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Structure and Procedures of CALS Faculty Governance

Structure

The CALS Faculty Executive Committee (CFEC) shall be made up of: four tenure track faculty members elected at large from the Ithaca campus, one tenure-track faculty member elected from Geneva, two elected members from the non-tenure track CALS faculty, and a Sr. Associate Dean. Elected members will serve for a three-year term. Terms of membership shall be staggered, in the manner determined by the Committee on Nominations and Elections, so that approximately one-third of the total membership shall be elected each year. All decisions on apportionments shall be made, and all questions and disputes concerning the same shall be resolved, by the Committee on Nominations and Elections.

a flowchart that represents communication between the academics at CALS
CALS Faculty and CALS Standing Committees communicate with one another and also communicate with the CALS Faculty Executive Committee, which in turn communicates with the Dean and the Senior Associate Deans.

Relationships between administration and CFEC

The CFEC will, in consultation with the faculty, serve to bring initiatives forward to the Dean and Senior Associate Deans. The CALS leadership team will look to the CFEC for advice on policy initiatives and consult with the CFEC whenever committees that will provide policy advice are being formed. The Dean will ask the CFEC to provide names of faculty and/or staff to be considered for service on ad hoc and other committees.

Meetings

Regular open meetings of the CFEC shall be held monthly during the academic year. Additional meetings can be called by the Chair of the CFEC. CFEC members are also invited to attend monthly CALS Chairs meetings. Business requiring a vote of the faculty will be presented to the CALS faculty via the on-line site developed for this purpose two weeks in advance of the vote. Supporting materials provided as PDF files and the results of the votes on final motions will be archived, searchable, and available for viewing by the faculty. Communication regarding the issue will occur via a public forum run by the CFEC and an anonymous online forum. When an issue is raised, there will be two weeks of discussion, including a meeting and an online forum. After the discussion period, an online vote, e.g. Qualtrics, will be administered which must have at least a 30% response rate. If this response rate is not reached, the voting period will be extended for one additional week, at which time those who have not yet voted will receive a reminder email to do so. The final decision will be made by a simple majority of those voting.

Agenda at meetings

During regular meetings any matter may be brought forward that is properly the concern of the CFEC but priority shall be given to the matters specified in the call for the meeting. The Chair shall make the necessary arrangements to distribute the agenda of ANY meetings of the CFEC to members of the CALS Faculty one week in advance of such meetings. A quorum at any meeting shall be 50% of the CFEC members. There are no formal rules of procedures, but in general Robert’s Rules of Order will be followed. Official records of such CFEC meetings shall be kept by the Secretary who may use whatever means he or she finds appropriate to prepare an accurate record of the proceedings. All CALS faculty members can attend CFEC meetings and initiate issues for the agenda eight days prior to the meeting.