead Center for Nursing Practice.

Staff:

Department Chairs make recommendations to the Dean regarding personnel needs, and they recruit, hire, supervise, and evaluate staff.

Students:

Department Chairs, in consultation with faculty, generally oversee the academic performance and welfare of students and they collaborate with the appropriate Standing Committees, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, and appropriate Academic Program Director regarding matters of admission, retention, progression and graduation. They work closely with the Student Services Advisor and maintain open communication and support in regard to recruitment, inter-institutional coordination and advisement of students.

Resources and Information:

Department Chairs propose an annual budget and manage the budget of the department in collaboration with the Director of Administration and Operations, judiciously utilizing resources for the good of the department and the College. They identify personnel needs in the department and are responsible for hiring, supervising, and evaluating department staff. They coordinate and participate in recruitment activities specific to the department (faculty, students, and staff). They lend general oversight with the faculty, the appropriate academic Program Director, community agencies, and if needed the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in identifying appropriate clinical sites to meet educational standards and objectives, in making the most judicious use of these sites and in maintaining current clinical agency contracts and good public relations. Department Chairs prepare reports as requested.

Appointment Requirements:

Department Chairs must have a master's degree in nursing with a doctorate in nursing or a related field. In addition, they should have experience and demonstrate skill in administration, interpersonal relations, teaching and curriculum development and have demonstrated scholarly and research activity. Chairs must be registered to practice nursing in Nebraska and demonstrate professional leadership activity in professional organizations. Terms of employment are in keeping with current University of Nebraska policy.