As a department chair, your duties are both to your department and the college as a whole. The departmental chairperson at a college looks at the big picture and facilitating a great relationship between the college and the department. But a department chair will also have day-to-day responsibilities that include paperwork, guiding new faculty members, and being the face of the department.
On a college level, you'll be a spokesperson for the department. When the Dean has any inquiries or concerns, you'll be the person to talk to. You'll also need to advocate for the department when needs arise.
The path to becoming a departmental chair varies, but some requirements are pretty much set in stone. For example, you are qualified to work as a faculty member in a college. You must have also conducted lectures and seminars in your related field. There are also academic and research contributions to your profession and especially the college.
How to Become a Department Chairperson
What is a Department Chairperson
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Department Chairperson. For example, did you know that they make an average of $40.38 an hour? That's $83,998 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 13,500 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Department Chairperson Do
There are certain skills that many Department Chairpeople have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Computer skills, Organizational skills and Problem-solving skills.
How To Become a Department Chairperson
If you're interested in becoming a Department Chairperson, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 53.9% of Department Chairpeople have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 29.2% of Department Chairpeople have master's degrees. Even though most Department Chairpeople have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Department Chairperson. When we researched the most common majors for a Department Chairperson, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Department Chairperson resumes include Doctoral Degree degrees or Associate Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Department Chairperson. In fact, many Department Chairperson jobs require experience in a role such as Teacher. Meanwhile, many Department Chairpeople also have previous career experience in roles such as Instructor or Special Education Teacher.
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Department Chairperson Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of Assistant Principal you might progress to a role such as Elementary School Principal eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title Elementary School Principal.
Department Chairperson Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Department Chairperson
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12 Department Chairperson Resume Examples
Build a professional department chairperson resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your department chairperson resume.
Ashley Olson Department Chairperson |
Albert Williams Department Chairperson Experience Department Chairperson2014 - Present Cornell University•Ithaca, NY
Chairperson2013 - 2014 Sigma Nu Fraternity•Ithaca, NY
Lead Teacher2009 - 2013 La Petite Holdings•Washington, DC
Third Grade Teacher2002 - 2008 Clark County School District•Las Vegas, NV
Skills Enrollment ManagementThematic UnitsState StandardsStrategies GoldCommunity OutreachSocial EventsCognitive DevelopmentExecutive CommitteeTwitterCDA Education Master's Degree Educational Leadership2008 - 2009 Southeastern University•Washington, DC Bachelor's Degree Education1999 - 2002 New York University•New York, NY |
Learn How To Write a Department Chairperson Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Department Chairperson resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Department Chairperson Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Department Chairperson Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Department Chairperson templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Department Chairperson resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
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Department Chairperson Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Department Chairperson Jobs - $149K and Up
- Entry Level Department Chairperson Jobs
- Part Time Department Chairperson Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Department Chairperson Jobs
Top Colleges for Department Chairpersons
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
4. New York University
New York, NY • Private
5. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
6. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
7. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
8. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Private
9. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
10. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
Find the best Department Chairperson job for you
Department Chairperson Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Department Chairperson Jobs - $149K and Up
- Entry Level Department Chairperson Jobs
- Part Time Department Chairperson Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Department Chairperson Jobs
Online Courses For Department Chairperson That You May Like
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Top Skills For a Department Chairperson
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 17.0% of Department Chairpeople listed Department Chair on their resume, but soft skills such as Computer skills and Organizational skills are important as well.
Best States For a Department Chairperson
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Department Chairperson. The best states for people in this position are Oregon, California, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin. Department Chairpeople make the most in Oregon with an average salary of $103,336. Whereas in California and Massachusetts, they would average $103,053 and $100,612, respectively. While Department Chairpeople would only make an average of $99,198 in Wisconsin, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Wisconsin
$99,198
Avg. Salary
2. Ohio
$93,406
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$88,349
Avg. Salary
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