Academic Program Directors

For the director of each major, minor, and certification program, the SACSCOC Principles of Accreditation require that the institution assign responsibility for program coordination, as well as for curriculum development and review, to persons academically qualified in the field. At the College of Charleston, these responsibilities are held by a department chair or academic program director who is appointed and serves in accordance with the divisional Policy on Academic Curricular Program Directors. This policy details the appointment and duties of academic curricular program directors. Credential guidelines for Academic Curricular Program Directors are outlined in the divisional Policy on Instructor of Record and Faculty Credentials (Section 5.2 and 5.3).

 

1. Appointment of an Academic Curricular Program Director

Requests for appointments and renewals of Academic Curricular Program Directors are submitted by the dean in writing to the Provost. The Office of the Provost issues the appointment/renewal letters to each chair/director (typically beginning on July 1 for a 12-month period). 

For each Academic Curricular Program Director, the dean should submit a Academic Curricular Program Director form to the Office of the Provost upon appointment. In some cases, a chair may initiate the form for a program within their department and submit it to the dean.

Prior to completing the Academic Curricular Program Director form, please confirm that the appointee has approved Faculty Credentials packet on file for all teaching disciplines in the program – OR – if the appointee is new to the College or new to any of the disciplines or course levels listed on on the Academic Curricular Program Director form, please first submit a credentials packet. If the appointee does not hold a terminal degree in all of the disciplines in the program, one the following conditions must be met:

  • Alternative Qualifications: In rare cases, the director may not hold a terminal degree, and qualifications other than academic credentials are appropriate for this appointment. A narrative and any necessary additional documentation must be attached. Please contact the Office of the Provost for guidance on alternative qualifications for Academic Curricular Program Directors.
  • Lead Faculty Designated: In some interdisciplinary programs or a department housing two or more degree programs that are not strongly related, a program director might not be credentialed in each teaching discipline. In these cases, additional faculty, with approved credentials in the discipline, who play a lead role in the advising of students and the development and review of curriculum should be identified on the Academic Curricular Program Director form.

Please submit the completed Academic Curricular Program Director form and necessary attachments to the Office of the Provost. If required, the Office of the Provost will obtain an approval signature from the Graduate School Dean/Associate Dean and/or the SACSCOC liaison. 

2. Onboarding of an Academic Curricular Program Director

Upon appointment, department chairs (and academic program directors of programs that house roster faculty) are invited to attend a series of orientation sessions hosted by the Office of the Provost. Additional sessions are offered periodically for other new and returning program directors. Additional training and guidance about any academic affairs processes and policies is available upon request. Please visit our Policies and Procedures webpage for detailed instructions and forms relevant to most divisional processes.

New chairs and directors should contact their dean's office for additional onboarding information, including guidance on completing necessary forms to gain access to financial, curricular, and faculty accounts and systems (noted below). Please submit the required forms to relevant offices as soon as possible (typically by August 1 for chairs/directors who were appointed on July 1). Access needs and security groups vary by program, and general guidance is provided below in #3.

3. Access Management & Security Groups for Academic Curricular Program Directors

Upon appointment, supervisors should contact the IT Service Desk to update the incoming and outgoing faculty member's accesses. 

For access to Banner data and/or update the finance related accesses as Chair/Director, please complete the appropriate forms below, if applicable, and submit them to your supervisor(s) for approval:

Most security groups will be updated on behalf of the chair/director without prompting. However if the chair/director does not have access to system or is not a member of a required security group, please email the Office of the Provost (Anastasia Gilpatrick, abemelia@cofc.edu) to request access as Chair/Director to any of the following:

  • To request to be added to a security group and/or email group managed by Academic Affairs
  • To request access to the Banner Document Management (BDM) system
  • To request access to a shared folder managed by Academic Affairs (ex: "Shared with Schools," "Shared with Depts Prgms," "Travel Authorizations," "Scanned")
  • To request an Advising tab or Faculty tab in MyCharleston
  • To request a Workflow tab in MyCharleston or for a component (e.g. TE status reports) to be added to your Workflow tab
  • To request access to Digital Measures (the Faculty Activity System, FAS on Activity Insight)
  • To request access to PeopleAdmin (the Faculty, Staff, and Temporary Employee recruitment system)
  • To request access to Blue (the Course/Instructor Evaluations system)
  • To request access to Curriculog (the curriculum management system)

For Banner Finance training, please contact Cheryl Drum (drumcs@cofc.edu). You must have a Banner Finance tab on MyCharleston in order to take part in this training. If you do not have a Banner Finance tab, please obtain Banner Finance access BEFORE registering. The Self-Service Banner (SSB) Authorization Request Form (http://controller.cofc.edu/documents/accounting-forms/banner-ssb-security.pdf) and Index/FOP Access Form (http://controller.cofc.edu/documents/accounting-forms/index-fop-access-form.pdf), are both found on the Controller's website. (http://controller.cofc.edu).

For training on Academic Affairs' systems (PeopleAdmin, Digital Measures, Blue, Curriculog, Banner, BDM, Workflow, T&P SharePoint, PTR SharePoint, etc), please contact the Office of the Provost (abemelia@cofc.edu). For Teaching Effort Workflow training, you must have a Workflow tab on MyCharleston in order to participate in this training. If you do not have a Workflow tab, please contact us before registering. For all other systems, roles and security groups can be updated during the training as needed. For guidance on other Academic Affairs processes, please visit our Policies and Procedures webpage, and please contact the dean's office or Office of the Provost if you have questions.