Faculty Senate Bylaws
SECTION 1. NAME
The name of the organization representing the faculty of the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Medicine in Lubbock, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, Nursing, and Pharmacy shall be the Faculty Senate of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC).
SECTION 2. PURPOSE
The purpose of the TTUHSC Faculty Senate is to promote interaction and collaboration between the members of the faculty of the various schools as well as to represent the faculty as an advisory body to the TTUHSC President on common issues affecting faculty and their responsibilities in teaching, practice, research, and service.
SECTION 3. MEMBERSHIP
The Faculty Senate shall be comprised of 1) three representatives each from the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine in Lubbock, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso, School of Nursing, and School of Pharmacy; and 2) one representative from each additional HSC campus (other than Lubbock). The process used by each School/Campus to select the Senators shall be consistent with the Bylaws of the respective Schools. Because all Faculty in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences have primary appointments in either the School of Medicine or the School of Pharmacy, there will be no separate representation from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Faculty from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences will be able to vote as faculty in the School of Medicine or the School of Pharmacy where they have primary appointments. The immediate Past-President of the Senate shall serve as an ex-officio officer for one year.
SECTION 4. OFFICERS
The three officers of the Faculty Senate shall be the President, President-Elect, and Vice President to be selected as defined in Section 5. Each officer must come from a different School. Each will serve a one-year term beginning September 1. The President will be succeeded after one year of service by the President-Elect and the President-Elect by the Vice President. The new Vice President will be selected as defined in Section 5.
Responsibilities of the President include 1) presiding at meetings of the Faculty Senate and meetings called for the entire TTUHSC Faculty; 2) serving as chairperson of the Agenda Committee; and 3) communicating with the TTUHSC President as appropriate on proposals made by the Faculty Senate or as requested by the TTUHSC President. In the event of the President’s death, resignation, or removal from office, the President-Elect shall serve as President. The Vice President shall assume the position of President-Elect and a new Vice President will be selected by the Faculty Senate (Section 5).
The President-Elect shall preside at the meetings of the Faculty Senate and meetings called for the entire TTUHSC Faculty and assume all other responsibilities of the President in the President’s absence.
The Vice President shall assume all duties of the President in the absence of both the President and the President-Elect. The Vice President shall keep minutes and records of all the proceedings of the Faculty Senate and promptly post these on the Faculty Senate website within ten (10) business days following each meeting.
The President may delegate to the President-Elect and the Vice President other duties as the President may prescribe. All three officers plus the immediate Past President shall serve on the Agenda Committee.
SECTION 5. SELECTION OF OFFICERS
Officers of the Faculty Senate shall be elected from the membership of the Faculty Senate. Each officer must come from a different school. The President, President-Elect, and Vice President shall be senior members (i.e. at least 5 years with a faculty appointment at TTUHSC) of the Faculty with the rank of at least Assistant Professor but higher if possible and be able to devote the time required to fulfill the obligations of the office. Only faculty with less than a 50% administrative appointment as determined by each specific School’s appointment policies are eligible to serve as officers.
Annually, at the completion of the one-year term of office, the President will be succeeded by the President-Elect, the President-Elect by the Vice President, and the Vice President by a newly elected Vice President. The new Vice President of the Faculty Senate will be selected annually from the newly elected group of Faculty Senate members at the September Meeting of the Executive Committee. A member may not serve a second three-year term without a one-year interim unless the Member has been filling an unexpired term of one year or less. If a vacancy occurs, the President shall request the faculty organization of the respective School to select a replacement prior the next meeting of the Faculty Senate to fill the unexpired term.
SECTION 6. REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
Any officer may be removed from office for substantive cause upon a two-thirds majority vote of the Faculty Senate. Members of the Faculty Senate and the various standing/ad hoc committees are expected to attend called meetings on a regular basis. Committee seats shall be automatically declared vacant following three absences without reasonable cause from regularly scheduled meetings across the academic year. Reasonable cause may be defined as absence due to other Health Sciences Center duties or business, illness, or pressing personal matters. If the seat vacancy action is appealed, final action will be determined by the Faculty Senate by a simple majority vote.
