Faculty Senate Constitution
ARTICLE I. NAME
The name of the faculty organization representing the faculty of the Schools of Allied Health Sciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy shall be the Faculty Senate of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC).
ARTICLE II. 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 institutional governance, the Faculty and the Faculty’s responsibilities in teaching, practice, research, and service.
ARTICLE III. JURISDICTION
Section 1. The Faculty Senate is the representative body of the Faculty of all Schools and campuses within the TTUHSC. The Senate is comprised of 1) equal faculty representation 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 Campus. A School shall be defined as an academic entity whose organizing structure has a Dean with a direct reporting relationship to the President. A Campus is defined as a location (other than Lubbock) where academic programs reside and whose organizing structure reports to a Dean who in turn reports directly to the President. As schools or campuses are added to the HSC system, representation will be added accordingly. 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.
Section 2. The TTUHSC Faculty Senate shall represent the Faculty, conduct business related to affairs affecting the Faculty, and conduct communications with the TTUHSC President and Administration.
Section 3. Issues of concern affecting the Faculty may be brought before the Senate 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.
ARTICLE IV. ORGANIZATION
Section 1. The voting membership of the Faculty Senate shall be the Senators selected by each of the Schools and Campuses represented.
Section 2. The Faculty of each School shall select three Faculty members, of whom preferably at least two are at the rank of Associate Professor or above, to serve staggered three-year terms as the Senators representing that School. The process used by each School to select these Senators shall be consistent with the Bylaws of the respective School.
Section 3. The Representative from each campus shall be elected from the faculty on that campus with the representation rotating among the different schools present at that campus.
Section 4. The Senate shall elect from its membership a President, President-Elect, and Vice President, the latter serving as Secretary, to serve for a term of one year as officers of the Faculty Senate. These three officers should each come from a different school.
Section 5. The Faculty Senate shall conduct the day-to-day operations of the Faculty Senate and conduct the necessary communications with the President of the TTUHSC.
Section 6. A quorum of the Faculty Senate will be composed of two thirds of the full Faculty Senate membership with at least one member from each School present.
ARTICLE V. RESPONSIBILITIES
Section 1. The Faculty Senate shall operate to facilitate open communication between the Faculty and the TTUHSC President, seeking to provide constructive recommendations.
Section 2. The Faculty Senate shall meet at least monthly, as provided by the bylaws. All meetings of the Faculty Senate shall be open meetings unless otherwise required by law or allowed by law. The Faculty Senate may by two thirds affirmative vote with at least one affirmative vote from each school elect to hold a special meeting (i.e., outside regularly scheduled meetings) to discuss an issue.
Section 3.The Faculty Senate shall call meetings of the entire TTUHSC Faculty 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 HSC Address” or use the opportunity to address specific issues of common interest to all of the schools. Special meetings of the entire TTUHSC Faculty may be called by any of the processes described in the Bylaws.
Section 4. The Faculty Senate shall publish on its website the Agendas for all meetings of the Senate and the entire TTUHSC Faculty at least one week prior to the meeting and the minutes of all Senate and entire TTUHSC Faculty meetings within ten (10) business days following each meeting.
Section 5. The Faculty Senate shall provide to the TTUHSC President the names of members of the Faculty from all Schools as potential candidates to serve as faculty representatives on ad hoc or standing committees or councils of the TTUHSC that are appointed by the President. The President retains the right to appoint any or none of the recommended individuals.ARTICLE VI. AMENDMENT PROCEDURE
Section 1. An amendment to the Constitution of the Faculty Senate may be placed on the agenda of a regular or called meeting of the Faculty Senate if such an amendment is proposed a) by a petition to the President of the Faculty Senate signed by at least twenty members of the voting faculty; or b) by a two-thirds vote of the full membership of the Faculty Senate including at least one member from each School.
Section 2. A proposed revision in or amendment to the Constitution of the Faculty Senate 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 HSC Faculty. Comments on the proposed revision 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 revisions 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. No action on amendments to the Constitution of the Faculty Senate may be taken unless at least one-fifth of the Faculty Senate has provided voting input. Upon passage, an amendment shall become effective immediately.
ARTICLE VII. INITIAL COMPOSITION
The initial composition of the Faculty Senate shall consist of the representative number of members (3) from each Health Sciences Center School, selected as determined by the faculty of each individual school. The Interim Faculty Senators will serve for one year or until the September 1 following its inception. Its duties will be first to make any further revisions to the Constitution and Bylaws prior to submission to the TTUHSC Faculty for ratification, call and conduct an initial meeting of the entire Faculty for ratification of the Constitution and Bylaws, and to conduct business as described in the Bylaws until September 1 of that year. Thereafter, a new Faculty Senate will be formed to begin service September 1 with one elected member of the Faculty from each School to serve a one-year term, one a two-year term, and one a three-year term. Members of the initial Faculty Senate will be eligible to continue to serve.
ARTICLE VIII. ADOPTION AND RATIFICATION
The Constitution of the Faculty Senate shall become effective when adopted by a two thirds majority of the members of the HSC Faculty submitting votes. Arrangements for the voting shall be made by the Interim Faculty Senators constituted as described in Article VII above.
Adopted this 7th day of May, 2007.
Revised this 8th day of August, 2008.