The Department Chair is an official position providing quasi-administrative oversight to the departments as designated on the campus organizational chart. Responsibilities fall into seven categories: Personnel, Budget, Curriculum and Instruction, Staff Development, Student Services, Division/Department Governance, and Continuing Education and Training as described in UHCCP 9.237 – Appendix 1: Division/Department Chair. 

At WCC, tenure-track department faculty members vote to choose a chair once every two years in the spring semester. The new department chair begins a two-year period of service on August 1, prior to the start of the first fall semester following their election. All department chairs earn a monthly stipend for the duration of their tenure as chair. They also earn teaching equivalencies determined using the Guide to Determine Minimum Teaching Load for Division/Department Chairs in UHCCP 9.237 – Appendix 1: Division/Department Chair.