Faculty Senate News

Senator Distribution by College for 2022-23

March 10, 2022  / Anna Carlin 

According to the Faculty Governance Document (Faculty Senate By-laws), Section 3.02: 

"Membership of the Faculty Senate is allocated as follows:  

(i)Each Academic Unit is allocated a minimum of two Senators

(ii) Additional membership may be allocated as follows:  

1. On March 1, the total number of full-time faculty employed at the university, and the number of eligible faculty in each academic unit will be determined by the Senate Parliamentarian.   

2. The number of additional Senators per unit is determined by the formula: 

 Number of full-time faculty in the unit                      X    23
 Number of full-time faculty at the University 

3. The result of the formula is rounded off to the nearest whole number.

 The results of the formula at this time show:

Unit # of Senators
Whitaker College of Engineering 3
College of Arts and Sciences 13
Lutgert College of Business 5
College of Education 3
University Library 2
Marieb College of Health and Human Services 5
The Water School 3
Daveler and Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship 2
University Advising* 3
Total 41

*University Advising is not yet recognized as an academic unit for the purposes of representation in faculty governance, but this is expected to change by the end of the 21-22 academic year if the Faculty Senate approves changes to the Faculty Governance Document. 

Since the last time this this formula was run, The Water School has become an independent academic unit and Academic Advisors have officially returned to the bargaining unit as faculty. The impact of shifting faculty from unit to unit was felt most strongly by the College of Arts and Sciences, which loses 2 senators from the previous year. The College of Education also loses one senator as compared to last year. The Water School gains one seat now that they are officially factored into the formula. 

As units prepare for and conduct elections for Faculty Senators for 2022-23, I would like to ask each unit to consider these things:

1. Terms should be staggered. Since Senator terms are 2 years, about half of the seats in your unit should be up for election each year (per the Senate by laws). We want to avoid having complete turn over with potentially all new Senators entering in one year. If you have gotten out of this half and half balance, you could correct it by offering one year extensions to some  Senators who could then go up for reelection or roll off the next year. 

2. Senators should be able to attend Friday meetings. It is sometime hard to predict when a teaching assignment may conflict with Senate meetings, but people who run for Faculty Senate seats should understand that they will be expected to attend meetings on Friday mornings. Senators will need to make arrangements for an alternate or replacement to fill in during a semester when there is a teaching conflict or other type of leave. Remember, per the by-laws missing three meetings in one semester is considered a resignation.