Department Chair and Program Director Guide

Section Ten - General Information


Insurance – 10:1

Gustavus carries liability, property, and automobile insurance. Accidents should be reported to Curt Kowaleski (curtk@gustavus.edu or 507-933-7499), Vice President for Finance and Treasurer, within 24 hours of the event.

Parking and Traffic Information – 10:2

Parking and traffic information is available through the Office of Campus Safety and is available online at: https://gustavus.edu/safety/policies/traffic.php.

Student Entry into Locked Academic Areas – 10:3

If a faculty or staff member wishes to allow a student access to a room that is considered a limited access area, the student must be issued a gold-colored Permission for Admittance pass. (Limited access may be appropriate for a variety of reasons, including valuable equipment, dangerous materials, etc. or for after-hours access.) Whatever the reason, it is helpful for Campus Safety to follow a standardized procedure in granting student access. Faculty members must complete the permission request form to request this access.

Faculty members may only issue passes for rooms within their own areas of responsibility. Multiple-room access will require multiple passes. Permission passes cannot be issued for computer labs for which Technology Services is responsible. GTS requires a Lab Monitor be present after hours.

Campus Safety officers are instructed to ensure proper access to limited access rooms after hours. If a student does not have a pass they may be asked to leave (even if they have a key or fob or are with a student with a pass). Additionally, officers are instructed to collect incomplete passes, passes that appear to be modified, or that do not allow the student access to the room in question. Confiscated passes will be turned over to the Director of Campus Safety.

Thank you very much for your cooperation in this matter. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Campus Safety.

Academic Calendar and the Common Meeting Time – 10:4

Academic Calendar Structure

Revised by faculty action 3/22/2001, 3/20/2002, 10/25/2006, 9/23/2016, 5/17/2019, 10/14/2022

  • New Student Orientation is the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before Fall classes start.
  • Fall classes begin on the Tuesday following Labor Day.
  • Registration deadline is the 10th day of classes.
  • Nobel Conference is generally the 1st Tuesday and Wednesday of October.
  • First half finals are the Friday of the 7th week of classes.
  • Fall Break is Monday and Tuesday of the 8th week (include weekend before).
  • Midterm grades are due the Wednesday after First half finals.
  • Modified class day schedule on Election Day (on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November).
  • Withdraw deadline is the end of the 10th week.
  • January Term registration is last week in October or first week in November for 4 days.
    • Registration priorities are as follows: 1) YCR4 - Returning Seniors, 2) YCR3 - Juniors, 3) YCR2 - Sophomores, 4) YCR 1 - First Years.
  • Spring registration is one week after January Term registration for 10 days.
    • Registration priorities are as follows: 1) YCR4 - Returning Seniors, 2) YCR3 - Juniors, 3) YCR2 - Sophomores, 4) YCR 1 - First Years.
  • Thanksgiving break includes the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
  • Each semester has at least 14 weeks, including at least 66 class days but not more than 70. (Use this to plan the final class day.)
  • Reading day is the day after the final class day.
  • Final exams are the next 3 days after Reading day (there are no final exams on Sunday).
  • Semester ends on the last day of final exams.
  • Grades are due 5 business days after the semester ends. The only exception is senior grades in Spring which are due the day after the end of the semester at noon.
  • Each semester (Fall and Spring) has at least 14 weeks, including at least 66 class days but not more than 70. (Use this to plan the final class day.)
  • January Term is 17 to 18 class days and begins no earlier than January 3.
  • Modified class day schedule on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (the 3rd Monday in January).
  • A travel/touring period of 7 to 9 days separates January Term and Spring Semester.
  • A one-week Spring Break separates the halves of the Spring Semester:
    • Whenever Easter does not occur during the Spring Break, Good Friday is the Easter recess.
    • Whenever the end of Spring Break falls within one week of Easter Recess, the 2 shall be combined.
  • Modified class day schedule for the MAYDAY! Peace Conference (on the Wednesday closest to May 1).
  • Fall registration is the third week in April for 10 days.
    • Registration priorities are as follows: 1) YCR4 - Returning Seniors, 2) YCR3 - Juniors, 3) YCR2 - Sophomores, 4) YCR 1 - First Years.
  • June Term registration is the second week in March through the Friday before commencement.
    • All students are permitted to register during the entirely of the registration period.
  • Honors Day is the 1st Saturday in May.
  • Commencement is the Saturday following final exams for the Spring Semester.
  • Each semester (Fall and Spring) has at least 14 weeks, including at least 66 class days but not more than 70. (Use this to plan the final class day.)

