ARTICLES OF GOVERNMENT
ARTICLE VIII. Department Organization

Section 1. Committees

The composition and duties of department committees shall be as follows:

A. Departmental Committee

     1. Composition: The Departmental Committee shall consist of all faculty who meet at least half of their teaching responsibilities (carry the major portion of their work) in the department and who are eligible to be voting members of Academic Council. A faculty member who holds an interdepartmental appointment may also choose to be a member of the Departmental Committee of the second department to which he/she has been appointed. The committee may by majority vote and with the approval of the Dean of the College admit to itself other members of the teaching staff within the department.

     2. Duties: The Departmental Committee shall perform the following duties:

          a. Elect the department's chair. Ordinarily the chair serves for a term of three years and is eligible for reelection. The results of an election or reelection should be reported immediately to the President and to the Dean. This subparagraph does not apply to the Department of Physical Education.

          b. Determine the department's curricular recommendations to the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction.

          c. Formulate the method of operation of the department.

          d. Decide on a specific method through which students electing work in the department or their representatives shall be involved in department business, such involvement to consist, at the least, of participation in consideration of curricular matters.

          e. Determine the courses of instruction each member of the department is to offer.

          f. Recommend students to participate in the Honors Program.

          g. Reach an understanding of College and departmental policy concerning criteria and procedures for promotion and tenure. In the course of performing duties (a.) through (f.), any question in disagreement shall be resolved by majority vote.

B. Reappointments and Promotions Committee:

     1. Composition: The Reappointments and Promotions Committee shall consist of the members of the Departmental Committee who are full time or regular part time faculty members on tenure; and by majority vote of the foregoing members and with the approval of the Dean of the College, other Professors and Associate Professors who are members of the Departmental Committee. In the case of the Department of Physical Education, Assistant Professors who have been at the College for ten years may by the same process be added to the Reappointments and Promotions Committee of the department. The chair of the department, ex officio, shall be a member of the committee. Only tenured members of the committee shall participate in reappointment, promotion, or tenure recommendations. Only Full Professors shall participate in nominations to a Full Professorship. At no time shall the Reappointments and Promotions Committee contain fewer than three persons on tenure. If the membership of the department shall contain fewer than three persons on tenure, the Committee on Faculty Appointments shall appoint from outside the department such number of persons on tenure as may be necessary to bring the tenured membership of the committee to three. The term of any additional person appointed from outside the department shall be the time necessary to provide three tenured members on the Reappointments and Promotions Committee, or three years, whichever period is shorter. An outside member may be reappointed.

     2. Duties: In accordance with the Articles of Government and departmental policy, the Reappointments and Promotions Committee shall make recommendations with respect to all reappointments, dismissals, and promotions. Recommendations of reappointment, promotion to all ranks, and tenure shall include evaluation of the candidate's teaching. For the purpose of reappointments and tenure reviews, evaluation of a candidate's teaching is to include classroom visits by members of the Reappointments and Promotions Committee. These visits should function as a means of suggesting improvement of teaching as well as for evaluation. In the event that the Reappointments and Promotions Committee does not contain at least three Full Professors, the Committee on Faculty Appointments shall, for the purpose of conducting the fourth-year conversation described in Article IX. Section 6.D.2. and for the purpose of conducting the review of an Associate Professor for promotion to Full Professor, appoint from outside the department such number of Full Professors as may be necessary to bring the number of Full Professors on the Reappointments and Promotions Committee to three. Members shall absent themselves from meetings in which their appointment or promotion is under consideration.

The Reappointments and Promotions Committee shall establish and communicate to the Search Committee the staffing needs of the department, in terms of both the curricular decisions arrived at by the Departmental Committee and its own decisions and actions concerning appointments.

     3. If a Reappointments and Promotions Committee, altered by the temporary voting disqualification of a spouse, does not meet the specifications in subparagraphs 1 and 2A above, the Committee on Faculty Appointments shall make the requisite temporary appointment to meet these specifications.

C. Search Committee:

     1. Composition: The Search Committee shall consist of the members of the Reappointments and Promotions Committee and one or more nontenured members of the Departmental Committee, if there be any, such nontenured members to be elected by the Departmental Committee in such manner as it may determine.

     2. Duties: The Search Committee shall make recommendations respecting all initial appointments.

Section 2. The Chair

A. Eligibility: The chair shall be elected by the Departmental Committee after consultation with the Dean of the College. The chair shall normally be drawn from among the full professorsof the Departmental Committee

B. Term: The position of chair shall normally be a renewable three-year appointment..

C. Duties:

The Chair shall:

     1. Oversee the departmental program and the academic experience of students enrolled in departmental courses.

    2. Implement relevant college policies and procedures.

    3. Preside at meetings of the committees listed in Section 1 and implement their decisions. The Chair may participate in committee discussions and shall have the right to vote. This paragraph does not apply in the case of the Reappointments and Promotions Committee if the Chair is ineligible to participate in the deliberations of the Committee in a particular instance.

    4. Appoint such subcommittees as the work of the department may require.

     5. Represent the department on public occasions and before the Trustees, the President, and the students.

     6. Be responsible for the orientation of new members of the faculty and for the mentoring and guidance of departmental colleagues.

     7. Act with power in cases of emergency.

D. Program Directors: The roles and responsibilities of directors of interdepartmental programs with their own faculty appointments shall be the same as those of department chairs.

Section 3. Appeals

Appeals from decisions of the Committees listed in Section 1 may be made to the Dean of the College, the President of the College, suitable Committees of Academic Council, or the Board of Appeals, whichever is appropriate in terms of the nature of the issue.