SECTION 7. COMMITTEES
The TTUHSC Faculty Senate acts as the Committee of the Whole. It may act independently on issues of concern affecting the Faculty brought before it by the Board of Regents, the TTUHSC President, the body representing the Faculty of any School within TTUHSC and any committee whose members are appointed by the TTUHSC President. Additionally, each full time faculty member at TTUHSC has the right to bring before the Senate issues of concern related to the HSC in general or involving any individual school.
All actions taken by the Faculty Senate must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Faculty Senate present with at least one assenting vote from each school. The Faculty Senate may elect, with similar requirements, under certain circumstances to take proposed actions before the entire TTUHSC Faculty for a vote of approval. The proposed action shall be posted on the Faculty Senate website at least four weeks prior to scheduled consideration at a regular or called meeting of the entire TTUHSC Faculty. Comments on the proposal may be sent in writing or by e-mail to the President of the Faculty Senate up until five business days prior to the meeting. The President shall make the comments available to the membership on the Faculty Senate website. The Faculty Senate shall be responsible for making all appropriate changes arising from the discussion at this meeting and posting the final proposal on the website. Voting for approval shall be by an online ballot distributed to all members of the Faculty of all Schools and shall be held no sooner than ten (10) business days from the posting of the final version of the proposal.
The Faculty Senate may also choose to refer items to committee and is responsible for appointing the membership of all standing and ad hoc Committees or Task Forces. Committees/task forces shall be formed according to the issues before the Faculty Senate at any time and as the needs dictate. Each committee/task force shall consist of at least one member of the Faculty Senate but all members of the TTUHSC Faculty are eligible to serve and Administrators, staff and non-voting faculty members may be appointed to committees as ad hoc members when they possess expertise relative to an issue being dealt with by the committee. The Faculty Senate may establish committees/task forces as deemed appropriate and may disestablish and/or reconstitute an ad hoc committee as a standing committee.
The size of each committee/task force shall be appropriate to the duties assigned and each at its first meeting shall elect a chairperson, secretary, and such other officers as may be appropriate for the effective functioning of the committee. All committees/task forces shall make periodic reports to the Faculty Senate as assigned and these shall be posted on the Faculty Senate website in a timely fashion.
The Agenda Committee is comprised of the President, President-Elect, Vice-President, and Immediate Past President. The committee is responsible for preparing an agenda for each meeting of the Faculty Senate and for posting the Agenda on the Faculty Senate website well in advance of each meeting (at least one week). The Board of Regents, the TTUHSC President, the body representing the Faculty of any School within TTUHSC, any committee whose members are appointed by the TTUHSC President, and each full time faculty member at TTUHSC has the right to request specific items be placed on the agenda. Such requests should be transmitted in writing to the President of the Faculty Senate at least two weeks prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting. The Agenda shall be distributed to the President or his/her designated representative before each meeting.
SECTION 8. MEETINGS
The Agenda for each meeting of the Faculty Senate or of the entire HSC Faculty shall be prepared by the Agenda Committee and posted on the Faculty Senate website at least one week before the scheduled meeting. Additional items may be introduced at a meeting under “Other” or New Business provided sufficient time is available. However, no action will be taken on such items unless the Faculty Senate shall amend the Agenda by a majority vote. If the Faculty Senate determines the issue is time sensitive, then a special meeting of the Faculty Senate or the entire TTUHSC Faculty can be called to consider the item.
