Faculty Policies and Procedures Handbook

Contents
Catalog Links
Share

D. Guidelines for Faculty Senate, Curriculum Committee, Faculty Grants Committee, Faculty Sabbatical Committee, and Tenure and Promotion Committee Elections

Each of the four colleges shall elect seven senators and the library shall elect one senator. Elections shall be conducted by secret ballot, cast by full‐‐‐time faculty members and returned to a central location. Ballots shall be tabulated as directed by the Senate vice president and the Executive Council of the Faculty Senate.

1. Each college shall elect seven senators with one from each faculty rank: full professor, associate professor, and assistant professor, and four at‐large seats. At least four of the seven must be tenured or tenure‐track.

2. No more than two senators shall come from the same department.

3. Ballots should contain the names of all of a college’s eligible members, as prescribed in the faculty handbook, who have not expressly opted out of the ballot via a mechanism designated by the senate executive of a particular college. (Approved April 28, 2017).

4. Elections for each position should follow a two-round runoff system. This means unless someone receives 50%+1 of the votes in the first round, a second runoff round will be administered. In this round, the total number of candidates will depend on a number of circumstances and some discretion should be allowed to Executive Senate members in the case of a tie. In principle, however, the number of candidates on the second round of the ballot should approximate the following formula 2x (number of seats) – 1 if there is more than one seat available and 2 candidates when there is only one seat available. (Approved April 28, 2017).

5. Though the schedule may be altered by the Senate Executive, following is a rough timeline for elections: (Approved April 28, 2017).

• Email all eligible faculty before the end of January to notify which ballots they are eligible for and ask if they wish to opt out of any or all.

• In mid-February send out first round ballots to eligible voters for all Spring semester elections.

• In the first week of March send out run-off ballots for Tenure & Promotion committee.

• In the second week of March send out run-off ballots for the FSC & FGC.

• In the third week of March send out run-off ballots for the Faculty Senate

• In the fourth week of March send out run-off ballots for Curriculum Committee.

6. Faculty should be given at least 5 full class days to vote on any given ballot. This number excludes weekends, holidays, and spring break. (Approved April 28, 2017).

7. In the event that a faculty member becomes unable to fulfill his/her duties on a faculty-elected committee mid-term, the Senate Exec member from his/her college may replace said faculty member with the highest eligible vote getter not elected in the preceding election to a temporary term not to exceed one academic year. The following Spring a new election for a replacement will be held if there is time remaining on the term. (Approved April 28, 2017).

8. Senators are elected for two academic years with the terms staggered such that the sixteen at-large and the library positions shall be filled in alternate years from when the twelve rank positions are filled. Terms of newly elected Senators shall begin after the last regular monthly Senate meeting of the spring.

9. To ensure consistency among colleges, Senate elections will be conducted in March by the respective college’s dean’s office using an approved online platform with reports going to the college’s dean, administrative assistant, and Senate Executive Committee representative. (Approved May 3, 2013)

10. The newly elected Senators shall attend the last Senate meeting of the spring for the purpose of electing a new Executive Council for the next term. For purposes of continuity, newly elected senators shall attend all meetings following their election.

11. Should a senator resign or become ineligible to serve, he/she shall notify the president of the Senate. If the vacant seat is for one semester or less, the Senate Executive from the affected college delegation shall appoint as a temporary replacement the candidate with the next highest vote total from the most recent election. If the vacancy is longer, the senate executive shall immediately cause a special election to be held within the unit affected to fill the unexpired term. All rules such as, maximum number from a single department or at rank requirements, remain in force.

12. Elected Senators shall attend all meetings of the Senate unless extenuating circumstances prevent attendance. Should a senator miss more than two of the regular monthly meetings per academic year, he/she will be dismissed from the Senate with the unexpired term filled as stated above (6). A dismissal may be appealed to the Executive Council.