School of Public Affairs (SPA)

Transcription

1 Approved by SPA faculty 2/4/14 Approved by CAS Dean s Office 2/6/14 PREAMBLE School of Public Affairs (SPA) GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT MISSION VALUES The faculty in the School of Public Affairs is dedicated to providing a vibrant center of learning for students seeking knowledge, values, and skills in public affairs. The education and technical skills offered to students are intended to build strong and sustained professional, managerial, and community-serving abilities as well as to prepare them for leadership roles in an increasingly global society. The faculty is also committed to research and development of applied and relevant knowledge of issues of public policy and public management at all levels of governance: local, state, and national. Quality education and scholarship provided by SPA will help students to achieve their professional goals and aspirations as well as serve the strategic mission and objectives of the University of South Florida. The School of Public Affairs provides quality education, research and public service to prepare leaders in public administration, nonprofit management, community development and planning. We engage in public policy, scholarship and outreach activities in an urban region to meet community, nation, and global needs. The USF School of Public Affairs recognizes and commits to the values of the University. In addition, the School of Public Affairs is committed to: Public service values, knowledge transfer, and engagement with the community. Fostering integrity and upholding professional standards in teaching, scholarship and outreach. Collaboration, open and honest communication, and a culture of respect. Collegiality and interdisciplinary efforts, with both internal and external partners. Student achievement through the development of current and future leaders. Faculty, staff, students and alumni service as positive ambassadors of the values espoused by the school. I. MEMBERSHIP A. The voting membership in the School of Public Affairs (hereinafter SPA) shall consist of all full-time tenured and tenure-earning faculty, joint faculty with at least

2 0.50 FTE assignment in a program in the school, and Instructors on renewable contracts. Faculty on leave, phased retirement/drop and those on sabbatical leave retain full voting rights in all matters. If unable to attend meetings, they may vote by written proxy on tenure and promotion and retention or appointment of the SPA Director. B. Individuals on other faculty lines, including visiting lines, adjuncts, and courtesy appointments are accorded non-voting membership in the School. II. MEETINGS A. Regular meetings of the SPA faculty and staff shall be scheduled at least once a month. Special meetings shall be called as necessary. Individual program faculty shall meet at least twice each semester. B. The School Director or a person designated by him/her will be responsible for announcing School meetings by virtue of a written memorandum or at least one week in advance of the meetings. The notification should include an agenda. C. The School Director or designate shall be responsible for conducting meetings in accordance with Robert s Rules of Order. D. A simple majority of faculty not on leave constitutes a quorum. A quorum is required for a vote on all departmental matters. E. A majority vote of all eligible faculty members present is required to decide issues. Proxy votes are acceptable if submitted at the time of the faculty vote. F. Votes on any matter may be conducted by voice, show of hands, or secret ballot. Votes on personnel and on recommendation to the Dean for selection of a School Director will be conducted by secret ballot. G. In exceptional cases, where it is important to reach a quick decision on an issue, the SPA Director may request a vote by . H. Minutes of each meeting will be distributed to all faculty members within one calendar week after each meeting. The minutes should include a list of all attendees, a summary of issues discussed and a tally of all votes taken. III. ADMINISTRATION A. SCHOOL DIRECTOR The School Director is the chief executive officer of the School of Public Affairs and is directly responsible to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and responsive to the faculty, staff and students in the School. 1. Duties

3 The School Director, with the assistance of other School administrators and committees directs the administration of the SPA, supervises and provides annual evaluations for all personnel, scheduling, assignments (including nominations to college and university-wide committees) and budgets and is responsible to the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of all issues relevant to the School. The School Director is charged with implementing College and University policies and procedures and developing internal policies and procedures consistent with them. The School Director meets with other administrative units on and off campus acting as the representative of the School faculty, staff and students. In council with other Directors, Chairs and Dean, the School Director participates in the development and implementation of policy and procedures within the college. 2. Appointment The School Director is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences with input from the School s faculty by secret ballot. The School Director position is a 12 month full-time position. All tenured members of the School faculty are eligible to serve as School Director. When the Director position becomes open, all nominees including self- nominees will be presented and discussed at a regular or special called meeting of the faculty. The meeting is to be chaired by a senior faculty member who is not a candidate. The voting outcome of the election for School Director will be submitted to the College Dean for his/her approval. 3. Appointment Duration School Directors are eligible for up to a three year reappointment by the Dean following consultation with the School faculty. A School Director who has served two consecutive terms will be eligible for reappointment 3 years after leaving office. 3. Teaching Responsibilities Teaching responsibilities of the School Director will be determined in consultation with the Dean. B. PROGRAM DIRECTORS Program Directors are the first-line supervisors of the academic units within the school. 1. Appointment & Term The School Director, in consultation with the faculty, will appoint qualified faculty members to serve in the role of Program Director taking into account the needs of the School and its respective programs. Faculty qualified to hold such a role in the School must meet the criteria for voting membership in the school as defined in I.A. (Membership) of this governance document. Faculty officially on leave, including sabbatical, may not be appointed as a Program Director. The exact working title and responsibilities of Program Directors may change based on the evolving needs of the School.

