I.                REFERENCES

 

Appointment and Review of Department Chairs, President Charles J. Hitch to Chancellors, March 29, 1968.

 

II.              POLICY

 

A.             Appointment of Department Chairs

 

1.     When a vacancy exists, the Chancellor (or designee) shall appoint a department chair after consultation with the tenured members of the department and with the Vice Chancellor‑‑Academic Affairs; the Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences; or Vice Chancellor‑‑Marine Sciences.

 

2.     The length of service for a department chair is flexible, with the normal term being three to five years; however, the maximum length of each term is five years. Additional terms may be made for up to five years subject to review during the fifth year of service. In the School of Medicine, a review shall be conducted during the final year of the specific term.

 

3.     Acting Chair

 

a.     An acting chair must be appointed by the relevant Vice Chancellor any time the regular chair is absent from campus for more than 24 hours.

 

b.     During a period of search for a regular chair, an acting chair must be appointed by the Chancellor (or designee) after consultation with all tenured members of the department.

 

c.     The term of appointment of an acting chair may not exceed one year; however, an acting chair may be reappointed when circumstances warrant.

 

B.             Reappointment

 

University policy stipulates that a chair may be reappointed; however, a "chair shall not serve longer than six consecutive years without review." On the San Diego campus, reviews of department chairs who continue in service beyond a five‑year period are conducted during the chair's fifth year of service unless the Chancellor determines that a review should be conducted at a shorter period of service. This schedule ensures that the review process is completed by the sixth year.

 

 

 

 

 

III.             PROCEDURES

 

A.             Appointment of a department chair for a term of five years or less.

 

1.     General Campus

 

a.     The tenured members of the department should meet to consider the recommendation of a department chair.

 

b.     The incumbent chair should forward the department's recommendation to the Chancellor via the Vice Chancellor‑‑Academic Affairs and the cognizant Dean, and include information regarding the degree of departmental consultation, effective date, and length of appointment.

 

c.     The Vice Chancellor--Academic Affairs should add a recommendation and forward it to the Chancellor.

 

2.     Scripps Institution of Oceanography

 

a.     The tenured members of the department should meet to consider the recommendation for a department chair. Since the nature of SIO's activity routinely requires extended absences of tenured members, modified procedures are permissible as long as they include broad consultation with the faculty.

 

b.     The incumbent chair should forward the department's recommendation to the Chancellor via the Vice Chancellor‑‑Marine Sciences and the Vice Chancellor--Academic Affairs, and include information regarding the degree of departmental consultation, effective date, and length of appointment.

 

c.     The Vice Chancellor‑‑Marine Sciences and the Vice Chancellor--Academic Affairs should add a recommendation and forward it to the Chancellor.

 

3.     School of Medicine

 

a.     The Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences shall request the Committee on Committees to provide a slate of names from which to appoint a search committee. The Committee on Committees will ask the Faculty Council of the School of Medicine for recommendations. The Committee on Committees will submit a slate of nominees to the Vice Chancellor.

 

The search committee should include a tenured member of the department for which a chair is sought and a member from a department with extensive interaction with the department. The faculty members of the search committee, appointed from the slate nominated by the Committee on Committees, shall comprise at least two‑thirds of the membership. The Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences may appoint additional members. The Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences shall designate the chair of the committee from the Committee on Committees slate.

 

b.     The search committee shall familiarize itself with the programs of the department and consult with the key members of related departments on this campus and authorities in that field located elsewhere.  They should seek nominations from this group, as well as from the tenured members of the department.  After consultation with the tenured members of the department, the search committee shall forward its recommendation to the Chancellor via the Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences. Such recommendation should include information regarding the degree of consultation (both within and outside the department), effective date, and outside letters of evaluation.

 

c.     The Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences shall add a recommendation and forward it to the Chancellor.

 

B.             Reappointment of a department chair after one or more normal terms of service.

 

The relevant Vice Chancellor is responsible for keeping track of the terms of department chairs and informing the Chancellor that a department chair is entering the penultimate year. At the beginning of the last quarter of the fourth year of service of a chair's term, the Chancellor (or designee) shall ask whether the chair wishes to be reappointed.  If the chair does not wish to be reappointed, the preceding appointment process will be followed.  If the chair wishes to be reappointed, the succeeding review process will be followed.

