Faculty Handbook



Section 100
Organizational Policies

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 

I.    Purpose of General Assembly Meetings

A.  General Assembly Meetings are held to serve as an open forum for discussion and action on items of importance in the operation of the affairs of the University and faculty welfare.  The General Assembly, when meeting under the provisions herein described, constitutes the ultimate instrument of faculty self-governance and the parent body to which all faculty university committees are responsible.

B.  Specific actions of the General Assembly will include:

1.  initiation and action on amendments to the Faculty Senate Constitution;

2.  consideration of actions of the Faculty Senate;

3.  action on revisions of the Faculty Handbook;

4.  consideration of major policy changes generated by Faculty Committees;

5.  reports from committees of the faculty; and

6.  such other items concerning the welfare and mission of the University as the general faculty deems appropriate and beneficial to consider.

C.  Regular meetings of the General Assembly will be during the academic year on the second Thursday following the regular Faculty Senate meeting each month at a time and place to be designated in the agenda.  Special meetings may be called by the President of the Faculty Senate or the President of the University.

D.  An agenda will be distributed by the President of the General Assembly three days before the meeting to each faculty member, each administrative officer, and each regent.  The agenda will include specific items of business expected to be discussed.

II.   Membership

A.  Voting membership of the General Assembly is limited to full-time employees of Western New Mexico University holding the faculty rank of lecturer, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor or professor, who teach six or more semester hours per semester; any rank prefixed with adjunct is excluded.  Voting membership will include professional counselors, professional library personnel, and faculty members, part of whose load is supervising student teachers.

B.  A quorum shall consist of the voting members of the General Assembly present at a meeting that has been publicized to the General Assembly.

III.  Officers and Duties

A.  The presiding officer of the General Assembly meeting is the President of the Faculty Senate.

B.  In the event of the absence of the President, the Vice President of the Faculty Senate will preside.

C.  The Secretary of the General Assembly meeting is designated by the President and acts as Secretary throughout the academic year.

1.  It is the duty of the Secretary to record and distribute the minutes to all faculty, administrative officers, and regents.

2.  It is the duty of the Secretary to receive and report proxy ballots.

D.  The Parliamentarian of the General Assembly meeting is designated by the President and acts as Parliamentarian throughout the academic year.  The meeting will be governed by the latest edition of Robert’s Rule of Order, Revised.

IV.  Voting

A.  When voting on ratifications and amendments to the Faculty Senate Constitution, Faculty Handbook changes, and other major policy changes, a secret ballot will be taken.  Ballots will be provided and tellers will be designated.  Quorum for this voting is the same as defined in Section II. Part B, Membership.

B.  Proxy votes are allowable in the event of illness or an irreconcilable schedule conflict.  The written designation of proxy must be given to the secretary of the General Assembly prior to the meeting at which the vote is to be taken.  Proxy voting will only be done on agenda items.  The secretary of the General Assembly will report the proxies held at the opening of the meeting.

C.  A winning vote on ratifications and amendments to the Faculty Senate Constitution, Faculty Handbook changes, and other major policy changes is a two-thirds (2/3) majority of those voting.

D.  Amendments to the Faculty Senate Constitution and the Faculty Handbook and major policy changes shall be presented at one General Assembly meeting and voted on at the following General Assembly meeting.

WESTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY
FACULTY SENATE CONSTITUTION

We, the faculty of Western New Mexico University, to provide for participation in the formulation of policies relating to the effective discharge of the University’s educational function, to promote stable growth and continued improvement of higher education, and to facilitate the communication between and cooperation among faculty and administration, do ordain and establish this constitution.

 

ARTICLE I—Name and Membership

 

Section I.    The name of this organization is the Faculty Senate representing the general

                    faculty of Western New Mexico University.

 

Section II.   Membership

A.  The Faculty Senate will consist of one voting member from each department, one voting member from the combined group consisting of professional library personnel and professional counselors.  The two at-large members elected to the Faculty Senate shall be the President and the Vice-President.

B.  The President and the Vice President shall be elected from a list of eligible members by secret ballot on the 13th week of the spring semester.

 1.  Ballots shall be sent directly to qualified voting faculty only.  Two envelopes should be sent with each ballot.  One envelope, the larger, should be pre-addressed to election tellers and should include a space for the faculty member to sign.  The other envelope should be blank.

