Department Chair Handbook

We recognize that being a department chair requires working productively with a broad range of constituencies as well as managing a wide variety of tasks. With that in mind, and with your feedback, we developed this Department Chair Handbook.* We welcome your suggestions and plan to continuously update the content.

Click here to download the Department Chair Handbook PDF 

In addition to this guidebook, OFD offers workshops and holds a chairs’ retreat every few years. We also support chair networking and support groups. Please contact us for more information.

*The UMass Boston Department Chairs' Handbook was adapted from Cornell University's adaptation of the Knox College's Guide for Department Chairs (Galesburg, Illinois: Knox College, 2006), which was a Mellon-funded Faculty Career Enhancement (FaCE) Project of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. We are grateful for the help of many people at UMass Boston who helped us transform this guide to fit the context and policies at UMass Boston. Our heartfelt thanks to the deans, the provost, and department chairs who vetted drafts.