 

1.     The Chancellor (or designee) shall request from the Committee on  Committees a slate of nominees from which to appoint an ad hoc committee to review the incumbent's performance and the quality of the department's teaching, research, and where relevant, clinical programs.

 

a.     The committee normally will comprise 6‑8 members.  The faculty members of the committee, appointed from the slate nominated by the Committee on Committees, shall comprise at least half of the membership.  The Chancellor (or designee) may appoint additional members.  The Chancellor (or designee) shall designate the chair of the committee from the Committee on Committees slate.

 

b.     The membership of the committee shall not be confidential.  The committee's deliberations and the report shall be considered confidential and shall be forwarded only to the Chancellor, through the relevant Vice Chancellor.

 

c.     Normally, the committee will be appointed by the Chancellor in the Spring Quarter of the fourth year of service so that the summer months can be used to gather material for the report.

 

d.     If the committee recommends that the chair not be reappointed, the Chancellor may, at the Chancellor's discretion, ask the review committee to serve as a committee to search for a new chair.

 

2.     Ad Hoc Committee Report

 

a.     The report should contain opinions and evaluations from departmental faculty members, faculty from related departments, students, staff, and outside referees.  It should address such matters as administration of personnel, financial resources, student matters, curricula, and support activities.

 

b.     The committee may conduct interviews or solicit written opinions and may include a summary of these in their report.

 

c.     The report should contain a recommendation regarding reappointment based on the committee's assessment of the needs of the department and its potential, and the chair's success in meeting those needs and reaching that potential, and whether the chair has maintained the high standards expected of the University of California.

 

d.     The report shall be submitted no later than December 1 of the candidate's fifth year of service and shall be sent to the Chancellor via the Vice Chancellor‑‑Academic Affairs; the Vice Chancellor‑‑Health Sciences; or the Vice Chancellor‑‑Marine Sciences.

 

3.     The relevant Vice Chancellor shall add to the file written comments and evaluations, as well as a recommendation regarding reappointment.

 

4.     Before forwarding the report to the Chancellor, the relevant Vice Chancellor shall meet with the incumbent chair to discuss the findings and evaluation of the reviewers. The Vice Chancellor shall inform the chair of the proposed recommendation to the Chancellor, and the chair shall have the opportunity to respond to this preliminary decision either at the time or at a later meeting, by agreement. The chair may be given a written summary of the report upon request.

 

5.     The Chancellor shall submit the ad hoc committee report and any Vice Chancellor's evaluation and recommendation to the Committee on Academic Personnel for comment. Prior to reaching a final decision, the Chancellor shall meet, where applicable, with the Vice Chancellor--Academic Affairs; the Vice Chancellor--Health Sciences, or Vice Chancellor--Marine Sciences to discuss the report and the preliminary decision.

 

6.     The Chancellor and the relevant Vice Chancellor shall meet with the incumbent chair to discuss the findings of reviewers and the proposed decision concerning renewal of the chair's appointment or other actions recommended to improve the department. After making a final decision, the Chancellor will send a memorandum to departmental members to inform them of the actions taken. Any member of the department who wishes to see a written summary of the findings may read it in the office of the relevant Vice Chancellor.

 

7.     The Chancellor, after consultation with the relevant Vice Chancellor and tenured members of the department, may waive formal review procedures in cases of reappointment of chairs whose total service is less than six years.

 

8.   When it is necessary to appoint an acting chair, the incumbent chair should recommend a candidate to the relevant Vice Chancellor.  Depending upon the length of the appointment, the chair and the relevant Vice Chancellor may consult with the tenured members of the department.  In the absence of a regular chair and during a period of search for a regular chair, an acting chair must be appointed by the Chancellor (or designee) after consultation with the tenured members of the department.

 

IV.            REVISION HISTORY

 

November 13, 1981            This policy was originally issued.

 

May 1, 1994                       This policy was made effective.

 

April 12, 2018                     Minor technical edits to update policy hyperlinks.

 

April 2, 2020                      Technical edits to remove gendered language.