4 The term of the Program Directors is up to three years. The Program Directors serve at the pleasure of the School Director. Program Directors are eligible for reappointment for a maximum of two consecutive terms. A Program Director who has served two consecutive terms will be eligible for reappointment three years after leaving office. 2. Duties Program Directors have direct responsibility and supervisory authority for all aspects of their academic program in accordance with the governance policy of the SPA and attainment and maintenance of the appropriate disciplinary accreditation standards. Program Directors will assist the School Director in the general administration of the SPA in carrying out his or her duties and may act for the School Director in his or her absence. Program Directors will be the primary advisor for students in their program. 3. Teaching Responsibilities Teaching responsibilities and instructional load will be determined in consultation with the School Director. 4. Compensation Program Directors compensation will also be determined by School Director in consultation with the CAS Dean. IV. STANDING COMMITTEES A. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1. Membership The Executive Committee will consist of the Program Directors or his/her designee and one at-large member elected by all faculty members of the School. All tenured faculty members are eligible for membership. The committee will elect a chair from its membership at its first meeting of each academic year. In situations where programs have insufficient members available, willing, or able to serve, the School Director will appoint a replacement. 2. Term The term for Program Directors will coincide with their appointment. The at-large faculty member will serve for a term of two academic years with eligibility for re-appointment.

5 3. Duties To serve an advisory and consultative function to the School Director on policies and procedures and allocation and commitment of School resources. a. To assist in the development of School plans and budgets. b. To credential adjunct faculty c. To coordinate programmatic planning, course offerings, faculty assignments. d. To allocate and assign graduate assistantships. e. To select and evaluate graduate assistants. f. To serve as the faculty and student grievance committee. B. PROGRAM COMMITTEE The programs in the School will each be guided by a Program Committee. 1. Membership Each Program Committee will include a minimum of three (3) members, chosen by the School Director in consultation with the Program Director. The committee shall consist of the Program Director plus two faculty members (of any rank) from the program. 2. Term Program committee members will serve one-year terms, and can be reappointed. 3. Duties a. To serve an advisory and consultative function to the School Director and Program Director on policies and procedures and allocation and commitment of Program resources b. To review programmatic planning, course offerings, and faculty assignments. c. To develop and evaluate the overall educational objectives and plan of Instruction for the Program. d. To evaluate required and elective courses, and approve proposals for new or modified courses, consistent with the SPA policies and procedures. e. To keep abreast of accreditation standards of relevant professional associations (e.g. the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration ; or the Planning Accreditation Board or other disciplinary credentialing organization) and ensure that the Program s curriculum is consistent with those standards. f. To serve as an admissions committee, reviewing applications, admitting students, and allocating program-specific graduate assistantships or financial aid. g. To review student progress toward graduation as needed

6 C. EVALUATION COMMITTEE 1. Purpose The Evaluation Committee s purpose is to provide a process and procedure and to sit as the committee for annual evaluation of all members of the faculty by their peers, and to sit as needed as a Tenure and Promotion Committee, but no less often than annually. 2. Membership The committee will be comprised of preferably 5 but no less than 3 tenured members, at least one of whom must be a Full Professor, elected from the faculty for a term of three years with staggered terms. A chair will be selected to serve for one year by a vote of the membership. 3. Duties a) Review individual faculty members self- evaluations and evaluations of their teaching, research and service activities and other related assignments. b) Provide a written annual evaluation of each faculty member. c) Arrange for annual evaluation of the School Director and Program Directors. d) Update annual evaluation faculty forms and procedures as needed. e) When serving in their role considering tenure and promotion issues, the committee will meet as necessary, but no less than once annually, to perform the following functions: 1. Develop School guidelines for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor and Full Professor consistent with University and College guidelines. 2. Provide annually in writing to faculty working toward tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, an evaluation of the extent to which his or her yearly goals and achievements are consistent with School guidelines for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor. 3. Provide an extensive review of tenure earning faculty at the conclusion of their third year and provide a recommendation to the School Director regarding continuation as a tenure earning faculty. 4. Provide annually in writing to faculty working toward promotion to Full Professor, an evaluation of the extent to which his or her yearly goals and achievements are consistent with School guidelines for promotion to Full Professor. 5. Decisions regarding awarding or denying tenure and or promotion require a tripartite process. Departmental recommendation for or against tenure is the prerogative of the tenured faculty. Typically, three distinct recommendations for or against tenure should be made. The first will be by a vote of the Evaluation Committee sitting as the Tenure and Promotion Committee. Their recommendation will then go to all the other tenured

