Rule 3344-11-07 | Appointment of chairs, school director and deans.
(A) Appointment of department chairs and school directors.
(1) Duties. The department chair/school director is responsible for leadership in the department/school; thus the department chair/school director shall:
(a) Have general administrative responsibility for the department/school's program and budget, subject to approval by the dean of the college.
(b) Make recommendations regarding department/school faculty concerning appointments, promotions, salary adjustments, dismissals, and the conferment of tenure.
(c) Promote the mission of the university, including its affirmative action policies.
(d) Promote department/school morale, quality teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity; and university, community, professional service.
(e) For departments/schools subject to a faculty collective bargaining Agreement (FCBA), work to implement, in cooperation with department/school faculty members, the faculty workload provisions of the current collective bargaining agreement.
(f) Foster democratic procedures within the department/school.
(g) Encourage and support program development.
(h) Share information with and solicit the views of members of the department/school on matters of general interest.
(i) Obey department/school bylaws.
(2) Terms of office. Departmental chairs/school directors report and are directly responsible to the dean of the college. Normal first term appointments shall be for four academic or fiscal years. Department chairs/school directors may be reappointed for a three-year term under the conditions specified in paragraph (A)(6) of this rule. Under exceptional circumstances and upon the recommendation of the provost and dean, the president may retain a department chair/school director beyond two consecutive terms with the approval of an absolute majority of the departmental faculty as defined by paragraph (A) of rule 3344-13-01 of the Administrative Code.
(3) Nature of search. Resources permitting, the provost may authorize an external search.
(4) Method of selection. The dean of the college, the college's faculty senators, and members of the department/school shall settle upon a method for choosing an appropriate search advisory committee. Normally, this advisory committee shall be composed of members of the department/school.
(5) For the purpose of the processes of department chair/school director selection and retention (see paragraph (A)(6) of this rule), "members" of the department/school shall mean those faculty in the department/school who are college faculty (excluding emeritus faculty) as defined by paragraph (A) of rule 3344-13-01 of the Administrative Code. For these purposes the department/school "faculty" shall be understood to include only those faculty whose primary responsibility lies in the department/school in question, rather than in another department/school or academic unit (see paragraph (G) of rule 3344-11-02 of the Administrative Code.)
(a) The search advisory committee may also include faculty members from one or more related professional fields or disciplines.
(b) To address special circumstances in the department/school or to meet affirmative action guidelines, the dean or the affirmative action officer may request the department/school to select additional committee members as needed.
(c) The search advisory committee shall then meet with representatives from the college's senate caucus, whose responsibility is to ensure fair voting - and in the case of internal searches, fair nominating - procedures. They may render additional types of assistance if requested by the committee.
(d) Once the procedure has been determined, members of the search advisory committee shall solicit and review applications or call for nominations, depending on the nature of the search. Subsequently, they shall arrange a vote of all department/school members on the acceptability of candidates.
(e) The search advisory committee shall then submit to the dean an unranked list of all candidates deemed acceptable by a majority vote of the department members as defined in paragraph (A)(4) of this rule. This list should be accompanied by commentary relevant to the dean's final decision.
(f) If two iterations of the search process (as described in paragraphs (A) to (E) of this rule) do not produce an acceptable candidate, the provost may invoke the following procedure:
(i) The provost shall present evidence to the university faculty affairs committee that the department/school is unlikely to reach consensus under its current composition and circumstances,
(ii) The university faculty affairs committee shall consider the provost's statement, and
(iii) The university faculty affairs committee may then approve an emergency process:
(a) The dean shall recommend to the provost the appointment of a chair from among the finalists recommended by the search advisory committees;
(b) This process shall be invoked only under the circumstances specified above, and only with university faculty affairs committee approval.
(g) Beyond the normal university affirmative action procedures, external candidates recruited by Cleveland state university for appointment as department chairs/school directors shall submit credentials to the academic department/school in question. In departments/schools subject to a FCBA, the department/school shall make a recommendation as to the individuals qualifications for tenured academic rank as set forth in the appropriate article of the relevant and current FCBA collective bargaining agreement.
