X. Appointment of Academic Administrators

A. Guidelines for the Initial Appointment of a Department Chair

Generally, as with all searches for faculty positions at UNC Charlotte, the search for a department chair will be as broad as resources permit. Thus, the initial step on the occasion of a vacancy or impending vacancy will be for the dean of the college, in consultation with the department involved, to determine whether or not a position is available to permit an unrestricted search or whether the new chairperson is to be appointed from among those already holding appointments on the UNC Charlotte faculty.

In some circumstances, the Dean may recommend to the Provost and the Chancellor that an Acting or Interim Chairperson be appointed in order to provide opportunity for a thorough search. Such appointments ordinarily would be for a period of less than one year, but, in unusual cases, could be renewed.

Composition of the Search and Screen Committee

1. Search and screen committees should be as small as possible, consistent with inclusion of the major perspectives important to the mission of the department and college. Most such committees will have in the range of 5 to 7 members.

2. The majority of the members of the appointed committee shall be selected from the faculty of the department.

3. At least two members of the committee shall be appointed from among UNC Charlotte faculty members not holding appointment in the department.

4. Search and screen committees may include members who do not hold appointments as members of the UNC Charlotte faculty.

Appointment of the Search and Screen Committee

1. The faculty of the department seeking a chair and the dean of the college will identify a pool of mutually acceptable nominees for membership on the search and screen committee from both inside and outside the department. The dean will appoint the search and screen committee from this pool of nominees.

2. The chair of the search and screen committee will be selected in a manner acceptable to the dean and faculty of each college.

Procedures and Practices

The General Counsel has prepared a document for use by search committee members that contains valuable information and important legal considerations. It can accessed at the following link: Interview and Search Committee Guidelines.

1. All work of the committee, including its discussions, correspondence, and consultation with the departmental faculty will be considered confidential personnel matters and all rights of privacy will be respected. The committee, prior to the initiation of the search, will establish its procedures for monitoring appropriate confidentiality.

2. The routine operations of the search, including typing letters, assembling records and files, circulating credentials, and arranging meetings will be conducted at the direction of the chairperson of the committee by staff members of a specified office of the college.

3. Whenever possible, the committee will submit for consideration by the dean the names of two or more nominations for departmental chair who (i) are qualified to meet the responsibilities of the position; (ii) would be willing to serve; and (iii) would be acceptable to the faculty of the department. The dean, prior to reaching any conclusions, will discuss the nominations with the committee to obtain the full extent of their advice and, as appropriate, with the faculty of the department. At that, or any later time in the search and appointment process, the dean may request additional nominations from the committee.

4. The dean will present his or her recommendation, selected from among those nominated by the search and screen committee, to the Provost and the Chancellor. The dean’s recommendation will be accompanied by a report of the procedures followed and intermediate conclusions reached during the course of the search.

5. The Chancellor, (on approval by the the Board of Trustees if the appointment is with Tenure), will appoint the department chair. The term of appointment will be from three to five years at the discretion of the dean, although shorter terms are possible to accommodate specific circumstances. Reappointment of a chair to successive terms may be accomplished by action of the Chancellor on the recommendation of the dean and the Provost in consultation with the relevant faculties. No search is required. A decision may be made by the Dean to not renew a chair appointment and under normal circumstances, a dean should inform a chair about the non-reappointment decision prior to seeking a replacement.

In the event that an impasse should develop during the search process, the dean may dismiss the search and screen committee and begin the process anew.

Proposals for policies and procedures different from those specified above must be discussed with the Provost before proceeding.

B. Guidelines for the Establishment of Compensation and Workload for Department Chairs

Whether recruited from another institution or from among the members of a department’s faculty, an individual appointed to serve as a Department Chair has assumed a key position of academic and administrative leadership for UNC Charlotte.

However, the position of Chair places demand upon the time and energy of the individuals selected that may impede the professional development and advancement of Chairs within their academic disciplines. So that the institution can ensure the recruitment and retention of Chairs of high quality, it is important that there exist tangible and predictable financial and non-financial incentives associated with the position.

Length of Appointment: Under normal circumstances, Department Chairs are expected to serve on 12-month contracts. Contracts of from 9 to 11 months may be considered where, in the opinioin of the dean, the assignment does not require a 12-month chair.

Teaching Load: It is important that Department Chairs Maintain their currency in the classroom and their contact with students. However, the demands of being a Department Chair are so substantial that some relief from the teaching responsibilities ordinarily assigned to nine-month faculty is both appropriate and expected. Thus, while every chair will have some responsibilities for teaching and advising, the precise teaching workload should be a matter negotiated between the Dean and the Chair. Factors appropriate to be considered in that negotiation include the size and complexity of the Department to be administered; the number, enrollments, and relative difficulty of the courses to be taught; the Chair's scholarly activities; and the nature and extent of the Chair's other professional obligations and activities. In all cases, the total teaching load should be based upon some fraction of the normal teaching load of nine-month faculty.

Once the teaching load has been determined, the Dean and Chair shall negotiate the distribution of the courses to be taught over the fall and spring semesters and, in some cases, over the summer term as well. There is no separate teaching load associated with summer service.

Base Salary: The base salary for a Chair should be established by a formula that is based upon the nine-month professional salary. In the case of 12-month appointments, a Chair's nine-month salary should be prorated (9-month salary divided by 9 x 12) to compensate for the additional 3-month appointment.

Administrative Stipend: The calculation of the base salary recognizes the time that chairs are asked to devote to administrative duties during the summer months. However, it does not recognize the additional responsibilities that the person appointed is being asked to assume. Because the assumption of administrative duties are essential to the effective operation of the University, it is also appropriate to provide an administrative stipend that supplements the base salary.

Return to Faculty Provisions (Salary Fall-Back): When an individual leaves the position of Chair, the salary is adjusted to reflect the nine-month nature of a professional appointment. To ensure that this nine-month salary is established at an appropriate level, the formula for fall back from twelve- to nine-months will be applied according to the following rules:

• The maximum that a Chair's salary can decline upon leaving the position is 25% of the base twelve-month salary; the Chair also loses any supplemental administrative stipend that is being paid.
• The minimum that a Chair's base salary shall decline will be 20% for a chair serving less than 3 years; 15% for a chair serving from 3 to 6 years; 10% for service of from 7 to 9 years; and 5% for service exceeding nine years. The Chair also loses any supplemental administrative stipend.

Within the flexibility provided by these rules, the Dean will recommend to the Provost the amount of the individual's nine-month salary so that it will be comparable to the nine-month salary of faculty members with similar records of accomplishment, years of service, and rank in the individual's department and departments in other universities comparable to UNC Charlotte.

In determining the appropriate nine-month compensation, the Provost and Dean shall take into account the quality of the individual's administrative performance as chair; the extent to which the candidate's academic accomplishments in teaching, research and service were compromised by service as Chair; and the individual's promise for returning to productive academic activities after leaving the Chair.

Exceptions: Deans may request exceptions to these Guidelines by submitting written requests and justifications to the Provost.