7 members of a department. The third vote is by the School Director. For all cases of tenure and/or promotion, the recommendations of the three groups will be forwarded to the College Tenure and Promotion Committee and must be accompanied by a clear and substantive summary of reasons for both positive and/or negative votes. A copy of the department's criteria for tenure and promotion should also be included. 6. Members may vote only on candidates of equal or lesser rank. If there are not at least 3 members on the committee eligible to vote in a particular case, one or more eligible faculty members from Schools or departments from outside the School may be selected by the School Director in consultation with the Dean, for inclusion on the committee on an ad hoc basis. In the event that merit salary increases are available, the Evaluation Committee will develop guidelines and provide recommendations to the Director in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Provost s Office. The tenured faculty on the Executive Committee will serve as the Annual Merit Evaluation Committee. D. OTHER COMMITTEES Other committees may, from time to time, be created as deemed necessary. V. FACULTY SEARCH AND HIRING PROCEDURES Maintaining a vibrant and active faculty is essential to meeting the goals and aspirations of the SPA. The search for new faculty is considered an important component of this endeavor. Searches will proceed as follows. A. The School Director receives authorization from the Dean for a new faculty search. B. The School Director forms a search committee of at least four (4) faculty members from within the School and at least one member from outside the SPA. The outside members may be a faculty member from another department in the university or may be a member of the community with expertise in a similar field as the proposed new faculty member. C. The School Director appoints one of the four SPA faculty members as Chair of the committee. D. The Search Committee meets to write a job description and circulates it to the SPA faculty for input. The description may then be revised to accommodate different interests while maintaining focus on the specific line. The School Director will resolve any conflicts. E. The committee will advertise the job description widely, consistent with CAS and University policies.

8 F. The Search Committee will be responsible for the selection of candidates for interviews and organizing the interview schedules. Candidates will make at least one public presentation and faculty members will be given the opportunity to meet with the candidates. G. The Search Committee will seek input from all SPA faculty members on the acceptability of all candidates. H. The Search Committee will meet after all selected candidates have been interviewed and make a formal recommendation to the SPA Director regarding the acceptability of the candidates. I. The Director will then recommend one of the candidates from those deemed most appropriate for the position to the Dean. J. All search committee practices must be in accordance with the CAS, USF, State University System guidelines and with specification in the current BOT/UFF contract. VI. GRIEVANCES SPA grievance procedures function within the context of the College, University and BOT/UFF procedures and policies. Faculty members, students, and / or staff members who feel they have a grievance should consult the appropriate handbook and guidelines and should conform to all such guidelines and time periods. VII. SUMMER AND OVERLOAD TEACHING POLICY Summer teaching and/or overload teaching will be based on academic needs and budgetary constraints as determined by the School Director in consultation with the Program Directors. With respect to summer teaching assignments, the School Director will ask faculty in the fall semester if they are interested in teaching during the following summer sessions. All reasonable efforts will be made to provide faculty wishing to teach with a summer teaching assignment when academically sound and administratively feasible. If faculty cannot be offered a summer employment, a lottery and rotational system will be employed so that the faculty has the opportunity for summer teaching. The rotational model will give the highest priority to faculty not offered employment in the previous summer who had indicated a desire to teach and those that have not had an opportunity for overload teaching within the School during the previous academic year. VIII. AMENDMENTS TO THIS DOCUMENT A. This governance document may be amended at any regular meeting of the SPA provided the specific amendment shall have been distributed with the agenda of the meeting at least three days prior to the meeting. B. A two-thirds majority vote of the eligible voting faculty is required to amend the document. Written proxies will be accepted.