Common Meeting Time

During the academic year, each Friday 2:30-4:30 p.m. has been set aside as the Common Meeting Time (https://gustavus.edu/committees/FacultyCommittees.php). This time is reserved for scheduling meeting times for faculty committees, and may also be used for scheduling college-wide or faculty colloquia. The common meeting time is set each spring by through consultation by the Provost's Office and the Academic Affairs Coordinating Council (AACC).

Supporting January Term Only Faculty/Staff – 10:5

Our community and students benefit greatly from part-time faculty and staff who teach during January Term. Please be aware of the following guidelines regarding part-time faculty members or Gustavus staff teaching in January. If the department chair/program director will be unavailable in January (e.g., they are teaching a study abroad course or if they will be away from campus doing off-site scholarly or creative work), this important work should be delegated to an appropriate tenured departmental colleague.

January-Only Faculty

  1. Professional Qualifications: Individuals hired to teach in January should have appropriate credentialing and/or experience required to teach the course.
  2. Department Chair Duties: The department chair/program director will be a resource for all matters related to teaching, including evaluation, using Moodle, Handshake, WebAdvisor, and any other additional questions that may arise regarding the Honor Code, grading, course policies, etc. Department chairs should request and review the course syllabus; assist in the administration of SRIs; conduct a classroom observation; meet with the faculty member to discuss the evaluation; and write a formal letter of evaluation which will be shared with the Provost's Office for the file of the faculty member.

Gustavus Staff Teaching in January

A staff policy is currently in development and will be reviewed by the Faculty Senate and administration in 2023-24.

  1. Departmental Affiliation: Any staff member wishing to teach in January will need to request an academic department chair to sponsor them as a faculty member of the department for the month of January, even if the course is designated NDL (non-departmental). Any staff member appointed to teach in January must be associated with an academic department in order for a course to receive academic credit.
  2. Professional Qualifications: Staff members teaching in January should have appropriate credentialing and/or experience required to teach the course.
  3. Supervisor Approval: According to the Faculty Handbook, Appendix C “When staff members whose job descriptions do not include teaching offer noncredit courses in January term, it should be with the approval of their supervisor and division head/VP, with consideration of whether the staff member could perform their normal duties and have the time to assume the instructional role. The teaching should neither be an extra task for additional compensation, nor should it be volunteer work above and beyond the normal work hours of the staff member.”
  4. Department Chair Duties: The department chair who accepts this invitation and adopts the staff member as one of their faculty for the month of January will be a resource for all matters related to teaching, including evaluation, using Moodle, Handshake, My Gustavus, and any other additional questions that may arise regarding the Honor Code, grading, course policies, etc. Just as the department chair would do for the review of any other NTT faculty, department chairs should request and review the course syllabus; assist in the administration of SRIs; conduct a classroom observation; meet with the faculty member to discuss the evaluation; and write a formal letter of evaluation which will be shared with the Provost's Office for the file of the faculty member.

Reporting Grades and Attendance – 10:6

Final Grades: Faculty policy requires that mid-term and final grades be reported for all students via the the grading screens in MyGustavus within the published time lines of the academic calendar (https://gustavus.edu/registrar/six_year_calendar/). The options for A-F grading are available for most courses, with Pass/Fail available in select circumstances.

Day 11 Reporting: The course drop/add period of the semester runs for ten business days. On day 11, course rosters and student status are finalized. For the purposes of federal financial aid reporting, we ask that faculty report any student who has not attended class, yet still remains on your official course roster on day 11 of the semester, to the Registrar (dmschloesser@gustavus.edu).

Calendar of Tasks for Department Chairs – 10:7

Please note that this calendar is not intended to be comprehensive or duplicative of information available in the academic calendar (https://gustavus.edu/registrar/six_year_calendar/). Course proposal deadlines are available on the Curriculum Committee website (https://gustavus.edu/committees/curriculum/).