2.  Upon receipt of each ballot the tellers should check-off the faculty member’s name on a master list (to ensure no duplicate voting) and then discard the outer envelope to maintain confidentiality of each faculty member’s vote.

C.  Departmental representatives will be chosen by election in the departments in the 14th week of the spring semester.  The spring vacation week shall be included in the counting of the weeks.

D.  Any member of the Senate may be removed from office by a majority vote of the departmental faculty in the department which the senator represents.  The voting must be done in a scheduled meeting of the department faculty (or General Assembly, whichever applies) which has been announced at least three days in advance of the meeting, but this may be either a regular meeting or one scheduled especially for the occasion.

E.  Membership of the Faculty Senate is limited to voting members of the General Faculty.

F.  Any member missing two regular meetings without notifying the President of the Senate will be replaced by a member elected by the appropriate constituency.

G.  The new Senate members are to be seated at the first meeting after the election.

 

Section III.  Individuals who are on terminal contract at the time of the election or who will reach mandatory retirement age prior to the opening of the following academic year will not be considered as candidates for office.

 

 

ARTICLE II—Powers and Functions

 

Section I.     The powers of the Faculty Senate are those delegated to it by the General Assembly and approved by the Board of Regents and those that are implied by its existence as a university to preserve, augment, criticize, transmit knowledge and to foster creative capacities.  The Faculty Senate can unilaterally initiate investigation and discussion of items in its domain.

 

Section II.    Any action taken by the Faculty Senate will be transmitted to the General Assembly and the President of the University in the form of minutes distributed at least three school days prior to the next General Assembly meeting.

 

Section III.   In the event of a veto by the President of Western New Mexico University, the Faculty Senate by a two-thirds (2/3) vote in a regular meeting may recommend presidential reconsideration with an informational copy of the proceedings sent to the Board of Regents by the Faculty Senate.

 

Section IV.  All decisions reached, with or without the President’s comments, will be distributed to the members of the General Assembly within ten (10) school days after the regular meeting.

 

ARTICLE III – Organization

Section I.    Officers

A.  Nominations for the position of President and Vice President for the following year will be made by the voting membership of the General Assembly at its general meeting in March.  Nominees will be from the eligible voters of the General Assembly.  After that time a ballot will be prepared with all nominations for each office and distributed among the voting membership.  If any candidate has a majority of the votes cast, he/she shall be declared elected.  If a majority is not indicated for a particular candidate, then a run-off election shall be held with only the names of the top two candidates for each office, in the votes from the previous election, appearing on the new ballot.  The majority of the votes cast shall determine the winner.  In the event of a tie vote in this second election, the determination of the winner shall rest with a majority vote of the Senate in regular meeting.

B.  One of the members of the Faculty Senate will be chosen as Secretary of the Senate.

C.  The President of the Senate will be responsible for the Faculty Senate budget and monies.

D.  Any elected officer of the Faculty Senate may be removed by a majority of the General Assembly.  The voting must be done in a scheduled meeting of the General Assembly.  In the case of a removal, Part A of this section applies.

Section II.   Committees

A.  Membership of the Standing Committees for the following year will be elected or appointed in the spring semester.  Those committees whose members are chosen by the departments will be elected by the 15th week.  Those Standing Committees appointed by the Senate will be approved at the May meeting.

B.  The President of the Faculty Senate shall make faculty appointments to Ad Hoc Committees and vacancies on Senate appointed Standing Committees as necessary.

Section III.  Meetings

A.  The Faculty Senate shall have one regular open meeting each month during the regular academic year, on the first Tuesday of the month.

B.  A formal agenda for each open meeting will be distributed to each member of the General Assembly three (3) school days prior to the meeting.

C.  A mathematical majority of the membership of the Faculty Senate shall constitute a quorum.

D.  Meetings may be called at any time during the calendar year by the President of the Senate or at the request of at least three senators, providing there is compliance with Section III, B above.

 

ARTICLE IV—Ratification and Amendments

 

Section I.     The Faculty Senate Constitution will go into effect when approved by a simple majority at a General Assembly meeting and approved by the President of the University and the Board of Regents.

 

Section II.    This Constitution may be amended as follows:

A.  Amendments may be proposed by any voting member of the General Assembly in a meeting of the General Assembly and need only a simple majority of the members present and voting to be considered “pending amendments.”  To become operational amendments, they must be reconsidered and voted on at the next regular meeting of the General Assembly, must be approved by secret ballot by at least a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members present and voting,* and approved by the Board of Regents of Western New Mexico University.

