Department Chair, Mathematics

San Jacinto•Houston, TX

1d•Remote

About The Position

The Department Chair is a leadership position that translates the strategic directions from the Instructional Deans, the Chief Online Learning and Innovation Officer (COLIO), and the Strategic Leadership Team into practical implementations that affect student success and provides leadership and oversight for fully online instruction within assigned disciplines. The Department Chair utilizes specific resources to achieve instructional goals of the division; leads and evaluates the faculty members and staff; coordinates continuous improvement initiatives; and uses experience, best practices, plans, processes, and teams to produce clear deliverables and outputs. This includes oversight of online course quality, accessibility, digital pedagogy, learning management system standards, and compliance with state authorization and accreditation requirements applicable to distance education. The department chair will demonstrate the college values.

Requirements

Must be available to work flexible hours Monday through Friday and additional hours as needed to support online faculty and operations, including virtual meetings.
Must have excellent communication skills, demonstrated tactical leadership abilities, and proven results.
Must show proven teaching success in higher education, preferably including experience in online environments;
Demonstrate knowledge and achievement in curriculum management, including experience developing or overseeing online courses or programs;
Effective and consistent organizational, conflict resolution, and management skills, with the ability to adapt leadership approaches in a virtual setting;
Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal skills, with demonstrated capacity to build relationships and foster collaboration across distributed teams;
Demonstrate sound working knowledge of personal computer hardware/software, business management software (i.e. Banner), learning management system (i.e., Blackboard Ultra), and the broader digital tools ecosystems supporting online education.
Familiarity with distance education regulations and best practices, including accessibility standards (i.e., WCAG), online learning quality frameworks (i.e., Quality Matters, OSCQR), and state authorization requirements such as NC-SARA;
Must have administrative experience, including ability to establish priorities and make difficult choices among competing demands and make decisions in a consultative and informed manner.
Demonstrated ability to effectively and consistently lead, support, and motivate remote faculty and staff in an online or distributed work environment.
A master’s degree in appropriate discipline from a regionally accredited institution is required.
Five years in community college setting to include teaching and/or administration required, including oversight of fully online instruction.

Nice To Haves

Five years teaching and three years progressive leadership or equivalent experience preferred, including fully online and face-to-face.

Responsibilities

Creates and approves goals for department by interpreting and supporting the goals of the institution as they relate to the department
Implements and/or reinforces changes based on policy decisions; interprets department policies to faculty, staff, students, and/or public
Initiates and maintains communication with colleagues, administrative staff, faculty, students, industry, external community, state, and national agencies
Informs the dean of decisions involving changes in the department and issues related to other campuses
Conducts meetings with faculty and staff
Provides the necessary research and department support to obtain/maintain external grant funds or donations, if appropriate
Resolves issues that arise between faculty and students
Keeps current on trends, issues, and initiatives in the divisions' related fields of education that affect teaching and learning within the departmental program
Assigns teaching loads and other departmental duties
Ensures faculty teaching online courses meet required training and professional development expectations (e.g., ACAdemic, online pedagogy training).
Monitors compliance with online instructional standards, including accessibility, course presence, and required LMS components.
Supports faculty in integrating instructional technology and digital tools consistent with college guidelines.
Identifies best practices for department or processes in collaboration with industry and in review of educational literature and community needs
Monitors compliance with policies and procedures of the College
Attends meetings (e.g., department meetings, task forces, committees, councils)
Meets the leadership competencies established by the College.
Prepares the annual department budget
Reviews/approves the purchases of goods and services
Develops and/or reviews class schedules
Reviews and processes textbook requests on a semester basis to insure timely access and bookstore processing.
Works with dual credit to meet the needs of independent school district partners
Recommends renewal of faculty contracts.
Reviews and approves personnel changes within the department and forwards forms to the respective dean
Determines personnel needs in the department, makes appropriate requests in writing, and participates in hiring interviews in conjunction with the appropriate search committee
Performs tracking and analyzing of program data, specifically student performance and enrollment data
Develops and implements strategies that support program completion, job placement, and/or transfer opportunities for students, when appropriate
Ensures department participation in student recruitment efforts
Supervises campus grants that provide for educational programs or services to the division. Works with colleagues in college district to develop new grant applications.
Responds to requests for faculty substitutions, class emergencies, and as a first point of contact for part-time faculty access
Oversees beginning-of-term learning management system checks, ensures compliance with required online course standards, facilitates distance learning course reviews, and verifies end-of-course documentation in alignment with online quality frameworks (e.g., Quality Matters, OSCQR) and accessibility expectations.
Evaluates faculty teaching effectiveness through classroom observations, online course reviews, and analysis of student performance data, ensuring compliance with online instructional standards and accessibility requirements. Recognizes faculty who demonstrate a high level of teaching effectiveness, giving recognition for positive actions of faculty as well as offering constructive suggestions for professional growth
Supervises and evaluates new faculty and staff
Provides and/or promotes professional development opportunities to members of the department as appropriate
Provides coaching and support specific to effective online teaching practices, student engagement in virtual environments, and use of instructional technology.
Meets with faculty and/or staff members to create key performance indicators that reflect the needs of the department, as well as consideration for the annual priorities of the College that affect teaching and learning
Provides evaluation and ongoing feedback regarding faculty and/or staff performance
Participates in validation meetings to review and discuss performance ratings of department members with campus leadership
Facilitates assessment of student learning outcomes, general education outcomes, program-specific outcomes, accreditation requirements, and student performance on certificate or licensure assessments
Facilitates the development of curricular programs, projects, and initiatives in support of the College’s mission and strategic plan
Works with Institutional Effectiveness
Participates in activities associated with Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) accreditation, program accreditation, and/or program review
Monitors program compliance with national, state, and/or regional agencies
Administrative duties as needed to oversee departmental budgets
Reviews departmental budgets
Follows and reviews procurement activities
Reviews compliance to learning management system (LMS) standards for faculty
Ensures compliance with distance education regulations, including NC-SARA requirements, state authorization standards, and applicable federal guidelines related to online delivery.
Approves departmental payroll
Collaborates with program directors and faculty to develop and implement innovative partnerships, e.g., healthcare providers/agencies, industry partners, governmental agencies, and educational partners.
Assist with the coordination of advisory committee meetings with industry and educational partners per institutional requirements and guidelines.
Teach a minimum and maximum of one (1) class during the summer.