If you have faculty candidates up for tenure, promotion, third year review, or continuing faculty review, please see Section 6. Tenure-track search schedules/timelines are outlined in detail online at: https://gustavus.edu/provost/facultysearches/.

Ongoing
Monitor department budget expenditures
Class visits for probationary faculty
Assessment activities (with PAL)
Hire/mentor new faculty
Collect data for annual report
Schedule regular department meetings
Administrative Assistant supervision/direction
Student worker supervision/direction
Curriculum changes/updates
Management of student and personnel issues
Attend chair development opportunities
Regular meetings with the dean
Maintain staffing and scheduling

June
New chair assumes duties
Departmental annual reports are due to the Provost’s Office (led by previous year chair)
Inform the Registrar’s Office of courses from incoming faculty
Close out departmental budget

August
Orientation for new faculty
New employee picnic
Opening Faculty Meeting and Retreat

September
Tenure review files close
Continuing Faculty review files close
Budget module/packets are distributed for the following fiscal year
Departmental budget proposals are due to the Finance Office
Third Year Review Committee Chair and Deans meet with TYR candidates and chairs to review the process
Prompt (and assist) new faculty members in crafting and submitting January Term course proposals for approval (as needed)
Submit finalized January and Spring departmental schedules to the Registrar’s Office
Collect course syllabi from department faculty
Course proposals due for new January and spring semester courses
Continuing Faculty requests due

October
Provost’s Office sends out staffing request/planning information for following academic year
Begin planning for pre-tenure and non-tenure-track faculty reviews
Assessment report due to the Assessment Director (department PAL writes the report)
Attend budget manager training
Admission events: Explore Gustavus

November
Second year evaluations of tenure-track faculty due (November 15)
SRIs are administered the first two weeks of November (tenure, third-year review, promotion, CF)
Staffing/course planning information (for following academic year) due to Provost’s Office
Innovation request (for following academic year) due to the Provost’s Office
Admission events: Scholarship Days

December
Nominees for spring departmental or program academic assistants are due to the Provost’s Office
Receive notice regarding non-tenure-track staffing for the following academic year (may happen in January)
Admission events: FIKA

January
Course proposals due for new fall semester courses
Pre-proposal requests for new or revised majors/minors/programs that require significant institutional resources are due
Receive notice regarding non-tenure-track staffing for the following academic year (may happen in December)
Orientation and review of January Term only faculty
Tenure-track position requests due (January 15)
Admission events: Discover Gustavus, Picture Yourself at Gustavus, and FIKA

February
Promotion files close
Nomination letters for promotion candidates due in Provost’s Office
First year evaluations of tenure-track faculty due (February 15)
Third year review files close
Submit Fall and January departmental schedules to the Registrar’s Office
Write letters supporting department sabbatical requests to the Faculty Development Committee (due in March)
Non-tenure-track searches are initiated
Admission events: Be a Gustie, Scholarship Day, and FIKA

March
Evaluations of non-tenure-track faculty due (March 1)
Notification due to Provost’s Office for faculty intending to retire the following year (March 1)
Sabbatical leave applications due
Honors Day award information is due to the Provost’s Office
Course proposals due for new FTS courses
New chair elections
Department endowed faculty nominations due to the dean
Receive authorization(s) for tenure-track searches (or early April)
Admission events: Admitted Student Days

April
Fifth year evaluations of tenure-track faculty due (April 1)
SRIs are administered the last two weeks of April (tenure, third-year review, promotion)
Nominations for faculty awards (i.e., teaching, service, scholarship) due April 15
Course proposals due for new January Term courses (as needed)
Close out NTT searches
Information meeting for department/programs undergoing review in the following year
Admission events: Admitted Student Days

May
PC Chair and Provost meet with tenure candidates and chairs to review the process
Academic Catalog revisions due in Registrar’s Office
Nominees for fall departmental or program academic assistants due in Provost’s Office
Nominations for endowed and/or annually funded scholarships due to Financial Aid Office
Evaluation of departmental administrative assistants (look for prompts from HR)
Admission events: Junior Day

Academic Seniority – 10:8

Tenure-line faculty listed by year of hire:

