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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Economics

Bylaws

Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

I. INTERPRETATION AND CONSTRUCTION

The by-laws set forth below are expressly made subject to, and should be construed as being consistent with, all of the following:

  1. the official rules and regulations that have been formally adopted by Wayne State University (hereinafter the "University") and by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the University (hereinafter the "College"), as set forth in the University's Graduate and Undergraduate Bulletins; and

  2. the collective bargaining agreement between the University and the American Association of University Professors American Federation of Teachers (hereinafter the "AAUP-AFT"), entered into on September 23, 1996, as amended, and all successor agreements; and

  3. all applicable laws, ordinances, and regulations of the United States, the State of Michigan, the County of Wayne, and the City of Detroit.

II. REGULAR FACULTY

  1. Regular faculty are defined as tenured and tenure-track term appointments at the professor, associate professor, and assistant professor levels serving one-half time or more in the department. The regular faculty meets regularly in October, November, January, February, March, April and May and at other times as necessary to determine all matters of academic policy. The quorum at Department meetings is the majority of the Department's regular faculty members.

  2. Visiting regular faculty are defined as appointments, which are neither tenure nor tenure-track appointments, including visiting professors, visiting associate professors, and visiting assistant professors and lecturers serving one-half time or more in the department. Visiting regular faculty members may attend department meetings but may not vote in these meetings. Initial visiting appointments will not exceed one calendar year.

    Appointment of visiting regular faculty is recommended to the Dean by the Department Chair upon receiving approval from the regular and open Personnel Committees.

    Visiting regular faculty members may be reappointed for a period of one calendar year. The Department Chair recommends reappointment of visiting regular faculty to the Dean upon receiving approval from the tenured faculty committee, the proposed reappointment having been submitted by the Personnel Committee.

  3. Voting in all Department meetings except voting on Minutes will be by secret ballot unless explicitly waived by all those eligible to vote. Those voting must be physically present at the meeting. If the meeting chair is notified in advance, and agrees, a faculty member may participate in the voting if he or she remains in continuous contact with the meeting by telephone, Internet, or other similar device. No proxy voting will be permitted. All voting members must be physically present for matters of Promotion and or Tenure.

III. TENURED FACULTY

  1. The tenured faculty is all regular faculty members of the department holding continuing tenure in the University.

    The tenured faculty meets at the request of the Department Chair, who, ex officio, chairs the meetings.

  2. Functions:

    1. Receives recommendations from Personnel Committee and votes upon tenure for all appointments of Associate Professors and Professors.

    2. As the Department's Promotion and Tenure Committee, receives recommendations from the Personnel Committee and votes upon all matters of retention, tenure and promotion of regular faculty.

    3. Although all members of the Tenured Faculty vote on matters of tenure, a member may not vote on the rank of an appointment at a rank higher than his or her own rank. Furthermore, any tenured faculty member on leave or sabbatical who does not attend a meeting to consider a promotion and/or tenure case will not be counted in the pool of eligible voters.

IV. ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS

  1. Department Chair

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed by the Dean of the College for a term determined by the Dean.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Supervises the administration of all department activities.

      2. Schedules and staffs all courses offered by the Department.

      3. Recommends all new regular faculty appointment to the Dean, upon receiving approval from the tenured faculty for appointments of Professors and Associate Professors and from the Personnel Committee for appoint- ment of Assistant Professors and Lecturers.

      4. Recommends appointments of graduate assistants to the Dean, upon receiving approval from the Awards Committee.

      5. Recommends the appointment of Administrative Assistant, secretarial and clerical staff and part-time faculty to the Dean.

      6. Appoints department administrative officials and all non-elected committees.

      7. Transmits promotions and tenure recommendations of tenured faculty to the Dean and submits independent recommendations.

      8. Transmits selective and equity salary increase recommendations of the Salary Committee to the Dean.

      9. Upon the recommendation of the Personnel Committee, approves applications for sabbatical and other leaves of absences and transmits them to the Dean.

