Chair of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago - Military Veterans

Job Description:

Overall responsibilities include: recruiting, supervising, and mentoring departmental faculty members; encouraging professional development of faculty; supporting the successful training of graduate students; reviewing and assessing curriculum; developing and managing department goals and finances; promoting faculty's involvement in graduate and medical education; acting as a department liaison to the university administration and to external agencies; securing and being a good steward of departmental resources; providing leadership in the pursuit of scholarly excellence (publications and grant funding) and fostering an environment which is conducive to collaboration, innovation, positive thinking and collegiality.

The chair will establish and implement a 5-year strategic plan for the department that is in alignment with the overall goals/mission of the Stritch School of Medicine and Loyola University of Chicago. This plan will include input from allied stakeholders within the Loyola Community.

KEY JOB RESPONSIBILITIES :


TEACHING

• Ensure that the overall teaching mission of the department is met through teaching of graduate and medical students
• Actively participate in teaching, curriculum development, and ensuring the quality of the program
• Evaluate the viability of new programs/course requests
• Recommend/appoint course directors and the graduate program director
• Mentor faculty to establish and maintain an extramurally funded research program
• Assure the success of departmental seminar series and other departmental initiatives

RESEARCH

• Maintain an extramurally funded research program
• Help foster the successful development and maintenance of research within the department and in collaboration with those outside of the department
• Actively support student research programs of the university, including the medical student summer research program.

SERVICE

• Serve on university committee
• Actively participate in university activities such as interviewing faculty candidates and student applicants; SSOM/Health Sciences Campus Research Day
• Actively participate in activities that represent the university

ADMINISTRATIVE

• Assist in the recruitment of faculty and departmental staff
• Act as the first line of authority for faculty and staff
• Ensure that course directors, graduate program directors, and faculty are in compliance with academic policies and procedures
• Act as the second line of authority for student complaints and concerns that cannot first be resolved by the graduate program director
• Conduct annual evaluations of departmental faculty
• Plan and conduct faculty meetings
• Actively encourage and support professional development of faculty
• Provide guidance and leadership to develop and implement department and program goals
• Provide leadership and maintain a climate of open communication, collegiality and teamwork within the department
• Establish departmental committees as required
• Allocate departmental resources appropriately
• Comply with all departmental reporting requirements, including surveys for strategic planning and accreditations
• Provide expert and reliable counsel and guidance to the Dean on all issues related to the department, the Stritch School of Medicine and Loyola University Chicago.

Minimum Education and/or Work Experience:

The Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine is seeking to recruit an accomplished scholar with a strong track record of promoting inter-disciplinary research and high-quality graduate education to lead the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as Chair. Faculty members within the Department are highly interactive and conduct basic and applied/translational research that addresses a variety of topics within microbiology, immunology and virology fields. These topics include bacteria- and virus-host interactions, virus assembly, entry, and spread, inflammation in disease, metabolism, adaptive and innate immunity, vaccine development, post-transcriptional modifications, allergic responses, and immunology in pregnancy, among others. The Department provides graduate training in programs that lead to Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., and M.S. degrees. The successful candidate must have a Ph.D. and/or MD, with expertise in the fields of microbiology, immunology, virology or a closely related discipline. They should have an active nationally-recognized research program (as evidenced by a strong publication record and a continued success in securing extramural funding), proven administrative and leadership skills, and a commitment to excellence in training/education in the biomedical sciences. Responsibilities include the overall direction of the Department (including fiscal management), and facilitation and mentoring of the faculty to enhance their research, teaching, and professional service activities, in addition to serving as a promoter of cross-department/cross-school collaborations.

Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, a description of their leadership vision, curriculum vitae and the names and email addresses of 3-5 references to www.careers.luc.edu . References will not be contacted immediately but may be consulted at subsequent points in the review process. Review of applications will begin in January, 2025 and continue until the position is filled.

Job Type: Full-Time