1979
Stanley Shetka
1985 Steven Mellema, Brian O'Brien
1986 Paul Estenson, Gregory Kaster
1988 Lisa Heldke, Daniel Mollner
1989 Philip Bryant, Thomas Huber
1990 Mark Braun (1990-2007, 2011-), Phillip Voight
1991 Christopher Gilbert, Paschal Kyoore
1992 Patricia Snapp
1993 Paul Saulnier
1994 Toshiyuki Sakuragi
1995 Jennifer Ackil
1996 Richard Leitch, Margaret O'Connor
1997 John Cha
1998 Scott Moore, Marie Walker, Suzanne Wilson
1999 Pamela Kittelson
2000 Rebecca Fremo, Jillian Locke, Thomas LoFaro, Michelle Twait
2001 Patricia English, Loramy Gerstbauer, Jon Grinnell
2002 Aaron Banks, Jeffrey Dahlseid, Casey Elledge, Anna Hulseberg (2002-2007, 2008-), Jeffrey Jeremiason, Brenda Kelly, Matthew Panciera
2003 Margaret Bloch Qazi, Priscilla Briggs, Scott Bur, Mary Gaebler, San Skulrattanakulchai
2004 Yumiko Oshima-Ryan, Bonnie Reimann, Esther Wang
2005 Thia Cooper, Katherine Knutson, Martin Lang, Karl Larson, Brandy Russell
2006 Julie Gilbert, Maria Isabel Kalbermatten, Amanda Nienow (January 2007), Jeffrey Owen, Matthew Rasmussen (2006-2010, 2011-)
2007 Ana Adams, Seán Easton, Yurie Hong, Jeffery Jenson, Kristen Lowe, Henry MacCarthy, Mary McHugh (2004-05, 2007-), Heidi Meyer (February 2008), Daniel Moos, Melissa Rolnick, Sarah Ruble, Laura Triplett
2008 Kyle Chambers, Baili Chen, Sean Cobb, Katrina Imison, David Obermiller, Stephanie Otto, So Young Park, Lianying Shan, Dwight Stoll, Mary Westby, Anna Versluis
2009 Julie Bartley, Blake Couey, Robert Kendrick, Justin Knoepfel, Glenn Kranking, Sun Hee Lee, Amy Vizenor (2001-2003, 2009-)
2010 Angelique Dwyer, Lauren Hecht, Kjerstin Moody, Valerie Walker
2011 Betsy Byers, Pamela Conners, Brandon Dean, Kathleen Keller, Karrin Meffert-Nelson, Sheng-Ping Yang
2012 Joshua Brown, Kathy Lund Dean, Sarah Wolter (2005-2009, 2012-)
2013 Marcia Bunge (1995-1997, 2013-), Kayla De Lorme, Yuta Kawarasaki, Ursula Lindqvist, Carlos Mejía Suárez, Jessica Stadick, Joaquín Villanueva, Louis Yu
2014 Lisa Dembouski, Jeff La Frenierre, James Patrick Miller (2008-09, 2014-), Marta Podemska-Mikluch, Darío Sánchez-González, David Stamps
2015 Laura Burrack, Maddalena Marinari, Jacob Siehler
2016 Lucie Holmgreen (January 2017), Hayley Russell, Shu-Ling Wang
2017 Vita Faychuk (on leave 2021-22)
2018 Samuel Kessler, Sharon Marquart (2015-16, 2018-)
2019 Jillian Downey, Tiffany Grobelski, Patrick Heath, Elizabeth Kubek, Angelika Loefgren
2020 Jon Gill, Laura Hildreth, Katherine Leehy, Lisa Ortmann, Colleen Stockmann
2021 Katelyn Aguilar, Hagar Attia, Séverine Bates (2013-14, Spring 2021), Ella Burnham, Jane Frandsen, Martha Ndakalako-Bannikov
2022 Sarah Lahasky, Romina Peña-Pincheira, Lai Sze Tso, Claire Woebke
2023 Jaren Crist, Dongji Feng, Rachel Flynn (2018-2020, 2023-), Brittany Otto, Samuel Piccolo, Guarionex Salivia, Lindsay Webster
2024 Kelle Nett, Naomi Rushing


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Last modified: February 27, 2024, by Shanon Nowell