General Definition, Purpose, and Membership of Academic Committees
Definition and Purpose
An academic committee is a group of persons appointed by the President to consider, investigate, review, and recommend on certain matters or subjects under the committee’s assigned responsibilities.There are two types of academic committees in the Division of Academic Affairs – standing committees (which have a continuing existence) and special or ad hoc committees (which go out of existence as soon as they have completed a specific task).All academic committees included herein are standing committees.
Membership
§All full-time faculty members and librarians are eligible for membership in academic committees.
§Membership on academic committees is limited to one appointment; no faculty member or librarian may serve concurrently on two or more standing academic committees.
§Faculty members and librarians are appointed to 3-year terms.
§Faculty members and librarians may not be appointed to consecutive terms.
§Department chairs are eligible for membership.
§Faculty members are appointed according to the following formula:
(Number of eligible faculty for a given unit x 15) ¸ total number of eligible University faculty
The formula is designed to provide each major academic unit (College) with representation on committees proportionate to the ratio of the number of eligible faculty in each major academic unit to the total number of eligible University faculty.Each college shall have at least 2 members on each committee.
§Each committee or council shall have one librarian member.This member is in addition to the fifteen faculty members.
§All faculty appointments to Academic Committees shall be made by the President in the following manner:
1.When faculty appointments exist on academic committees, the appropriate Dean of the unit and the Chair of the Faculty Senate will be notified by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
2.The Chair of the Faculty Senate will notify Faculty Senators in the affected units of these vacancies.
3.The Faculty Senators, following procedures adopted by the Faculty Senate, will notify faculty of the vacancies, identify, contact, and review prospective appointees, verify their qualifications and willingness to serve, and forward to the appropriate deans the names of those faculty who, in their professional judgment, have the best qualifications for service.Faculty Senators will consult with the Deans during this process.
a.All faculty in a unit who are eligible to serve on an academic committee shall be formally notified of committee vacancies and provided an opportunity to express interest in such service.If qualified and willing to serve, all faculty should be provided with an opportunity for appointment to academic committees over time.
b.The Faculty Senators should strive to achieve ethnic/gender/discipline balance in selecting prospective committee members.
c.The Dean may, after consultation with the Faculty Senators in the appropriate academic unit, request additional recommendations for a committee vacancy.If additional recommendations are not provided by the appropriate Faculty Senators, the Dean may select and provide the additional recommendations to the President.
4.After consensus (For the purposes of this document consensus is defined as general accord but not necessarily unanimous agreement) has been reached between the Dean and the Faculty Senators, the Dean shall submit to the President the name(s) of faculty for appointment to committee vacancies who have been judged to have the best qualifications for service.
5.
5. After due consideration of recommendations submitted, the President will appoint faculty to all academic committees and councils.
§The President and/or Vice President for Academic Affairs shall consult with the Faculty Senate before making faculty appointments to special or ad hoc committees and task forces.
§The term of office for student members is 1 academic year.
§Student members shall be nominated by The University of Texas-Pan American Student Government Association.
§Student members shall be non-voting.
§The Vice President for Academic Affairs or his or her designee shall be a non-voting, ex-officio member of all academic committees.In addition, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall assign to each committee a non-voting administrator or staff person to serve a s liaison to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
§Appointment of additional ex-officio members by the Vice President for Academic Affairs is specified, where appropriate, in the individual description of committees.
§A committee vacancy shall be declared when any of the following conditions are met:
§A member’s term expires.
§A member resigns from the University or from the committee prior to the expiration of his or her term on the committee.
§A member has 3 unexcused absences from regularly scheduled committee meetings.
§A member is removed from the committee by 2/3 majority vote of the committee members.
§A member is incapacitated and cannot serve on the committee.
§A member dies.
§When a vacancy occurs in an unexpired term of membership, a replacement shall be appointed following established procedures to serve the remainder of the 3-year term.
§If a half term or more is to be served when the replacement is appointed, the replacement member will be considered as having served a term in his or her own right and will not be eligible for re-appointment.
§If less than ½ of the term remains to be served when the replacement is appointed, the replacement member will not be considered as having served a term in his or her own right and will be eligible for re-appointment.
§Exceptions to these general membership provisions include the following:
§Membership on the Teacher Education Committee is specified in the Texas Education Code.
§Membership on the Graduate Council is specified in the description of the Graduate Council.
§All committee appointments or recommendations are to be made the prior spring semester and are effective at the beginning of the academic year.
§Each committee shall elect a chairperson, vice-chairperson, and secretary at the first meeting of the academic term.Officers will serve for a 1-year term, which commences with the beginning of the academic year.
§Relevant committee reports and recommendations shall be forwarded to the Faculty Senate Chair and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
§The secretary of each committee shall distribute the minutes of each meeting to committee members, the Faculty Senate and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
§The committee chairperson shall submit an academic year-end report of its activities to the Faculty Senate and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
§Each committee should examine the expiration dates and adjust the terms for its membership so that 1/3 of the committee members’ terms conclude each year.Appointees whose terms are shortened will be eligible for re-appointment following the guidelines for replacement of a vacancy as described above.
§At the initial meeting of each academic year, the committee shall establish the procedure and criteria for removal of members.
§Proxy voting is prohibited.
§A majority of committee members constitutes a quorum.
