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Department Chair Selection

  1. In the winter quarter of an incumbent chair's final year, there shall be a period of one month in which Group 1 faculty members may nominate themselves or others for the position. Only tenured faculty may be nominated.
  2. When the list of nominees has been compiled, the chair shall immediately contact each nominee to confirm his/her willingness to serve, and to request that each candidate submit a one-page statement delineating her/his qualifications and interest in serving as chair. These statements will be distributed to all faculty members.
  3. Within one month of the distribution of statements, a forum will be held in which candidates will have the opportunity to discuss how they foresee serving the department and will take questions from all ranks of faculty and graduate students.
  4. By the first faculty meeting of spring quarter, a secret ballot will be held to elect a candidate to be presented to the Dean as the Department's nomination for chair. In the case that there is only one candidate, there will be a simple up or down majority vote. In the case that there are two candidates, the winner of the election will also be determined by a majority vote. In the case that there are more than two candidates, there will be a preliminary heat in which the top two candidates are selected, followed by a run-off between those candidates in which the winner will be elected by a majority vote. As delineated by the Faculty Handbook, only Group I faculty may vote in this election.
  5. The Department chair will then forward all voting results to the Dean. If the Dean agrees with the majority vote of the Department, steps F-H below will follow. If the Dean does not agree with the faculty's choice, the Chair will request that the process be returned to the Department for a re-voting procedure. In this procedure, the faculty may either A) re-vote on the candidates who were eligible but not the first choice and send a new nomination to the Dean, or B) if it is determined that none of the remaining candidates has the support of the majority of the Department, the Chair will notify the Dean and may request that the procedures for an outside search be put in motion.
  6. If the Dean confirms the nomination of the Department, the newly-appointed chair, by accepting the position, will be understood to be committing to a three-year term. This term can only be terminated prematurely by a no-confidence vote by a majority of the faculty, and may only be called after the chair has served one full year. Such a voting procedure must be initiated by petition to the Administrative Committee of a minimum of 1/3 of Group I faculty members; if such a petition is presented to the Administrative Committee, the committee must call a vote.
  7. In January of the third year, if the chair is willing to continue to serve, a three-year evaluation of the chair by the entire faculty will be overseen by the Administrative Committee, using the Arts and Sciences process and form for evaluating Department Chairs. In the case of a satisfactory evaluation by the faculty and Dean, the Dean may, on the recommendation of the faculty, offer the incumbent chair a one- or two-year extension of service, the length of the extension depending on the preference of the chair. If, however, after three years the chair wishes to end his/her term, the internal search procedure will be initiated again.
  8. The chair will only under unusual circumstances be asked to serve longer than five years. Such an action will require a vote for his/her retention by a minimum of 3/4 of the faculty.