Stephen F. Austin State University
Department of Human Services
Program Director Policy
Program Director
A program director is the administrative overseer of the operations and maintenance of one
individual or collective body of related disciplines within an academic department. The
overarching responsibilities are: work with faculty to insure compliance w/ university and
accrediting body policies; identify points of special recognition and needs among faculty and
majors; and, when necessary, advocate for the assigned program in communication with the
Department Chair. Within the Department of Human Services there are five (5) academic
program areas to which a Program Director will be assigned: 1) Special Education
(undergraduate and graduate), 2) School Psychology (masters and doctorate), 3)
Communication Sciences/Speech & Language Pathology/Deaf & Hard of Hearing
(undergraduate and graduate), 4) Counseling/Rehabilitation Services/Student Affairs, and, 5)
Visual Impairment/Orientation & Mobility.
The 9-month position of Program Director, appointed by the Department Chair, is reserved for
either tenure-track or full-time clinical faculty for a 3-year term. Faculty seniority, prior good
citizenship and/or leadership effectiveness, prior annual evaluations, and any required
qualifications based on accreditation body standards will be considered in decision-making.
Annual evaluations of performance shall occur based on program faculty evaluations, chair
evaluations, and program agendas and a written report submitted and posted on the
departmental website by August 1. One course re-assigned time per semester or negotiated
amount of compensation, when funds are available, shall be provided for assuming this
university service during the 9-month academic year. A Chair-identified summer assignment
shall be compensated the equivalent of one course across Summer I and Summer II semesters.
Summer assignments shall be reserved for faculty who also assume a teaching load
assignment during either Summer I or Summer II.
The following provides an overview of the responsibilities associated with this position:
1) Guiding faculty in maintaining compliance with professional standards, university, college,
departmental, and program policies in terms of teaching, scholarship, service, and disposition
(i.e., assessment, meeting deadlines, maintaining TracDat & LiveText reports, submission of
updated vitae and approved course syllabi, closing the gap in attending to data collected,
orchestration of accreditation processes);
2) Orchestration of assignments for recruitment and retention activities;
3) Chairing and setting the agenda for bi-weekly program faculty meetings;
4) Providing leadership in developing stabilized semester course schedules;
5) Work with program faculty in student admission decision-making and annual evaluations
until degree completion;
6) Working with faculty and/or the COE Advisement Center staff to insure consistent academic
advisement by developing program degree forms that provide a semester by semester
academic advisement guide from students’ initial admission to degree completion;
7) Attending Departmental Advisory Council meetings to inform the Department Chair and
peers in advocacy and to engage in program and department-wide problem-solving and to
inform program faculty of department-wide issues discussed;
8) Orchestrating required updates in Program Handbooks, faculty pictures, websites, and
recruitment brochures;
9) Informing program faculty of budgetary issues and work with them in developing a
purchase list for course fees and HEF allocations to be submitted to the Department Chair;
10) Providing leadership in developing and submitting requests to Department Chair for
curriculum changes;
11) Leading faculty in attending to program-level student issues and making appropriate
referrals to the Department Chair and/or Dean as needed;
12) Orchestrating the development of a qualified pool of adjunct faculty and working with
them to insure compliance to requirements for hiring, required training, compliance to
university policy and required follow-up to their annual evaluation;
13) Providing leadership in review and updating of program brochures, handbooks, and
websites as needed;
14) Providing supervision and/or guidance to work study and/or graduate students assigned
to the program unit;
15) Working with faculty to maintain students’ files with required documentation of annual
review materials and documentation of the completion of major milestones (i.e., application
materials, annual review evaluations, logs, supervisor evaluations); and
16) Orchestrating the compilation of data and writing any annual reports required by external
accrediting bodies.
Sequential re-appointments beyond the 3-year term will be determined by annual
performance and Chair and program faculty annual evaluations.