      10. Approves applications by regular faculty members for grants and fellow- ships and transmits them to the Dean.

      11. Administers general department budget and special department accounts.

      12. Ex officio member of the Personnel Committee with voice but without vote. Chairs Salary Committee with vote.

      13. Ex officio member of the Admissions and Awards Committees. Chairs both.

      14. Calls meetings of the regular and tenured faculty and presides at these meetings.

  1. Assistant or Associate Chair

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed at the discretion of the Department Chair and with the concurrence of the Dean. No specified term.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      Performs duties and functions delegated by Chair.

  2. Director of Graduate Studies

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed by the Department Chair. No term specified.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Administers Ph.D. program under policies established by the department's graduate faculty and within the framework of University and College regulations.

      2. Serves as advisor to Ph.D. students, guiding their programs of studies, and approves their plans of work.

      3. Appoints dissertation committees.

      4. Schedules and supervises qualifying examinations and appoints qualifying examination committees.

      5. Recommends admission of Ph.D. students to Admissions Committee and processes Ph.D. Applications acted upon by Admissions Committee.

      6. Schedules and supervises final public lectures by Ph.D. candidates.

      7. Calls and chairs meetings of the Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty and reports recommendations to meetings of the department's regular faculty the department's regular faculty.

  1. M.A. Program Advisor

    1. Appointment

      Appointed by the Department Chair. No term specified.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Administers M.A. program under policies established by the department's graduate faculty and within the framework of University and College regulations.

      2. Serves as the advisor to all M.A. students, guiding their programs of study.

      3. Approves essay or thesis advisors and the other member(s) of the Essay or Thesis Committee.

      4. Appoints M.A. oral examination committees.

      5. Acts upon application to the M. A. Program, consulting the Admissions Committee on doubtful cases.

  2. Director of Undergraduate Studies

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed by the Department Chair. No term specified.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Administers undergraduate program under policies established by the regular faculty and within the framework of University and College regulations.

      2. Directs and schedules advising of all economics majors.

      3. Calls and chairs meetings of the Undergraduate Committee and reports recommendations to meetings of the department's regular faculty.

  1. Placement Officer

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed by the Department Chair. No term specified.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Assists in placement of all graduate students completing or nearing completion of graduate degrees.

      2. Distributes lists of Ph.D. students seeking employment to universities and other potential employers.

  2. Coordinator, Workshop and Seminar Series

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed by the Department Chair. No term specified.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Schedules presentations for department's internal workshop meetings.

      2. Identifies and arranges for outside seminar speakers, consulting with the Department Chair as necessary.

      3. The Coordinator may, with the consent of the Chair and after advising the Department, select a Committee of regular faculty members to assist in these duties.

  1. Administrative Assistant

    1. Appointment:

      Appointed by the Department Chair.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Provides administrative support to Department Chair and Assistant Chair.

      2. Supervises department's secretarial and clerical staff.

      3. Assists department faculty and students in handling administrative matters and acts as their liaison with all University offices.

      4. Records the minutes of Department meetings.

V. DEPARTMENT COMMITTEES

  1. Personnel Committee

    1. The Personnel Committee consists of three tenured members of the

      Department, elected by the regular faculty for three year terms. Personnel Committee members who complete three year terms cannot stand for election to another term until one academic year has elapsed.

      The Department Chair attends meetings of the Personnel Committee, with voice but no vote. Meetings of the Personnel Committee are called by the Committee Chair, after consultation with the Department Chair. The Chair of the Personnel Committee is selected at the beginning of each Academic Year by the three elected voting members of the committee.

    2. Duties and Functions:

      1. Whenever the Personnel Committee meets to consider a non-tenure appointment in a field, an open personnel committee meeting will be announced, and regular faculty members who attend that meeting may vote on the appointment. Members may not vote on appointments at ranks higher than their own.

      2. Receives application for leaves of absence and sabbatical leaves and makes recommendations to the Chair.

      3. Reviews personnel matters relating to current members of the regular faculty, including retention, promotions and tenure and presents recommendations to the tenured faculty.

