Description

The College of Health and Human Sciences (CHHS) at Northern Illinois University seeks a chair, the chief academic and administrative officer to build a collaborative and inclusive community.  The chair will be accountable directly to the dean of the college for all aspects of the operation of and planning for the school.  The chair is the spokesperson of the school in all official transactions with school members, as well as with other units of the university, and is responsible for the proper functioning of the school as an instructional, research/artistic, and public service unit.  The chair is responsible, consistent with principles of shared governance, for developing and administering effective operating policies and practices for the school/consistent with college and university provisions; for making budget, curricular, and personnel recommendations (in accordance with applicable university, college, and school/department bylaws and policies). The chair responsibilities include managing resources assigned to the school/department; defining the school's scope, mission, and objectives within institutional guidelines and priorities, enrollment management strategies, and within the resources available; and assuring and, whenever possible, improving the school/department's capacity to carry out its mission and accomplish its objectives with distinction. 
The school is composed of undergraduate and graduate academic programs, including the degrees in B.S. in Human Development and Family Sciences with emphases in Child Development and Family Social Services, B.S. in Communicative Disorders, B.S. in Fashion Merchandising, M.A. in Speech-Language Pathology, M.S. in Applied Human Development and Family Sciences with an additional emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, and a Doctor of Audiology.  The school also houses minors in Communicative Disorders, Family and Child Studies, Fashion Merchandising, Financial Counseling and Gerontology as well as certificates in Illinois Director Credential, Illinois Early Childhood Education Credential, Illinois Family Specialist Credential, Infant Toddler Credential, and Leadership in Aging.   
In addition to administration responsibilities, the Chair will assume an academic and scholarly role within the School, maintain professional/disciplinary currency, further the development of advocating for the academic programs in the School, work to maintain accreditation for programs, serve as a member of the college senior leadership team, foster excellence in teaching and scholarship, encourage proposals for external and internal funding, teach courses, and oversee graduate research as appropriate. Northern Illinois University is a comprehensive teaching and research institution with a diverse and international student body of approximately 16,000. NIU is included in the Research Universities - High Research Activity and Community Engaged Institution categories by the Carnegie Foundation and is a member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling holds CACREP accreditation. 
 
The School has programs that hold CAA and COAMFTE accreditation and offer the BS, MA, MS, and AuD degrees. There will be 18 faculty and 12 clinical faculty members and approximately 110 graduate students and 300 undergraduate students enrolled. The school has alliances with community- based and other health services organizations as well as interaction with NIU’s Child Development and Family Center, The Couple and Family Therapy Clinic and The Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic, providing excellent on and off-campus sites for clinical experiences, research, and grant development. Visit the College website at https://www.chhs.niu.edu/. NIU is located in DeKalb, IL, 60 miles west of Chicago. For information about DeKalb, visit http://www.niu.edu/visit/dekalb.shtml.   

Requirements

In accordance with applicable university, college, and school bylaws and policies, the chair is responsible for: 

• Defining the school's scope, mission, and objectives 
• Providing leadership in the school's capacity to carry out its mission and accomplish its objectives. 
• Supporting strategic growth in instructional, research/scholarly, and public service areas. 
• Assuring and, whenever possible, improving the school's capacity to carry out its mission and accomplish its objectives with distinction. 
• Serving as a member of the college senior leadership team. 
• Advocating for the academic programs in the school. 
• Serving as the spokesperson for all official communications and transactions with employees, other units of the university, alumni, and external constituents. 
• Representing the school at university events. 
• Demonstrating and promoting sensitivity to equity, diversity, and inclusion. 
• Developing and administering effective operating policies and practices for the school. 
• Directing day-to-day operational responsibilities of the school. 
• Overseeing scheduling of courses. 
• Assigning workload and schedules of employees. 
• Coordinating program review, accreditation, and other reporting activities as applicable 
• Facilitating curricular recommendations. 
• Making recommendations regarding promotion and/or tenure. 
• Managing resources assigned to the school. 
• Planning, obtaining, budgeting, allocating and managing resources. 
• Making budget, curricular, and personnel recommendations. 
• Overseeing student recruitment, retention, advisement, and enrollment management strategies, plans, and activities. 
• Encouraging proposals for external and internal funding. 
• Engaging in advancement activities in coordination with the Dean and college advancement professional. 
• Coordinating the selection and hiring of all classification of employees. 
• Supervising employees assigned to the school. 
• Exercising independent judgment in conducting evaluations of employees and in taking personnel actions such as progressive discipline, corrective action, and/or remediation, including recommendation for discharge or termination. 
• Assuming an academic and scholarly role within the school. 
• Maintaining professional/disciplinary currency. 
• Fostering excellence in teaching and scholarship. 
• Demonstrating and promoting sensitivity to student issues.