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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
ESG

Bylaws

Department of Environmental Science and Geology

The By-Laws of the Department of Geology as enumerated below, shall apply so long as they are consistent with University and College statutes and policies and the WSU-AAUP/AFT collective bargaining agreement. The collective bargaining agreement will take precedence in the event of disagreement.

1. Membership

  1. The department shall consist of all personnel in the payroll classification of faculty including-

    Academic: Professor(s)
    Associate Professor(s)
    Assistant Professor(s)
    Instructor(s)
    Senior Lecturer(s)
    Lecturer(s)

    Academic Staff: Academic Services Officer(s)
    Academic Advisor(s)

    Administrative: Chairperson (who must hold a rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor)

  2. All personnel who are considered members of the Geology Department as outlined above will have full voting rights in deciding Department policy.

  3. Tenured and untenured faculty and academic staff will be distinguished on the basis of the committees on which they may sit and the offices they may hold (see Articles 2 and 3)

  4. The Chairperson is the chief administrative officer of the Department. Should he/she be unavailable, an acting chairperson will be appointed by the chairperson, or if this is impossible by a two-thirds vote of the faculty of the department.

2. Departmental Officers

  1. The Graduate Officer of the department serves as a liaison to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Graduate School. The Graduate Officer (or her/his designee) attends meetings of the Graduate Officers at the College and University levels, functions as an advisor to the first-year graduate students, coordinates the graduate program, oversees the recruiting of graduate students and review of applications, and monitors the progress of graduate students.

  2. The Undergraduate Officer of the department serves as a liaison to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the University Advising Center. The Undergraduate Officer (or his/her designee) attends meetings of the Undergraduate Officers at the College and University levels, monitors the progress of undergraduate students and makes recommendations to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Educational Adjustment Committee on students' petitions for waiver or substitution of baccalaureate degree requirements. The Undergraduate Officer in consultation with the Academic Services Officer and Academic Advisor oversees all matters pertaining to undergraduate education.

  3. The Graduate and Undergraduate Officers may be nominated by any member of the regular faculty (either tenured or non-tenured). The Graduate Officer must be a full member of the Graduate Faculty.

  4. Nominations for the Graduate and Undergraduate Officers shall be made at one faculty meeting and election shall be held at a subsequent meeting at least one month later than the nominating meeting.

  5. Election to the position of Undergraduate or Graduate Officer requires a mandate of at least a majority of the voting faculty. In the event of a tie, the Chairperson will cast the deciding vote.

3. Appointment of the Department Chairperson and Academic Services Officer

  1. The Department Chairperson, the Associate Chairperson (if any) and the Academic Services Officer of the department will be appointed by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts in accordance with the WSU-AAUP/AFT collective bargaining agreement.

4. The Committees in the Geology Department shall be as follows:

a) Standing Committees

  1. Promotion and Tenure Committee-

    The members on this committee will be selected and the committee will function as required by the current WSU-AAUP/AFT contract. The committee shall be composed of all tenured faculty members in the Geology Department. At least 50% of the eligible voters must be present at the meeting. In order for a candidate for promotion and/or tenure to be recommended by the Department, (s)he must receive the approval of at least 2/3rds of the eligible voters. The voting records will be held by the Chair of the Department for one year after the date of the meeting. The results of the voting will be announced at the end of the meeting by the Chair of the Department. Upon receipt of the Committee's recommendations, the Chair shall attach his/her written assessments and recommendations and shall forward both sets of recommendations and assessments to the Dean of the College.

  2. Salary Committee-

    The members on this committee will be selected and the committee will function as required by the current WSU-AAUP/AFT collective bargaining agreement. Unless the current WSU-AAUP/AFT contract stipulates differently, the members of the committee will be selected and will function as follows. The faculty salary committee shall consist of all the tenured faculty members of the Geology Department, as well as a number of untenured faculty equal to up to one less than the number of tenured faculty. The untenured members who sit on the committee will be elected at the first staff meeting at the beginning of each academic year by the voting members of the department. The Department Chairperson shall chair the salary committee with vote. This committee shall evaluate the scholarship, teaching and service performance of all faculty members and perform annual selective salary evaluations.

    iii) Budget Committee-

    The Budget Committee shall consist of all voting members of the department (Article 1a). The Budget Committee shall review the department budget and make recommendations to the Chair regarding priorities for allocating discretionary funds in all departmental accounts.

b) Temporary Committees

Temporary Committees, as required, will be elected at the first staff meeting of the academic year. All voting members in the Department will participate in this election. A simple majority will be required to be elected to any temporary committee.

The Department Chairperson may appoint temporary committees as he/she sees fit; but, the designation of such committees requires the approval of a majority of the voting members of the department. Unless such committees are designated by the Chairperson at an ongoing staff meeting, approval for such committees must be obtained from the members of the department at the next regularly scheduled Departmental staff meeting.

c) Quorum

The quorum for all standing committees shall be two-thirds of the total membership of the committee except for the Promotion and Tenure Committee which is specified in Article 4a above. The quorum for temporary committees shall be decided by that committee, but in any case, must not be less than half the committee members.

5. Staff Meetings

  1. Staff meetings will be held at least once per term. Additional meetings may be convened by the Chairperson, or upon the request of any three faculty members (or a majority should the department have less than five (5) voting members). Voting members as defined in Article 1a above include all Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Instructors, Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, and Academic Staff.

  2. The Chairperson or his/her designee will be responsible for preparing an agenda for each regularly scheduled staff meeting. The agenda should be distributed to the members at least three days in advance of the meeting. An agenda for special meetings will be the responsibility of the members calling the meeting and should be prepared in consultation with the Chairperson. The agenda for special meetings must be distributed to all members at least one week in advance of the meeting.

  3. A quorum at staff meetings shall consist of three-fifths of the voting members of the department, and neither regular nor special staff meetings may be convened unless the Chairperson and at least three-fifths of the voting members of the department are able to attend.

  4. A staff meeting may be convened in the absence of the Chairperson only by the acting Chairperson (Article 1d).

  5. At the first staff meeting of each academic year one of the members of the department will be designated by the Chairperson to keep the minutes of the staff meetings for the coming year. This person will be responsible to see that the minutes of each meeting are duplicated and distributed to all members of the department.

6. Curriculum and Instruction

  1. Review of existing curricula will be the responsibility of a temporary committee. The curriculum committee's recommendations will be presented to the full faculty for approval. Once approved by the faculty, it will then be the responsibility of the Chairperson to see that the curriculum is changed as recommended.

  2. The Chairperson may recommend curricular changes to the curriculum committee, who may suggest changes or alterations to the chairperson's proposals. If possible the Chairperson and the curriculum committee should agree on the proposed changes, but whether agreement can be reached or not, the curricular changes as requested by the Chairperson will be presented to the full membership for approval. A majority vote of the members will be required for the proposed changes to be forwarded to the College.

  3. Scheduling of courses will be the responsibility of the Chairperson or his/her designee.

7. Amendment Process

Any proposed amendments to these By-Laws must be presented to the members at a regularly scheduled staff meeting. Final approval of the amendments must be scheduled at a subsequent meeting not less than one month after the meeting in which the amendments were proposed. A two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members of the department will be required for approval of any amendments to the By-Laws.

8. Appeal Procedure

Any member of the department listed in Article 1a who contends that a violation of the By-Laws has occurred, has the right to require that a staff meeting be convened by the Chairperson, within one month, for the purpose of considering the alleged violation.