University org chart example
A mid-sized university drawn to two levels below the president, which is the chart a cabinet, a board or an accreditor actually reads. Two hierarchies run through it, the academic one under the provost, where deans hold colleges and chairs hold departments of faculty who are colleagues before they are reports, and the administrative one under the vice presidents, where directors hold staff in the ordinary way. The number after a dean or a chair is the faculty they hold.
How a university is usually structured
A university is two organizations sharing a president. The academic side reports through the provost: deans over colleges and schools, department chairs over the faculty, and the library, the registrar and the research office beside them. The administrative side reports through vice presidents: finance and administration, student affairs, enrollment, advancement. Athletics reports to the president in most American universities because its budget, its risk and its public are the president's. Draw both sides under the president, draw the provost as the first among the vice presidents, and the chart already shows which arguments are academic and which are administrative.
The academic line is not a line in the corporate sense, and the chart should say so by what it leaves out. Faculty are not on it: chairs are elected or rotate, tenure is not a reporting relationship, and a chair does not manage a professor the way a director manages an analyst. So the chart stops at chairs and deans and puts the faculty count in the title, which is the number a cabinet needs, and it opens one college to its chairs as the pattern rather than all four. The board of trustees and the faculty senate are governance, not reporting: they belong on a governance chart beside this one, the way the nonprofit and church examples keep their boards, and drawing the board as the president's boss on the operating chart describes a meeting, not a week.
The administrative line works like any company's, with two borders worth a dotted line. The registrar reports to the provost, because the record of who took what is academic, and works with the vice president for enrollment, whose admissions and financial aid offices feed it. The chief information officer reports to the vice president for finance and administration and works for the provost, because the classroom and the research computing are half the job. Dining is drawn as a contractor, since the university is accountable for it and does not employ it; the enrollment marketing agency likewise. A vacant chair is drawn as open, because a rotation with no successor is a hire the dean has not made.
Typical titles by level
The vocabulary these charts use, from the top down. Titles vary by country and by company; the levels don't.
| Level | Titles you'll see |
|---|---|
| Leadership | President, Chancellor; Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs; Vice President for Finance and Administration, Vice President for Student Affairs, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Vice President for Advancement, Vice President for Research; General Counsel, Chief of Staff |
| Academic leadership | Dean, Associate Dean, Department Chair, Program Director, University Librarian, Registrar, Dean of Graduate Studies |
| Administrative directors | Controller, Director of Human Resources, Director of Facilities, Chief Information Officer, Dean of Students, Director of Housing and Residence Life, Director of Health and Counseling, Director of Career Services, Director of Admissions, Director of Financial Aid, Director of Development, Director of Alumni Relations, Director of Athletics |
| Governance and outside | Board of Trustees, Faculty Senate, Student Government (on a governance chart, not this one); dining, bookstore, custodial and marketing contractors (as contractors) |
Where these charts go wrong
University charts go wrong by drawing the board as the president's boss on the operating chart; by listing faculty under chairs as if they were staff; by drawing every college to its chairs so the chart is six pages; by putting the provost beside the other vice presidents as an equal, when the deans report to the provost; by leaving athletics under student affairs when it reports to the president in fact; and by omitting the contractors who feed, clean and market the place.
Questions people ask
- How is a university structured?
- A president over two lines: an academic line through the provost, with deans over colleges, chairs over departments, and the library, the registrar and research beside them; and an administrative line through vice presidents for finance and administration, student affairs, enrollment and advancement, with directors under each. Athletics usually reports to the president. The board and the faculty senate govern but do not appear on the reporting chart.
- Should faculty be on a university org chart?
- No. Faculty are colleagues under a chair who is elected or rotates, and tenure is not a reporting line; drawing them as reports invents relationships that do not exist and makes the chart six pages long. Stop at chairs and deans, put the faculty count in the title, and open one college to its chairs as the pattern.
- Where does the board of trustees go on the org chart?
- On a governance chart beside the operating one, not above the president on it. The board hires and evaluates the president and approves the budget, which is authority, not management; the operating chart shows who runs the university in a given week, and the board does not. The nonprofit and church examples on this site keep their boards the same way.
- Who does the registrar report to?
- The provost, with a dotted line to the vice president for enrollment. The academic record is the provost's, which is why the registrar sits in academic affairs; admissions and financial aid feed the record every term, which is why the dotted line exists. Drawn under enrollment alone, the registrar becomes a recruiting office with a transcript machine.
Other industries
- ManufacturingTwo shifts, and quality kept out of production's line.
- LogisticsDispatch runs the day; supervisors run the people.
- ConstructionOffice and field, meeting on every project.
- Software startupSquads under a CTO; product managers on a dotted line.
- NonprofitThe board on top, programs beside the money.
- Medical practiceA clinical line and a business line, crossing at nursing.
- SchoolDepartments led by teachers who also manage.
- HotelSix divisions around one general manager.
- Marketing agencyDisciplines own people; pods own the work.
- Security & facilities servicesSites stacked under supervisors; a 24-hour control room.
- Sales teamRegions for closers, a team for openers, RevOps beside them.
- Accounting firmA partner pyramid, three service lines.
- Law firmPractice groups, and the business side that runs the firm.
- ChurchA board that governs, a pastor who leads, ministries below.
- RestaurantFront of house and back of house, meeting at the pass.
- IT departmentRun, build and secure, under one director.
- HR departmentPartners, specialists and operations: the three legs.
- Local governmentElected above appointed, and two officers who answer to the council.
- Utility companyField crews, a 24-hour control center, and a regulator in the room.
- BankThree lines of defense, drawn as lines.
- Staffing agencySales desks, recruiting desks, and a back office that pays two thousand people.
- HospitalTwo hierarchies that meet at the bedside.
- Retail chainHead office, the field, and a store drawn once.
- Small businessOne owner, two managers, and the jobs the owner still does.
- Finance departmentAccounting closes the books; FP&A says what they mean.
- Marketing departmentDemand, product, brand, and the operations under all three.
- Customer service departmentTeams on the floor; quality, training and scheduling beside them.
- Engineering departmentProduct teams under a VP of engineering; platform, data and security under the CTO.
- Operations departmentSupply chain, fulfillment and the functions that keep both honest.
- Product departmentProduct, design, research and the operations that measure them.
- Consulting firmThree practices, one firm behind them, and no engagement on the chart.
- Real estate brokerageAgents who are not employees, on the chart anyway.
- Insurance agencySales on one side, service on the other, and the lines where they meet.
- Dental practiceA clinical line the law draws, and a business line the office manager runs.
- E-commerce companyThe site is the store, the warehouse is a contractor, and the lines between them are drawn.
- Veterinary clinicThe doctors own the medicine, the manager owns the day, and the technicians answer to both.
- Auto dealershipThe front end sells the cars; the back end pays the bills; the chart shows where they meet.
- School districtSchools on one line, the money on another, and a board that governs from a second chart.
- Police departmentPatrol takes the calls, investigations takes the cases, and professional standards answers to the chief alone.
- Nursing homeThe administrator holds the license, the director of nursing holds the building, and the survey reads both lines.
- Property management companyThe owners and the boards are clients, the site staff are employees, and the chart is where the two facts meet.
Or start from a structure — functional, divisional, matrix or flat — or from your own spreadsheet. The guides cover a reorg, a merger, an assistant's chart and a consultant's deliverable.
Make it yours
Download the spreadsheet, replace the names, import it — the chart redraws itself. Or start empty and drag people until it's true. Building is free at any size.