Faculty Senate Committees Restructuring Proposal

Senator Williams’ Motion November 17 Faculty Senate approved the following: Motion to charge the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to formulate and propose to the Senate a plan, including suggested revisions to the University Manual, for the reform of voting rights in standing committees, to wit, that members of standing committees elected or appointed by degree-granting colleges and by the University Library and student members shall have voting rights, and other members shall be ex officio and non-voting

Why? Committee members are looking for voice Efficiency of time and efforts for all parties

Why? Committees are very large, resulting in a feeling of “anonymity,” leading to decreased attendance Over time, the role and scope of some committees has drifted from the duties laid out in the manual It has become difficult to find people to serve on committees, or even to be able to appoint chairs for major committees

Voting Rights Confusion Over time, some confusion has developed as to the meaning of “ex officio” service on committees. This results in a difference in voting status of ex officio members among committees.

Scope The Faculty Senate Executive Committee considered the structure of standing committees of the Faculty Senate.

Process Looked to the University Manual Aggregate all duties spelled out for faculty senate committees into one list Sort them into categories Consider if there are any “gaps” in issues of shared governance currently unaddressed

Committee Membership By-Laws: 4.13 Unless specified otherwise, each committee shall be comprised of six faculty members, one of whom shall serve as chairperson, and three students, two undergraduates and one graduate; the faculty members shall serve for terms of two years, and shall be appointed on a staggered basis, three one year and three the following year. Similarly, the committee chairs shall be staggered so that approximately one-half are named each year. The student members shall serve for one year and shall be eligible for appointment to a second term. They shall be appointed, respectively by the Student Senate and by the Graduate Student Association

Simplified From the By-laws: 4.13 1) Six faculty members, one of whom is chair (2 year appointment) 2) Three students: one graduate and two undergraduates (1 year appointment) 3) Faculty appointments are to be made three per year (to ensure continuity)

Newly Proposed Committees: CURRICULUM AND STANDARDS 2 Subcommittees: General Education Academic Calendar TEACHING, ADVISING AND ASSESSMENT RESEARCH AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES TECHNOLOGY SERVICE AND COMMUNITY LIFE [new] CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS and UNIVERSITY MANUAL [unchanged]

Where did everything go?!

Curriculum and Standards General Education Academic Standards and Calendar Curricular Affairs Committee

Teaching, Advising and Assessment Teaching Effectiveness Honors Program and Visiting Scholars Undergraduate Academic Advising Committee

Research and Creative Activities Council for Research Library

Technology Technology CITICCN Library

Proposed Change Implementation Faculty Senate Choice Faculty efficiency Faculty effectiveness Begin in AY 2018 Administration Support Provide funding for implementation, training and efforts Provide release time for substantive service efforts

I make a motion to direct the FSEN Executive Committee to review and make recommendations at the next FSEN meeting on revising appropriate sections of the University Manual and the accompanying Constitution be modified in the following ways: That the Academic Standards and Calendar’ Curricular Affairs and General Education Committees be reformulated into the Curriculum and Standards Committees; and The Undergraduate Academic Advising, Honors and Visiting Scholars and Teaching Effectiveness Committees be reformulated into the Teaching, Advising and Assessment Committee; and The Council for Research, Library Committees be reformulated into the Research and Creative Activities Committee; and The Committee on Information Technology, ccn etc and Library Committees be reformulated into the Technology Committee; Furthermore these committees shall comply in number and format to UM 4.13 And the Chair and faculty members of each committee shall be recognized for service time with appropriate release and budgetary support Shall be implemented for AY 2018