B.  Amendments which originate in a meeting of the Faculty Senate must be endorsed by a majority of the Faculty Senate membership present, must be presented for consideration to the General Assembly, and must then follow the procedure described in Article IV, Section II, Part A.

 

Section III.  The Faculty Senate shall be empowered to pass such bylaws as are necessary for the implementation of the constitution.  Any bylaws passed by the Faculty Senate must be approved by the Board of Regents of Western New Mexico University before they become operational.

 

 

 

* Proxy votes on amendments are allowable in the event of illness or irreconcilable schedule conflicts.  The proxy forms may be secured only from the Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs and must be returned to the Secretary of the General Assembly prior to the meeting at which the vote is to be taken.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR FACULTY
AND STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN POLICY FORMULATION

 

The faculty and students at Western New Mexico University share in the formation of University policy through the appropriate committee structure.  Through procedures authorized by the Student Constitution, students have full voting privileges on all committees to which they are appointed.  Each committee should elect a chairperson and secretary and each faculty member should receive a copy of the minutes of any council and committee herein described, with the exception of the Discipline Committee and the Student Appeals Committee.

 

DUTIES AND MEMBERSHIP ON COUNCILS AND COMMITTEES

All duties and functions herein described are delegated to the councils and committees by the General Assembly and are subject to review and repeal by the General Assembly as approved by the President and the Board of Regents.  A quorum shall consist of a majority of the members of the council or committee.

 

For all standing committees the following shall apply:

1.  Within thirty (30) days of being informed by the General Assembly or Committee, either by distribution of minutes or memorandum, the appropriate administrator must report the action taken on recommendations from the Committee.

2.  The General Assembly reserves the right to reconsider actions of committees.  If no action on the part of the General Assembly is taken within 30 days of being informed by committees, either by distribution of minutes or in a report in the General Assembly, the action will become a faculty recommendation.

3.  To avoid conflict of interest, any person specifically named in and directly affected by a change, request, proposal, etc., should be disqualified from voting on that issue on the committee of which the person is a member.

4.  In order to balance both variety and continuity of experience, the following system of rotation service will be observed.  The term of committee service is one calendar year starting with the academic year.  A faculty member may serve two consecutive years.  After two consecutive years of service on a committee, a member shall be disqualified from further service on that committee until the passage of one academic year.  This provision does not apply to the elective offices of President of Faculty Senate, Vice President of Faculty Senate, or Senator for Faculty Senate or any position where committee membership is determined by departments.

5.   Should the University be subject to reorganization, the department chair shall remain the administrator of the smallest academic unit.        

 

 

COMMITTEES OF THE FACULTY

ADMISSIONS AND ACADEMIC STANDING COMMITTEE

The Admissions and Academic Standing Committee is responsible for hearing and deliberating on irregular requests for admission to the University. The Committee makes recommendations on the formulation of policy and regulations concerning admission to the University.  Decisions of this committee can be appealed to the Student Appeals Committee.  The Committee will have three faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom serves as chairperson.  Three alternative faculty members shall be appointed by the Faculty Senate to serve in the event any of the regular members are unable to serve for any reason.  There are two student members.  Ex-officio, non-voting members include the VP of Student Affairs and Community Relations, Director of Admissions and the Registrar.

ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

The Assessment Committee is responsible for providing leadership and review to the process of student outcomes assessment.  The committee will consist of one elected member from each of the academic departments. The Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Vice President for Student Affairs and Community Relations and the Director of Multicultural Affairs, and the Facilitator for Outcomes Assessment will serve as ex-officio, non-voting members.

ATHLETIC COMMITTEE

This committee shall be advisory to the Western New Mexico University President and/or appropriate Vice President relative to the administration and control of intercollegiate athletics within Western New Mexico University.  It shall advise the Director of Athletics in the purpose and overall role of athletics, in the implementation and administration of the policies and procedures, and in the short-range and long-range planning of the Athletic department, and in observing protocols for compliance with standards of athletic governing bodies to which WNMU belongs.  The Athletic Committee will serve as an appeal board ensuring due process for athletes.  The committee has five (5) voting members: three appointed by the Faculty Senate, and two (2) student members (one female and one male).  Faculty members will have three year staggered terms.  The Director of Athletics and the Faculty Athletics representative are ex-officio, non-voting members.

