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Faculty Senate

Purpose

The purpose of the Faculty Senate is to act in accordance with the Faculty Senate Bylaws to represent the general faculty of Mount Saint Mary College and to establish an effective means by which the faculty can contribute to the governance of the institution in the consideration of all policies and issues that affect the academic climate and direction of the institution. The faculty shall consider and recommend to the President all approved educational policies of the College including the subject matter of courses, general methods of instruction, standards for admission of students, academic activities, working conditions and welfare of the faculty, academic calendar, and the general academic development of the College.

Responsibilities

  1. The Faculty Senate, in representing the Faculty, acts on the recommendations made by all of the standing governance committees of the Faculty.
  2. The Faculty Senate assumes all the responsibilities and exercises all the prerogatives of the Faculty. However, any decision made by the Senate may be reversed by a simple majority of the entire voting membership of the Faculty.
  3. The Faculty and the Faculty Senate are free to establish bylaws governing their role in the College insofar as they do not conflict with or are contrary to the Mount Saint Mary College Bylaws or other recorded actions of the Board of Trustees.
  4. The Faculty Senate meets once a month during the regular academic year or as often as is necessary to consider and act upon matters related to the responsibilities of the Senate.
  5. In order to ensure that decisions made at Faculty Senate are communicated throughout the college, after each meeting of the Faculty Senate, the Chairperson will notify the President, all Vice-Presidents, the academic Chairs and Deans, and all other relevant offices as agreed to by the VPAA and the Chairperson, of the motions passed.

Responsibilities of Senators

  1. Represent their division/school and vote in accordance with decisions made at the division/school level.
  2. Share proposals with the division/school in advance of votes so that adequate representation of the views of the division/school is possible.
  3. Share detailed reports of what occurs at the Senate meetings with the division/school to ensure that faculty are up to date on proposals and policy changes.
  4. Serve as liaison to one or more faculty governance committees. Liaisons communicate with committee Chairs about the content of and due dates for committee liaison reports and remind them when reports are missing. They review the annual reports of liaison committees in May or June each year prior so that questions can be asked and suggestions made prior to submission to Senate.

Membership

The Faculty Senate is composed of the President of the College, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Senators elected by the faculty.  The School of Business, School of Nursing and the library elect one Senator each.  Each division within the School of Arts, Sciences, and Education elects one Senator each.  The At-Large Member serves as Senate Chair and represents the faculty in all areas of faculty concern.  The President of the College serves as a non-voting member.

Chairperson of Faculty Senate

The Chairperson of Faculty Senate is elected annually by the general faculty and serves as the Member-at-Large (Appendix B, Article 1, Section 2). The Chair presides over both the Senate and General Faculty meetings. All full-time tenure-track or tenured faculty are eligible for nomination.

The Chairperson of Faculty Senate receives a reduction of one course release per semester.

Terms of Office

One-year membership, not subject to term limits.