Department Head Series

Fall 2025

New Department Head Orientation
Orientation for our new department heads is conducted one-to-one in August with our Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, LaVerne McQuiller Williams, Ph.D., J.D.
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Basic Business Essentials for Department Heads
Thursday, September 18, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. -11:30 a.m. in Room SLA/078-2140. This is an in-person session.
Maximum enrollment capacity is 30.
Location: Building 78: Louise Slaughter Hall, Room: SLA-2140
Time: 9:00 am-11:30 am
Whether you are new or returning to your role as an academic department head we are inviting you to attend the Basic Business Essentials program presented by RIT’s Institute Audit, Compliance and Advisement department. This program is filled with details necessary to the successful business of running a department at RIT. A number of our department heads have already attended this program in the past but are welcome to attend a refresher. This session will provide essential financial, employment, technical and compliance knowledge as well as tools in support of College/Department administration. 
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Introduction to Emotional Intelligence 
Registration (you will need to log into RIT Talent Roadmap https://www.rit.edu/talentdevelopment/talent-roadmap)
September 25, 2025 9:00am – 11:00am via zoom OR November 4, 2025 9:00am – 11:00am (in-person)
Louise Slaughter Hall
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions to facilitate higher levels of collaboration and productivity. The skills associated with EI are associated with 90% of high performers within organizations and are considered critical to the pursuit of important career and life goals. In this course, participants gain individualized perspective on their own EI and explore strategies for improvement. 

Fall 2024 
New Department Head Orientation
Orientation for our new department heads is conducted one-to-one in August with our Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, LaVerne McQuiller Williams, Ph.D., J.D.
_______________
Basic Business Essentials for Department Heads
Thursday, September 19, 2024. This is an in-person session. Maximum enrollment capacity is 30.
Location: Building 78: Louise Slaughter Hall, Room: SLA-2140
Time: 9:00 am-11:30 am
Whether you are new or returning to your role as an academic department head we are inviting you to attend the Basic Business Essentials program presented by RIT’s Institute Audit, Compliance and Advisement department. This program is filled with details necessary to the successful business of running a department at RIT. A number of our department heads have already attended this program in the past but are welcome to attend a refresher. This session will provide essential financial, employment, technical and compliance knowledge as well as tools in support of College/Department administration. 
_______________
Introduction to Emotional Intelligence 
Registration (you will need to log into RIT Talent Roadmap)
November 19, 2024 from 9am-11am via zoom
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions to facilitate higher levels of collaboration and productivity. The skills associated with EI are associated with 90% of high performers within organizations and are considered critical to the pursuit of important career and life goals. In this course, participants gain individualized perspective on their own EI and explore strategies for improvement. 
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Spring 2025
Faculty Evaluations: Developing New Department Chair Confidence and Building Skills
Monday, February 10, 2-3:30 pm via Zoom
New department heads will receive an Outlook invitation.
Writing annual performance reviews is the least favorite task for most department heads.  Based on feedback from new department chairs who began in Fall 2024, this workshop will address specific areas or questions identified by new chairs, including how to assign a performance rating; how to have clear standards for performance that meets and exceeds expectations; how to write a concise appraisal; and how to be supportive  of faculty and yet objective.
Join Vice Provost Christine Licata and a panel of experienced department heads for an information session and discussion designed to help you develop your own strategies for writing effective and defensible appraisals that are both summative and formative in nature.
To request interpreting services, go to Login - myAccess
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Effective Faculty Onboarding & Retention (Zoom)
March 26, 1-2:30 pm
Audience:  All Department Heads 
Presenters: Dr. André O. Hudson, Dean, COS  & Professor; Dr. Larry Buckley, Senior Associate Dean & Professor. Research shows that successful onboarding of new faculty leads to higher levels of job satisfaction, reduced stress, and may also lead to increased faculty retention. Join us for an interactive workshop covering guiding principles for effective faculty onboarding. Learn about the purpose of onboarding and the different approaches including the “welcome mat” approach, the process of developing effective and proactive onboarding. The importance of culture, environment and mentoring in the onboarding process will also be covered. Participants will have the opportunity to develop a framework that is specific to their respective academic units. Open to new and returning department chairs.
To request interpreting services, go to Login - myAccess
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