BUDGET REVIEW COMMITTEE

The responsibilities of this committee are to preview the budget during its formulation, review monies, i.e., state appropriations, tuitions and fees, grants, gifts, rents, and other, to assist in prioritizing their allocations and to assist in monitoring their expenditure.  The Committee shall be responsive to the concerns of the general faculty and it will seek written input regularly from the faculty.  The Committee reports to the Faculty Senate at least quarterly.  The Committee will have five faculty members appointed for two-year terms by the Faculty Senate, with three members appointed in even-numbered years and two members appointed in odd-numbered years. The Vice President for Business Affairs is an ex-officio, non-voting member.

CULTURAL EVENTS COMMITTEE

It is the responsibility of this committee to coordinate and evaluate requests for funding of special social and cultural events on the campus during the academic year.  The Committee will have five faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom serves as chairperson.  There are three student members. The Director of Student Activities is an ex-officio, nonvoting member.

CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION COMMITTEE

This committee is responsible for developing policies governing the operation of the undergraduate curriculum and its instructional programs and shall review and make recommendations concerning any proposed changes to any undergraduate curriculum.  The Committee will consist of one elected member from each of the academic departments and one student member.  The Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Registrar are ex-officio, non-voting members.

DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE

The Discipline Committee is responsible for the development of policies in areas which relate to student discipline.  The Committee hears cases referred to it involving University student discipline and shall determine discipline consistent with the substantial evidence presented at the discipline hearing.  Hearings of this committee are governed by rules developed by the Committee consistent with legal due process procedures in student discipline and approved by the legislative branch of the Associated Students, the University Administration, and the University Board of Regents.  A meeting of the Discipline Committee may be called by the Chairperson at the request of any student body member or faculty member.  The Committee will have three faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom serves as chairperson.  There are three student members.

EVALUATION COMMITTEE

It is the responsibility of this committee to set up procedures for student evaluation of faculty and faculty self-evaluations.  The Committee will have five teaching faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom will serve as chairperson.  There are two student members.  The Vice President for Academic Affairs is an ex-officio, non-voting member.

GRADUATE COUNCIL

The Graduate Council is responsible for developing policies governing the operation of the Graduate Division and the University graduate curriculum.  These policies are administered by the Director of the Graduate Division and include admission to degree candidacy.  The Council will consist of one elected member from each department participating in graduate programs and one student member.  The Graduate Council is chaired by a Council member elected by the Council.  The Director of the Graduate Division is an ex-officio, non-voting member.

GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE

This Committee is formed on an ad hoc basis in accordance with approved grievance procedures.

HONORS PROGRAM COMMITTEE

The Honors Program Committee will provide the overall guidance of the program and approve all policies and procedures.  The committee will approve the designation of courses as honors courses, serve as honors advisors/mentors, and hear appeals from decisions of the Honors Program Director.  The committee will have seven faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate to two-year renewable terms.  The two-year term limit applicable to Faculty Senate appointed committees does not apply to this committee.  The committee will have one honors program student member selected by the honors program students in good standing.  The Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Honors Program Director are ex-officio, non-voting members.

INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCE COMMITTEE

This committee advises the library and the Outreach Services Department on the development of book, periodical, reference collections, and other instructional resources, on the distribution of library and media services funds among the various academic departments, and advises on such other matters of library policy requested by the Library Director.  The committee will have one elected member from each department, one of whom serves as chairperson.  There are two student members.  The University Librarian is an ex-officio, non-voting member.

RESEARCH COMMITTEE

The function of this committee is to evaluate and make recommendations regarding faculty proposals for research projects and their publication.  The committee will also select the recipient of the annual “Excellence in Research” award (see section 701).  The committee will consist of five teaching faculty members, each from a different discipline, appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom serves as chairperson.  The Vice President for Academic Affairs is an ex-officio, nonvoting member.

SABBATICAL LEAVE AND FACULTY AWARDS COMMITTEE

The responsibilities of this committee are to receive and, according to the Sabbatical Leave Policy, evaluate the applications and make recommendations for sabbatical leave.  The committee will also select the recipients of the annual “Excellence in Teaching” and “Excellence in Professional Service” awards (see section 701).  Each academic department will elect one member to the committee, and one member will be selected to serve as chairperson.