The Faculty Senate shall meet monthly and meetings of the entire TTUHSC Faculty will be called at least once during each fall and spring semester with telecommunication linkage from the originating site to all campuses. The President of the TTUHSC shall be invited to make comments of his/her choice including possibly a “State of the Institution Address” or use the opportunity to address specific issues of common interest to all of the Schools. Special meetings of the Faculty Senate or of the entire TTUHSC Faculty may be called by the Faculty Senate President when requested by the President of the Health Sciences Center, when approved by a majority vote of the Faculty Senate, or when petitioned in writing by any twenty members of the TTUHSC Faculty. The Faculty Senate President shall serve as the Presiding Officer at all meetings. The President-Elect or Vice President shall preside if the President is unavailable. No decision, recommendation, or advice shall come from the voting faculty except when one of the above is presiding. Votes on specific items are not binding unless the item is approved by a two-thirds majority of those voting members present or by a two-thirds majority of those submitting votes by e-mail if such voting on any issue has been approved by a two-thirds majority of the Faculty Senate prior to the meeting.
The Faculty Senate shall meet monthly during the year. Special meetings of the Faculty Senate may be called by the President of the Faculty Senate, when requested by the President of the Health Sciences Center, when approved by majority vote of the Faculty Senate, or when petitioned in writing or e-mail by any twenty members of the TTUHSC Faculty. No business shall be transacted unless a quorum constituted by a majority of the members of the Faculty Senate is present at the time of a vote. In the absence of a quorum, the President may only make announcements of an informative nature, rule on the existence of a quorum, and recess once for a short period to attempt to secure a quorum.
All meetings shall be open meetings unless otherwise required by law or unless the Faculty Senate by two-thirds affirmative vote with at least one from each school shall declare a meeting or a part of a meeting shall be conducted in executive session. The TTUHSC President or designate is invited to attend all meetings of the Faculty Senate as an ex officio, non-voting member.
SECTION 9. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Issues for discussion or proposals may originate within or be sent in writing to the Faculty Senate by any member of any School, by the Chair of the body representing the faculty of any school, by the Dean of any school, by any committee whose members are appointed by the TTUHSC President, or by the TTUHSC President. All new or revised versions of TTUHSC Policies should be sent to the Faculty Senate for review. The Faculty Senate shall report to the general membership on all issues/proposals brought before it, and, if a proposal is to be voted on by the general membership, make certain that sufficient information is distributed to the membership in a timely manner and sufficient time is allotted for adequate discussion. All proposals brought to a vote should be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Faculty Senate with at least one assenting vote from the representation of each school.
SECTION 10. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PRESIDENT OF TTUHSC
Copies of the minutes of all meetings of the Faculty Senate or of the entire TTUHSC Faculty shall be transmitted to the TTUHSC President. All recommendations approved by the Faculty Senate or matters of concern identified by either body shall be transmitted in writing to the TTUHSC President by the President of Faculty Senate. All such transmissions should contain a statement of the issue, the recommendations being made, and the rationale for the recommendations. A meeting between the TTUHSC President and the Senate Officers to discuss the recommendations may be requested by either party.
SECTION 11. DISSOLUTION CLAUSE
Any action to dissolve the Faculty Senate must be a) proposed by a petition to the President of the Faculty Senate; b) with written notice distributed to all the TTUHSC Faculty at least four weeks prior to the consideration of such action; and c) approved by a two-thirds affirmative vote by the TTUHSC Faculty submitting a vote.
Failure to hold either a Fall and/or a Spring meeting shall not result in a dissolution of the Faculty Senate.
In the case of dissolution of the Faculty Senate, any and all assets shall be used to pay any outstanding liabilities with any remaining funds to be conveyed to the TTUHSC Fund for Excellence.
SECTION 12. ADOPTION AND AMENDMENT
The Faculty Senate Bylaws have been adopted by a two-thirds affirmative vote of those members of the TTUHSC Faculty who voted and can be amended only by a two-thirds affirmative vote of those members of the TTUHSC Faculty who vote on the Proposal. A Proposal to change or amend the Bylaws shall be introduced by filing the proposition with the President of the Faculty Senate in time for attachment to the agenda for the next meeting of the Faculty Senate. At the designated next meeting, by a majority vote of the members of the Faculty Senate present, the proposed amendments may be submitted to the entire TTUHSC Faculty by means of an electronic ballot overseen by the Agenda Committee.
Adopted this 7th day of May, 2007.
Revised this 8th day of August, 2008.