(h) In the case of an interim or acting department chair/school director, the dean of the college shall consult with the members of the department/school before the appointment is made. Under normal circumstances, an interim or acting department chair/school director should not serve for more than two years. Should an interim or acting department chair/school director succeed in a regular appointment, the normal four-year first term shall begin from the date of the regular appointment.
(6) Review and continuance.
(a) Schedule of reviews. The provost's office is responsible for the mechanics (e.g. scheduling, providing appropriate forms, and collecting responses) of review of department chairs/school directors.
(i) Department chairs/school directors shall be reviewed annually by the dean. At least every third year, the dean shall seek the departmental members'1 evaluation of the chair/director's performance, based on the criteria for review indicated in this paragraph. The evaluation forms shall also make provision for written comments and an overall evaluation of the department chair/school director's service as excellent, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. The evaluation of department chairs/school's service may be conducted electronically or by paper ballot. In either case, all faculty evaluations shall be de-identified; evaluators' identities shall not be linked to their evaluations.
(ii) The dean shall provide a report on the evaluation responses, including the quantitative data (the responses to the overall evaluation) and a summary narrative of qualitative responses. The dean will convey the report to the members of the department/school. If concerns are raised about the accuracy of the report, the university faculty affairs committee will evaluate these concerns, and may require the dean to provide them with all documents pertaining to a department chair's/school director's evaluation, so that the committee can judge the accuracy of the report. If the committee identifies any discrepancies, the dean shall revise and re-issue the report to the members of the department/school.
(iii) The dean shall take the evaluation into account when considering reappointment and shall report on the evaluation results in the college's annual report to the provost. The dean shall inform department/school members in a timely manner of the reappointment decision.
(iv) A majority of the department/school members, as defined in paragraph (A)(5)(b) of this rule) may request an unscheduled departmental/school review of the chair/director. If, after any of these prescribed or optional reviews, the dean and a majority of the department/school members (as expressed by their quantitative responses to the overall evaluation) are in clear disagreement over the retention of a chair/director, the decision may be appealed to the university faculty affairs committee and the provost.
(b) Criteria for review. In evaluating the performance of a department chair/school director, the dean and faculty shall consider both the general overall leadership provided by that chair/school director and the following specifics:
(i) Administration of the department/school's program and budget;
(ii) Timeliness, objectivity, and fairness in recommendations concerning appointments, promotions, salary adjustments, dismissals, and conferment of tenure of department/school faculty;
(iii) Promotion of department/school morale, quality teaching, research, scholarship, creative activity, and university/community/professional service;
(iv) Promoting the mission of the university, including its affirmative action policies, where appropriate;
(v) Objectivity and fairness in discussions with individual faculty regarding faculty workload plans in accordance with the provisions of the current collective bargaining agreement;
(vi) Fostering of democratic procedures;
(vii) Encouragement of and support for program development;
(viii) Performance in accord with approved departmental/school bylaws; and
(ix) Evidence that information has been shared with and views solicited from members of the department/school on matters of general interest.
(c) Additional review criteria. At the discretion of the dean, additional specific evaluation criteria specific to each department/school may be employed. If such additional criteria are to be included in evaluations, the dean should inform the department chairs and school directors of these standards at the beginning of each academic year. For illustrative purposes, these additional criteria may include: student (undergraduate and graduate) enrollment, retention and graduation rates; external grant activity; community outreach activities; maintaining accreditation standards; student outcomes; and research-publication activity.
(B) Appointment of deans of colleges.
(1) Duties. The dean of a college:
(a) Shall have the general administrative responsibility for the program and budget of the college, subject to approval by the provost of the university.
(b) Shall recommend to the president appointments, promotions, salary adjustments, dismissals, and the conferment of tenure with regard to the college faculty.
(c) Shall promote the mission of the university including its affirmative action policies.
