5. Special Committee on Administrative Affairs

5.0 Introduction

It shall be the responsibility of this committee to (1) make recommendations to the appropriate Administrative Officers regarding the selection and/or appointment of the following Administrative Officers:  President, Vice Presidents, Associate Vice Presidents, Assistant Vice Presidents, Executive Dean, Deans and Directors; (2) to make recommendations to the appropriate Administrative Officers regarding the creation or redefinition of administrative and academic offices and departments; and (3) to monitor the selection of Department Chairpersons. (2015)

Additional charges to the Committee may be made by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate or by the President of the College.  The President of the College shall make charges through the Faculty Senate.

5.1 Recommendations for the Creation or Redefinition of Administrative and Academic Offices and Departments

5.1.1 Notifications

The Committee shall be notified of any proposed creation or redefinition of Administrative and Academic Offices and Departments, and of vacancies.  The proposal must include proposed date(s) of implementation.  If exact dates cannot be provided, estimated dates should be included.

5.1.2 Proposal Review

The Committee will be given at least five (5) weeks to review the proposal and make its recommendation.  If proposal has multiple implementation dates, the Committee’s five weeks to review will be based on earliest-dated proposed item.

  1. Not included in the five-week review period are days when the college is officially closed for business
  2. Extensions may be granted by proposer should the Committee warrant extra time to complete its full review of the proposal. Memo should be written and signed by proposer and SCAA for proof of extension approval.
  3. The Committee requests a response to its recommendation(s) within two weeks (which do not include days when the college is officially closed for business).
    The Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate shall review any final written recommendations to be submitted to the Administrative Officers by the Special Committee.

5.2 Recommendations for the Appointment of Department Chairpersons (2007) (2012) (2021)

The process for gathering the recommendation for the appointment of a Department Chair will be handled electronically.

5.2.1 Vacancy Notification and Candidate Submission Information

Vacancy notification and candidate submission information will be sent to the department’s members electronically. This email will be sent by the appropriate Provost/Vice President, Academic Services or Vice President, Economic Development and Innovative Workforces Services (EDIWS) office, typically at the beginning of the spring semester and will contain the following two letters:

  1. Vacancy Notification Letter: Chairpersonship of a Department will be declared vacant by the Provost/Vice President, Academic Services or by the Vice President, EDIWS.
  2. Selection Process Letter: SCAA will generate a letter informing members of the Department of the selection process. Department members will be informed that anyone (including the present Chairperson) wishing to apply for the Chairpersonship for the next three-year term should submit a letter of intent directly to the Provost/Vice President, Academic Services or to the Vice President, EDIWS.

5.2.2 Selection Process (2021)

The names of the applicants will be emailed to members of the department on a pre-announced date by the appropriate Provost/Vice President, Academic Services or Vice President, EDIWS office. After this first posting, additional applications or withdrawals may take place. The final list will then be emailed on a pre-announced date, typically in February. The Department will then meet as necessary and will be presided over by a senior member of the Department who is not a candidate for chair. The Department may ask each candidate to answer questions. At some time during these meetings the Department will select a teller, and send the teller name to SCAA. On a preannounced date, typically in early March, voting will take place electronically. In addition to listing the candidates, the ballots will allow members of the Department to indicate a preference for an “outside department search”. A member of SCAA, the representative of the Provost/ Vice President, Academic Services, and/or the representative of the Vice President of EDIWS and the Department teller will supervise and count the vote, either in-person or virtually as agreed upon by all aforementioned parties. Only one vote should be necessary. Votes are confidential and only counted in aggregate. The results for all candidates will be emailed to the Department’s members by the appropriate Provost/Vice President, Academic Services or Vice President, EDIWS office.

5.2.3 Voting for Department Chairs (1991) (2012) (2021)

  1. All voting faculty as outlined in Article IV, Section 1 are eligible to vote in the department chair election in his/her department.
  2. Voting will be under the supervision of the Special Committee on Administrative Affairs.
    Typical Timetable:
    1. Monday (Day 1) – Deadline for submission of a letter of intent to appropriate VP by noon. Announcement of candidates to department.
    2. Wednesday (Day 3) Noon – Final deadline and second announcement of candidates to department.
    3. Wednesday through Tuesday (Days 3-9) – Department meeting at which candidates may be asked to make a statement and answer questions.
    4. Wednesday (Day 10) – Vote by department members electronically and results announced via email to department members.
  3. The Special Committee may confer with each of the candidates and analyze the Department vote. It may confer with any member of the department, with the Dean of the Division and with the Provost/Academic Vice President and/or the Vice President of EDIWS. It can call upon any “specialists” who can aid it in its decision. The Committee will then submit its recommendation to the Academic Vice President as called for by the Policies of the Board of Trustees.

