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Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common questions and answers related to creating Divisions at LCON 2023

The Dean in collaboration with the executive team will select the Division Directors. 

Faculty must be tenured and possess college-level leadership and management skills necessary for evaluating faculty and staff, providing oversight of professional development and mentorship activities, initiating programs and locating critical resources which will ensure faculty reach appropriate reappointment, promotion, and tenure milestones. Division Directors will possess effective, efficient, and professional communication skills essential to building trusting relationships within their division and with the rest of the leadership team. Ultimately, these administrators must serve as professional mentors for faculty across the college.  

External candidates will not be considered at this time but that is not to say they would not in the future. 

No, but faculty may feel or perceive that dividing the college into two divisions somehow puts faculty at a disadvantage related to annual evaluations. This is not true. Creating divisions within LCON ensures faculty will have one-on-one mentoring and adequate resources for professional growth and individualized support to be reappointed, promoted, and tenured (if applicable).  

Annual evaluations for full-time and part-time faculty will be conducted by the respective Division Director. 

Faculty at the Lambuth campus will have respective Division Directors that will collaborate with the Lambuth Assistant Dean of Nursing to conduct annual faculty evaluations.

Lambuth Nursing is an extension of the Memphis campus and not a separate college. We are one organization with two locations and therefore both campus faculty fall under the same policies and procedures. 

The Dean will oversee the annual review of faculty with respect for promotion and/or tenure, development/resource needs, and individual mentoring in collaboration with respective Division Directors.  The Dean will be actively involved in strategic planning and oversight of LCON’s strategic plan for faculty development. 

Dr. Haddad will announce the Division Directors after careful consideration and consultant with the Executive Leadership Team.  

Other UofM Colleges use the term “Department Chair” for this role but their college issues degree concentrations from those departments. LCON will not issue degree concentrations based on the two Divisions. This may change later but as of right now, LCON will use the term Division Director.   

LCON has one (1) elected faculty senator representative out of forty-six (46) total senators because we do not have divisions, departments, or schools within the college. When LCON divides into two divisions, the college will elect a second faculty senator to increase faculty voice and representation.   

No faculty will be discouraged from contacting the Dean or Assistant/Associate Deans about concerns, there may be quicker and more appropriate issues that can be addressed with the Division Directors. The Loewenberg College of Nursing aligns with the UofM open door policy; however, faculty will be working more intimately with Division Directors for immediate consultation and response. Most likely, Division Directors will be able to address certain issues more appropriately because they will be more aware of the faculty and staff daily challenges. Division Directors will be charged with building relationships and fostering a culture of inclusion for all faculty and staff.

The Division Directors in the LCON at the University of Memphis are part of a collaborative college leadership team. The Division Directors provide college-level leadership, management, evaluation of faculty and staff in their division, and provide oversight of professional development and mentorship activities that lead faculty to reach appropriate reappointment, promotion, and tenure milestones. The Division Directors orient new faculty members and part-time instructors to the college's goals, policies, and procedures. Reporting to the dean of the LCON, the Division Directors serve as the primary liaison to the College Research and Innovation and Community Engagement efforts. These administrators are key resources for faculty in developing scholarship and service goals and a championing collaborative resources to ensure appropriate innovation in teaching, research, and service efforts. They serve as professional mentors for faculty across the college. As members of the collaborative leadership team in the college, the Division Directors conveys critical information to the college Dean ensuring all LCON faculty needs for growth and development are understood, acknowledged or valued, and addressed by administration.

Detailed Job Description 

The Division Director is responsible for:

  1. Developing and championing faculty development programs for the purpose of achieving promotion, reappointment, and tenure milestones.
  2. Building relationships with faculty to help develop teaching, scholarship, and service goals for faculty.
  3. Developing and championing faculty and staff retention programs that ensure faculty and staff feel well supported and success is equitably celebrated within the College.
  4. Developing and leading the implementation of orientation, networking, and professional development programming for new faculty, tenure-track faculty, part-time faculty, and non-tenure-track faculty.
  5. Evaluating faculty and staff performance in collaboration with the Dean.
  6. Providing appropriate mentorship for faculty and support for various writing projects.
  7. Collaborating with the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation to ensure that both the LCON needs are well represented as well as serving as a champion for leveraging College level resources and supports.
  8. Serving as a subject matter expert for the reappointment, promotion, and tenure criteria and assisting faculty in the development of their portfolios/dossiers.
  9. Serving as a resource for faculty in executing their annual work plans.
  10. Developing programs that enhance the professional trajectory and leadership skills of all faculty and staff.
  11. Championing interprofessional collaborative culture in the workplace.
  12. Serving as a primary liaison to the College level community engagement team and the Centers.
  13. Managing LCON internal grants and seed funding opportunities. 
  14. Creating new innovative faculty initiatives related to e-learning/CTE and other methods of delivery for teaching.
  15. Collaborating with the leadership team to resolve division-specific faculty issues.

All academic programs will continue to be managed by the Program Directors in collaboration with the Associate Dean for Academic Programs.

The Associate Dean for Academic Programs in collaboration with the respective Division Director and the Program Directors will manage undergraduate and graduate academic concerns.      

Annual leave, sick leave, non-paid leave, FMLA leave, bereavement leave, military leave, jury duty leave, voting leave, vaccination admin leave, and parental leave requests are  submitted using the digital Leave Request form and will be approved by your respective Division Director. 

Travel requests for conferences, professional development and training, teaching, research activities, curriculum development, or other academic matters related to LCON will be approved by the respective Division Director. 

The Associate Dean of Academic Programs in collaboration with the respective Division Director will determine how best to meet the needs of the college through faculty teaching assignments. Teaching assignments are not negotiable, but there are certain circumstances where adjustments potentially optimize the benefits of faculty, administration, and LCON programs. Division Directors will play a key role in advocating for the specific needs of faculty related to teaching assignments and follow-up on efforts aimed at faculty growth and development.           

Each division will have monthly meetings to foster effective and efficient communication.  The monthly meetings will serve to keep faculty engaged, discuss critical issues, increase accountability, enhance faculty support, communicate and exchange information about academic matters, make recommendations, provide division updates, and build a collaborative culture. 

No. The purpose of the divisions is to aide in assigning faculty teaching load-based specialties.

For example, faculty teaching women’s health courses will be part of the Family Community and Health System Science division, while faculty teaching adult health courses will be part of the Adult, Chronic, and Continuity of Care Science division.

No, divisions do not offer nor own program curricula. Division Directors will focus on providing an individualized yet systematic approach to mentoring faculty.   

No, divisions cannot have their own curriculum, admission, or student committees.