      4. The Personnel Committee Chair and the Department Chair jointly inform each regular faculty member about tenure faculty decisions on personnel matters.

      5. The Personnel Committee supervises recruitment of new regular faculty members and recommends candidates for appointment as Associate Professor and Professor to the tenure faculty and candidates for appoint- ment as Assistant Professor to the Department Chair.

      6. The Personnel Committee Chair and the Department Chair jointly conduct annual professional reviews of faculty on term appointments.

  1. Salary Committee

    1. The Salary Committee consists of the three elected members of the Personnel Committee and two additional members elected by the regular faculty to serve one year terms. One of the additional members is elected at large while the other must be a non-tenured member of the department. Both may stand for immediate re-election. The Salary Committee is chaired by the Department Chair, who has a vote.

    2. Functions:

      1. Solicits annual reports of activities from faculty members eligible for selective and equity salary increases.

      2. Review faculty reports and other pertinent material and recommends selective and equity salary increase as provided by the AAUP-AFT University contract.

  1. Executive Committee of the Graduate Faculty

    1. Meetings are called and chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies.

      Members are appointed by the Department Chair.

    2. Functions:

      1. Supervises operations of the graduate program, students and schedules and administers all Ph.D. examinations.

      2. Recommends to the regular faculty changes in graduate courses, policies and regulations. Under general guidance of this committee, the Director of Graduate Studies advises all Ph.D. students and schedules and administers all Ph.D. examinations. Under general guidance of this committee, the Master's Program Advisor advises all M.A. students and schedules and administers all M.A. examinations.

      3. Acts upon all requests for waiver of regulations and other petitions from graduate students, presenting recommendations to the regular faculty as as necessary.

  2. Executive Committee, Undergraduate Program

    1. Meetings are called and chaired by the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Members are appointed by the Department Chair.

    2. Functions:

      1. Supervises operation of the undergraduate program.

      2. Supervises all undergraduate advising and the operation of mass lecture principles courses. Recommends to the regular faculty changes in under- graduate courses, policies and regulations.

      3. Acts upon all request for waiver of regulations and other petitions from undergraduate students, presenting recommendations to the regular faculty as necessary.

  1. Admissions Committee

    1. Meetings are called and chaired by the Department Chair. Consists of three ex officio members: Department Chair, Director of Graduate Studies and M.A. Program Advisor.

    2. Functions:

      Acts upon all admission applications for the Ph.D. program and any applications for the M.A. program referred by the M.A. Program Advisor.

  1. Awards Committee

    1. Meetings are called and chaired by the Department Chair. Consists of members of the Admissions Committee, plus one member appointed by the Department Chair.

    2. Functions:

      1. Reviews and acts upon all applications or nominations for department awards, including instructorships, graduate assistantships, fellowship, the Mendelson Award, and the Levin Award.

      2. Recommends all other nominations for outside awards, fellowship, etc. when the department is asked for nominations.

  1. Budget Committee

    1. The Budget Committee consists of three members of the Department elected by the regular faculty, and the Department Chair (ex officio). One tenured and one non-tenured faculty member are elected for two-year staggered terms. One at-large faculty member is elected for a one-year term. The Budget Committee is chaired by the Department Chair. Meetings of the Budget Committee are held twice per year in September and March.

    2. Duties and Functions

  1. The Budget Committee is an advisory committee to the Chair. The Chair will consult with the Budget Committee on matters concerning the general budgeting priorities of the Department.

  2. The Budget Committee will advise the Chair on planning the annual budget, consulting on large expenditure items, travel policies, and other budgetary issues.

  3. The Budget Committee will issue reports to the Department at the October and April meetings.

VI. AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS

These by-laws and any revisions to these by-laws must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Regular Faculty. At least one week must pass between the first reading of any proposal and voting on by-law revisions.

These by-laws were last revised and adopted by the faculty of the Department of Economics on May 9, 2005 and amended on September 17, 2013.