5.2.4 Three-Year Cycle of Terms for Department Chairs (2014)

  1. The election of Department Chairs will be distributed so an equal (or nearly equal) number of Departments are participating in their regularly scheduled election in each of the three years of the cycle of terms for Department Chairs.
  2. Priority will be given to maintaining this equal distribution and maintaining individual Departments regularly scheduled election times within this cycle, so there will be a sufficient number of experienced Chairs to assist with the mentoring of first-time Chairs. Thus, when an Interim Chair is appointed mid-term, a special election may also take place at the same time of year as the regularly scheduled elections following the procedures of Section 5.2.5, but that Department will resume its place in the three-year cycle of elections at its next regularly scheduled election.

5.2.5 Appointment and Election Process for Interim Department Chairs (2014) (2021)

  1. When the Chairpersonship of a Department is vacated in mid-term and/or the current chairperson announces their resignation from the post effective the end of the academic year, but does so after the start of the calendar year, the Dean overseeing that Department will appoint an Interim Chair.
  2. That Interim Chair will serve in an interim capacity until the time of the next yearly Department Chair elections, at which time that Department will participate in a special Chair election, according to the same procedures for regularly scheduled Chair elections outlined in the other subsections of Section 5.2. Both the Interim Chair and other Department members may declare, or decline to declare, their candidacy as in a regularly scheduled election.

5.3 Recommendations for the Appointment of Administrative Officers Other Than Chairpersons of Departments (1989) (2007) (2012) (2015) (2023)

5.3.1 Job Description Review

The Committee will review the job description and qualifications for the job as submitted by the College and make recommendations for change if appropriate.

5.3.2 Search Recommendations

The Committee will make a determination of how it will participate in the search. Normally, its participation will take one of the following forms:

  1. Separate Recommendation
    1. The Committee will conduct a preliminary screening of all applications to determine whether or not they meet the minimum requirements for the position. This preliminary screening can be done by looking at the applicants’ folders containing letters of application, resumes, letters of reference, etc. The Committee will then compile a list of candidates it recommends for an interview.
    2. The Committee may call upon any “specialists” who could aid it in its decision.
    3. Once the selection of candidates for interview has been made, these candidates will be interviewed by the Committee.
    4. The Committee will compile a rank order list of all final candidates or, if it finds them equally qualified, will so state and list them in alphabetical order.
    5. The Committee will then make its recommendations to the appropriate Administrative Office. This recommendation should be followed up with a conference after the Administrative Officer has had an opportunity to study the recommendations.
    6. The Committee may appoint non-SCAA member(s) to be part of the separate search committee in order to best address the needs of the position.
  2. Participation on College Search Committee
    1. One or more members of SCAA will be designated by SCAA to participate on the College Search Committee.
    2. The SCAA member(s) so designated will participate on the College Search Committee as a voting member.
    3. The SCAA member so designated will make periodic reports to SCAA of the Search Committee’s deliberations.
    4. SCAA delegated member(s) can be any member of the Faculty Senate.
  3. SCAA/Administrative Combined Search
    1. SCAA-member/appointed-member will be co-chair of search committee.
    2. At least 1:1 representation of SCAA-members: Administrative members.
    3. SCAA members will have collaborative editing rights with all members of the search committee relative to all applicable interview materials.
    4. SCAA-appointed co-chair will jointly work with the committee to make final candidate(s) recommendations.
    5. SCAA delegated member(s) can be any member of the Faculty Senate.

5.3.3 Guidelines for Deans

In addition to 5.3.1 to 5.3.2 the following guidelines will be used for the appointment of Deans.

  1. The Committee will ask each candidate for a one-page statement of his/her philosophy, positions, priorities, etc., and will distribute the statement to members of the Division.
  2. SCAA will hold an Open Forum to allow candidates to address his or her statement and to answer questions from the audience.
  3. Survey for Deans (1991) (2012)
    Any voting member as outlined in Article IV, Section I is eligible to participate in the survey for the division.
  4. The Committee will survey eligible Division members in attendance at the Open Forums.
  5. Surveys will take place immediately following each Open Forum. At the last Open Forum there will be a comprehensive survey with an opportunity to rank candidates. Besides listing candidates, the survey will allow members of the Division to indicate a preference for none of the above.