Department chairs play a critical role in the life of the University. Through discussions, frameworks, and tools that apply to real-world challenges, our workshops aim to support and empower NYU’s department chairs. The workshops also address key issues facing new and continuing department chairs as identified by the University Faculty Affairs Council (UFAC) and school members.
Scheduled Zoom workshops
For AY2026–27, we are continuing to offer our scheduled Zoom workshop series: one for new department chairs, and one for all chairs (both new and continuing).
Workshops for new department chairs — Fall 2026
Zoom workshops for NEW department chairs will take place during the Fall 2026 semester.
As a department chair, you set the tone for your community. This session will explore practical strategies for addressing harmful behaviors—such as incivility or bullying—while fostering trust, respect, and engagement across your faculty. Learn how to create an environment where colleagues feel valued, supported, and motivated to do their best work.
You’ve stepped into a new leadership role. This session will guide you through the primary responsibilities of a department chair and help you embrace your position while strategizing on how to lead your department effectively.
Struggling with how to intervene when a faculty member is being disrespectful to staff, belittling junior colleagues, or dominating faculty meetings? Received a bullying complaint you’re not sure is a policy violation or just someone being arrogant? This interactive workshop introduces a simple framework you can use immediately to address behavioral and relational challenges in your unit. We also offer a Community of Practice to deepen the learning from this workshop.
This session is facilitated by Frieda Hoffman, Director of NYU Faculty Relations.
After completing the Five Paths to Leadership® self-assessment, you’ll have the opportunity to debrief your results to gain a clearer understanding of your leadership strengths and tendencies—and learn how to adapt more effectively under pressure and during times of change.
Giving and receiving feedback is a core leadership competency. This session will equip new department chairs with tools and strategies to deliver clear, constructive, and actionable feedback that fosters growth and accountability.
Top-down leadership isn’t as effective as creating collaborative spaces where all voices are heard and work gets done. You’ll learn how to apply the Five Paths to Leadership® to create engaging, productive meetings with your peers and faculty.
Conflict is a natural part of leadership, but it can be difficult to navigate. This session introduces a practical framework for understanding conflict, explores why it’s often hard to address, and teaches the S.T.A.T.E. technique to help new chairs engage in productive, solution-focused conversations.
Workshops for all department chairs — Spring 2027
Zoom workshops for ALL department chairs will take place during the Spring 2027 semester.
As a department chair, you set the tone for your community. This session will explore practical strategies for addressing harmful behaviors—such as incivility or bullying—while fostering trust, respect, and engagement across your faculty. Learn how to create an environment where colleagues feel valued, supported, and motivated to do their best work.
In today’s uncertain climate, department chairs must navigate high-stakes conversations while managing their own challenges. This interactive session will equip you with strategies to stay clear and composed under pressure. You’ll learn to recognize your own triggers, apply principles of transparent communication, and practice real-world scenarios that mirror the complexities of your role. Through hands-on exercises with escalating challenges, you’ll gain practical tools to lead with confidence—even in times of uncertainty.
Leading change in higher education requires more than authority—it demands collaboration, trust, and shared ownership. This session equips department chairs with practical strategies to engage faculty and staff in the change process, ensuring that initiatives are both inclusive and sustainable. Participants will explore why collaborative leadership is essential for navigating complexity and fostering lasting impact within their departments.
Departmental budgeting requires more than just tracking revenue and expenses in a spreadsheet. It requires you to think strategically about how the budget can best serve and advance the greatest needs of your students, faculty, and staff. Across higher ed, and at our institution, we are being asked to reduce budgets. We are expecting to have challenges, and there are difficult choices that we will need to make. So now more than ever, we need to be mindful of our budget and make sure we’re allocating funds to the right priorities. In this session, we’ll discuss how to approach budgeting in a way that supports your department’s highest priorities.
You serve in a critical and visible leadership role. You are the first line of support and direction for faculty and staff within your department/unit. And you are a conduit that translates and executes institutional plans and priorities across your department/unit. These roles require you to lead up, down and across effectively, which is a new and larger scope of responsibility compared to being faculty. In this session, you’ll be participating in an interactive exercise which will allow you to brainstorm and discuss tips and strategies that will help you lead up, down and across.
Even the most experienced department chairs encounter challenging faculty or staff dynamics that can disrupt morale and progress. This session offers practical strategies for addressing difficult behaviors with clarity and professionalism—while maintaining accountability, fairness, and a healthy departmental climate.
You will learn how to use delegation as a strategic leadership tool to empower your team, manage your own workload more effectively, and create a more sustainable leadership practice. By entrusting others with meaningful responsibilities, you can focus on advancing departmental goals, reduce burnout, and model trust in your faculty and staff. Ultimately, this approach strengthens the department and institution by fostering a culture of growth, innovation, and leadership development.
Stepping into a department chair role requires more than a simple handoff—it calls for situational awareness and a clear view of the department’s position. This session offers a practical framework to help incoming chairs see the big picture from day one and serves as a checklist for outgoing chairs. We’ll also explore how strategic delegation can support succession planning by developing others and preparing future leaders.
Leaders are often called upon to navigate conversations that are both emotionally charged and critically important. In this interactive session, participants will explore the principles of Emotional Intelligence and the Radical Candor framework to strengthen their ability to communicate with empathy, authenticity, and accountability. Through reflection, discussion, and applied practice, participants will develop strategies for delivering feedback, managing difficult conversations, and building stronger relationships while maintaining high standards of performance and trust.
REGISTRATION
All workshops are on Zoom, on Fridays from 9:30 to 11:00 am.
Fall 2026 workshops for new chairs
Sep 11, Sep 25, Oct 2, Oct 9, Nov 6, Dec 4, Dec 11
Spring 2027 workshops for
all chairs
Jan 22, Jan 29, Feb 5, Feb 19, Feb 26, Mar 5, Apr 2, Apr 9, Apr 16
Self-paced course NEW!
For AY2026–2027 we are pleased to offer Leading as a Department Chair, an asynchronous, tailored, self-paced leadership development course for all department chairs, featuring automated prompts and just-in-time micro-resources (like the virtual coach SOFIA). This program will help you develop a deeper sense of who you are as a leader, deliver and receive feedback in a professional way, manage conflict effectively, delegate to build leadership capacity within your department, and create intentionally designed meetings to improve the quality of the overall experience.
The course, presented in partnership with Academic Impressions, runs from August 31 to December 4, 2026.
No registration needed
No action is required to sign up — all department chairs are automatically registered!
Community of Practice NEW!
BYO Challenge! Join NYU’s new Community of Practice for Department Chairs to deepen your learning from the “Addressing Difficult Behavior” workshop and widen your circle of support. One-hour Zoom sessions provide a space for you and fellow chairs and program directors to share your questions and pain points for collaborative problem-solving, role-playing and camaraderie. Learn alongside peers and an experienced practitioner who can provide real-time feedback and guidance on issues that touch on interpersonal conflict, hard conversations, challenging group dynamics, and much more. There is no pressure to actively participate in any session.
This community of practice is facilitated by Frieda Hoffman, Director of NYU Faculty Relations.
REGISTRATION
Community of Practice for Department Chairs
Fridays — 10:00–11:00 am
Oct 23 and Nov 13
Tuesdays — 12:00–1:00 pm:
Nov 3 and Dec 1