Draft
Governance
Department of Geography & Anthropology
Governance Structure
1.
Chair
a. For reasons of brevity the
detailed roles and functions of the Chair are not specified in this
document The Chair, however, is broadly responsible
for the following:
·
coordination of vision and
strategic planning for the department
·
budgeting
and fiscal management of department resources
b.
The Chair holds a twelve-month administrative
appointment and negotiates his/her teaching load with the Dean of Humanities
and Social Sciences.
c.
After serving the Chair becomes a faculty member
with a nine-month contract, unless offered a different administrative post.
Selection
of the Department Chair
Department Voting Body
a.
For the purposes of selecting and/or removing a
Department Chair, the voting body shall consist only of tenured, tenure-track
and permanent full-time (e.g. lecturers and instructors) faculty of the
department.
b.
For other departmental business the voting body shall
consist of all academic staff of the department present at scheduled meetings. The majority (50%+1) of the voting body
present shall constitute a quorum for conducting departmental business other
than voting on a Chair.
Voting
for the Chair
a.
Voting will be by secret ballot.
b.
There will be no voting by proxy.
c.
Mail ballot will be accepted.
d. A
committee of three selected by the Department as whole will count the ballots
and subsequently forward the ballots to the Dean of Humanities and Social
Sciences. The Ballot Committee Chair
shall receive all ballots, and they shall be counted and tallied by the
Committee as a whole.
e.
After considering the ballot preference and following
needed consultation, the Dean will appoint a Chair.
Eligibility and Tenure of the Chair
a.
Candidates for Chair must be tenured professors or tenured associate professors.
b. The
term of office of a Chair is 5 years,
effective July 1.
c. The tenure of the Chair will be limited to 2 consecutive terms.
d. At
the end of a Chair’s first term, an election will be held to determine the
whether the current Chair should be recommended by the department for renewal. Additional evaluations will be conducted by
other Chairs in the
e. Where
there is no majority support (50% + 1) for renewal the voting body shall again
express their preference for Chair by secret ballot. The role of the Ballot Committee and the Dean
of Humanities and Social Sciences indicated above shall apply.
Removal of Chair
Faculty may
register their dissatisfaction on leadership issues as follows:
a.
First, address the issues involved directly with the Chair.
b.
Second, if issues remain unresolved the faculty
involved may seek the intervention of the Dean.
c.
If the issues still remain unresolved a vote of no-confidence
in the Chair may be passed by the voting body.
d.
A vote of no-confidence will require a two-thirds
majority of the voting body.
Interim
Chair
If a Chair’s
position unexpectedly becomes vacant, the appointment of an Interim Chair shall
be made by the Dean in consultation with the department faculty, with the term
of office no more than one year.
2.
Assistant Chair
a. After consultation with the
Department, an Assistant Chair shall be selected by the Chair with the approval
of the Dean.
b. This individual shall have
designated roles assigned by the Chair.
These roles may include but are not limited to assisting in scheduling,
assisting in data-gathering and report-writing, and occasionally representing
the Chair at meetings.
c. The Assistant Chair will act
as Discipline Coordinator for his/her area.
d.
The Assistant Chair holds a nine-month faculty
appointment and receives one summer-course equivalency and/or negotiated
teaching loads.
e. Teaching
load negotiations will be held with the Chair.
3.
Discipline
Coordinator
a. A Discipline Coordinator
shall be selected by the Chair to represent the discipline whose member is not
serving as Assistant Chair.
b. This individual shall have
limited designated roles assigned by the Chair (e.g. assisting in scheduling),
which may attract a course reduction per academic year.
4.
Committees
Following consultation with the
Department, the Chair shall appoint faculty member(s) to each of the following
committees: Faculty will serve for 2
years unless otherwise stated.
a. University
Faculty Senate (1 member – must be elected by the Department)
b. UPCC
(as needed)
c. Other university committees as may be necessary (e.g., IRB, etc.)
a. College
Curriculum Committee (1 member – this person will be the Chair of the
Department Curriculum Committee – see below)
b. College Tenure & Promotion Committee (1 member, tenured faculty only)
c. College
Awards Committee (1 member, see below)
d. Other college committees as necessary (e.g., Assessment, RPG, QEP, etc.)
a. Departmental
Curriculum Committee (2 members)
b. Departmental
Tenure & Promotion Committee (3 members, preferably tenured faculty; the
Committee Chair should be tenured)
c.
Departmental Awards Committee (2
members) one will represent our department on the College Awards Committee
d.
A Faculty
Secretary will be selected by Chair at the beginning of the academic year for a
one-year term
Faculty will serve at their own request on other interest-specific
committees (e.g. Parking; Environmental concerns; Technology; etc).
Department Meetings
a. The department shall schedule one formal departmental meeting each month of the academic year (August through May). Faculty are expected to attend these meetings unless they receive an excused absence from the Chair.
b. Other
meetings may be called under special circumstances. Such meetings may be called by the Chair or
at least 50% + 1 of the voting body.