Key Events and Responsibilities for Chairs

Note: New Chairs will find very quickly that, between faculty and staff performance evaluations and budget planning, Winter tends to be the heaviest term (though October and November can be crowded if there are tenure and promotion cases). Chairs would be well-advised to concentrate their teaching in the other terms and keep the Winter term free of teaching if possible.

Chair's Calendar

July
  • DTPC/STPC
    • Finalize external referee recommendations (ensure that candidate has opportunity to see final list and challenge any referee)
    • Submit tenure and promotion materials to Dean’s Office (Candidate’s statement, vita, representative publications, external referee information sheets)

August
  • Good time for holidays. Rest, recuperate, and take time for yourself
  • DTPC/STPC
    • Confirm external referees (might require additional names)

September
  • Course scheduling
    • Instructor constraints for Winter term of current academic year due
    • Begin planning for next fiscal year (course assignments, sabbatical replacements, sessional staffing, etc.). (May include a review of faculty members’ service assignments, which should happen annually in any case)
  • Orientation of any new faculty members
  • Welcome events for new faculty, students, etc.

October
  • DTPC/STPC meeting(s): decisions on tenure and promotion. See Policy 77 for procedures if “significant reservations that could result in a negative recommendation” arise. (Late Oct/early Nov)
  • Winter term course schedule comes out (mid-fall).
  • Faculty Performance Review (FPR)
    • Departments with under 15 members vote on whether to have a committee advisory to the Chair.
    • Selection of advisory committee in Departments over 15 and those under 15 which vote in favour of a committee.
  • Fall convocation (may involve signing letters or award certificates, planning for Department-level celebrations). Encouraged to participate in convocation.

November
  • DTPC/FTPC: preparation and submission of tenure and promotion brief(s). 
  • Budget development for next fiscal year should start

December
  • Memo to faculty members: assemble materials for FPR (once a year for definite-term and probationary appointments; biennially in odd years for tenured and continuing appointments)
  • Chairs are required to be available for Faculty Tenure and Promotion (FTPC) meetings (and should be prepared for the possibility of a negative vote, which has further ramifications).
  • Review appointments of associate Chairs and other administrative appointments

January
  • FPR: preparation of preliminary recommendations
  • Staff Performance Appraisal: prepare preliminary SPA
  • Scheduling: instructor constraints for Spring term of current academic year due

February
  • SPA: meet with staff member(s); finalize SPA
  • FPR: meet with Dean; finalize FPRBudget: annual budget submission to Dean’s Office

March
  • Finalize budget with Dean’s Office
  • Spring term course schedule comes out
  • Meet with faculty and prepare annual APR letters

April
  • Scheduling: instructor constraints for Fall term of upcoming academic year due
  • Formation of DTPC/STPC by May 1

May
  • Memo to faculty members: they must submit statement of intent to apply for tenure and/or promotion by June 1
  • Notice to probationary faculty members whose term ends in June of the following year

June
  • DTPC/STPC
    • Faculty members’ complete applications for tenure/promotion due to Chair by June 30
    • Consider names for external referees and discuss with candidate
  • Spring convocation (may involve signing letters or award certificates, planning for Department-level celebrations). Encouraged to participate in convocation.
  • Fall term course schedule comes out (mid-summer)

Additional obligations for Chairs

Numerous other obligations fall on the Chair on a regular basis, but the following are not necessarily tied to an annual calendric cycle. Where relevant these activities are understood to take place in conjunction with Faculty-level processes:

  • Hiring (faculty staff, sessional and definite term appointments). Advertising for faculty positions may happen at any time, though late summer/fall advertising may be advisable (all other things being equal).
  • Probationary contract renewals.
  • Regular program reviews, both graduate and undergraduate1
  • Department/School advancement (development and alumni).

1Normally program reviews are held on a seven-year cycle; professional programs requiring accreditation review may be on a five-year cycle.