SALARY AND BENEFITS COMMITTEE

The faculty Salary and Benefits Committee will review and monitor the WNMU Compensation Model to ensure it is appropriately and fairly applied.  Some of its duties will include (but not be limited to) verifying faculty placement into the appropriate discipline (especially where a faculty member may be teaching in more than one discipline/ area), rank, years in rank, years in WNMU service, and terminal degree status for existing faculty; and reviewing discipline, rank, terminal degree status and salary recommendations on future revisions in the Compensation Model.  In addition, the Committee will advise the University regarding its fringe benefits package including insurance and tax sheltered annuity packages.  The committee will be composed of an elected member from each department and will be chaired by a faculty member elected at the first meeting.  The Director of Human Resources, the Vice President for Business Affairs and the Vice President of Academic Affairs (or their appropriate representatives) are ex-officio, non-voting members.

STUDENT AID COMMITTEE

The Student Aid Committee is responsible for the formulation and implementation of University policies for the various financial aid programs and for hearing and deliberating on irregular requests for student aid.  The committee will have two faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom serves as chairperson.  Two alternate faculty members shall be appointed by the Faculty Senate to serve in the event any of the regular members are unable to serve for any reason.  There are two student members.  The Director of Financial Aid and the Director of Admissions are ex-officio, non-voting members.

STUDENT APPEALS COMMITTEE

The Student Appeals Committee is an appellate committee to which decisions of the Discipline Committee, the Admissions Committee, the Student Aid Committee, and Housing may be appealed.  The Student Appeals Committee will have three teaching faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate, one of whom serves as chairperson.  There are three student members.  Both faculty and student members of the Student Appeals Committee should not serve on committees over which this committee has appellate jurisdiction.

TEACHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE

The function of the Teacher Education Committee is to promote interdepartmental communication about the teacher education program.  The committee will consist of one elected member from each department which offers “methods” courses for teacher education, the Dean of the School of Education, the Director of Clinical Experiences, and two students (education majors) to be appointed by the student body president.  The chairperson must be a faculty member and will be elected by the Committee.  The two-year limitation of service provision does not apply to this committee.

AD HOC COMMITTEES

These may be appointed from time to time by the President of the Faculty Senate, as necessary.  These committees will be automatically dissolved at the end of each academic year, unless otherwise specified by the President of the Faculty Senate.



AMENDMENTS TO THE FACULTY HANDBOOK

1.  Amendments to this Faculty Handbook may originate within the Faculty, the Administration, or the Board of Regents. All amendments must be approved by the Board of Regents before they become effective.

2.  Procedures.

a.  Amendment originated by Faculty.  An amendment may be proposed by an individual faculty member, a faculty standing committee, a group of faculty members, or by a special faculty ad hoc committee appointed for the purpose by the Chairperson of the Faculty Senate.  In any case, the proposal must first be agreed to by a minimum of three faculty members whose signatures shall be affixed.  The draft proposal will be handed to the Chairperson of the Faculty Senate, who will schedule discussion of the proposal at the next meeting of the Senate.  The Senate will discuss the proposal and by a simple majority will arrive at one of three possible recommendations:

(1) Recommend rejection (with reason expressed)

(2) Recommend adoption

(3) Recommend adoption as amended

The proposal with the Senate’s recommendation will then be placed on the agenda for the next General Faculty Meeting for explanation and discussion, with a vote scheduled for the following General Faculty Meeting.  If a two-thirds majority vote approves the proposal (or amends and approves the proposal) at a General Faculty Meeting, it will then be submitted to the President for endorsement and inclusion on the agenda for the next meeting of the Board of Regents for final acceptance or rejection.

b.  Amendment originated by the Administration.  An amendment proposed within the Administration shall be discussed with and approved by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.  After review and approval by the President, it will then be submitted to the Chairperson of the Faculty Senate and will then follow the same procedures specified in sub-paragraph 2a. above.

c.  The Board of Regents may propose an amendment and invite faculty review and recommendations when time permits.  The Board may also, as required for effective management of the University, make any amendment at any time.

3.  Amendments to the Faculty Senate Constitution, which is included in this Handbook, are covered by separate provisions in Article IV, Section II of that Constitution on page 102-4 of this Handbook