(d) Shall encourage and promote college morale, research and scholarship, and quality teaching.
(e) Shall cultivate democratic management by sharing information on all matters of general college interest with all the members of the college faculty and by consulting them on all significant actions as required by the college bylaws.
(f) Shall abide by applicable policies in the relevant and current FCBA.
(2) Method of selection. The provost shall meet with the college's elected faculty senate members. Together they shall determine the method of choosing the selection committee. The committee established to make recommendations on the selection may differ from case to case according to the particular situation. Considerations involved in deciding on the selection committee may include the size of the college, the relative strength of departments within the college, the administrative policy and procedures of the previous dean, the state of morale in the college, the degree of cooperation between the college and other colleges, and other relevant factors. Normally the selection committee shall be composed of college faculty. For these purposes the college faculty shall consist of those faculty members whose primary responsibility, as set forth in paragraph (G) of rule 3344-11-02 of the Administrative Code, is in the college in question and who are members of that college faculty as defined by paragraph (A) of rule 3344-13-01 of the Administrative Code, with the exception of emeritus faculty. Faculty members from one or more other colleges may be added to the committee. The selection committee may request the services of one or more consultants. The committee shall solicit recommendations and interview prospective appointees. The committee shall recommend to the provost and the president or the president's representative the names of individuals considered acceptable for appointment. All the persons involved in the selection shall work closely together in attempting to achieve agreement on the individual who shall finally be offered the appointment through the customary procedure of the university. The dean of a college whose faculty are represented by a FCBA shall apply to the department for rank and tenure in accordance with the qualifications specified in the appropriate section of the current FCBA. The rank and tenure of the dean of the Cleveland Marshall college of law shall be recommended by that college's personnel action committee.
(3) The appointment of an acting dean shall be made by the provost in consultation with the elected members of faculty senate representing the college concerned, and if applicable, with the department chairs/school directors of that college.
(4) Review and continuance. Assessment of the performance of deans is the responsibility of the provost. One component of this assessment is the evaluation of decanal performance by both full-time faculty and departmentt chairs/school directors.2
(a) Each dean shall be evaluated formally in the spring of every fourth year. The provost shall prepare evaluation forms which shall provide for an evaluation of a dean for each duty specified above in paragraph (B)(1) of this rule. The evaluation forms shall also make provision for written comments and an overall evaluation of the dean's service as excellent, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. In addition, the forms shall be labeled "department chair/school director" or "College Faculty Member" so that the evaluations by these two constituencies may be separated. The dean may be removed from office at the end of any contract year by the provost.
(b) The evaluation of the dean's service may be conducted electronically or by paper ballot. In either case, all faculty evaluations shall be de-identified; evaluators' identities shall not be linked to their evaluations.
(c) The provost shall provide a report on the evaluation responses, including the quantitative data (the responses to the overall evaluation) and a summary narrative of qualitative responses. The provost will convey the report to the dean and members of the college. If concerns are raised about the accuracy of the report, the university faculty affairs committee will evaluate these concerns, and may require the provost to provide them with all documents pertaining to a dean's evaluation, so that the committee can judge the accuracy of the report. If the committee identifies any discrepancies, the provost shall revise and re-issue the report to the members of the college. The report shall not be included in any personnel file or permanent record.
(d) Additional review criteria.
At the discretion of the provost, additional specific evaluation criteria specific to each dean and college may be employed. If such additional criteria are employed, the provost should inform the dean of these standards at the beginning of each academic year. For illustrative purposes, these additional criteria may include: student (undergraduate and graduate) enrollment, retention and graduation rates; external grant activity; student success and outcomes; community outreach activities; research-publication success; maintaining accreditation standards; and external fund raising.
Last updated November 27, 2023 at 11:48 AM
Supplemental Information
Amplifies: 3344
Prior Effective Dates: 5/19/1988, 7/15/2009, 4/20/2014, 7/20/2015, 3/4/2019, 8/14/2020