Proposed revisions to the Constitution of the Faculty Senate --  1-1009

1.621/ Constitution of the Faculty Senate
The Constitution of the Faculty Senate determines the selection and composition of the Senate, its organization, and rules, and procedures for amending the Constitution. The full text of the Constitution follows.

CONSTITUTION OF THE FACULTY SENATE

ARTICLE I
Composition and Selection
 

Section 1. The Faculty Senate shall be composed of elected members of the teaching/research faculty, department chairs, and university libraries as described under (a), (b), and (c), below, and ex officio members as described under (d) and (e), below.

(a) The teaching/research faculty is defined as all full-time (1.0 EFT) university personnel who are tenured, temporary, probationary or instructors with faculty status at least 50 percent of whose University duties include teaching, research, and/or library service.  Eligible members of the faculty also serve as the electorate.  Administrators are ineligible for the Faculty Senate electorate.  Administrators include those persons holding the title of President, Provost, Associate Provost, Vice President, Associate Vice President, Assistant Vice President, Dean, Associate Dean, Assistant Dean, and Directors of all non-academic programs including, but not limited to, the Director of the Computer Center, Director of the Office of Institutional Research, Director of Physical Plant, the Registrar, and Director of Cooperative Education.

(b) For purposes of representation, faculty senators shall be allotted on the basis of a proportional system, with one senator for every twelve faculty members, rounded up to the nearest integer.  It is the responsibility of the Senate Rules Committee to determine the number of representatives from each area prior to the elections.

Senators will be elected from the following areas: the W. Frank Barton School of Business; the Colleges of Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, and Health Professions; Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and the University  Libraries.  Each area will determine the distribution of its representation on the basis of subdivisions or departments.

(c) Six Four faculty senators will be elected at-large from the , but not more than two from any one Faculty Senate division.  The nine Faculty Senate Divisions: are the Barton School of Business; the Colleges of Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, and Health Professions; the divisions of Humanities, Math/Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences in the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and the University Libraries.

(d) The President of the University, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research, and the President of the Student Government Association are ex officio, non-voting members of the Faculty Senate.

(e) Upon assuming office, the President of the Senate begins a two-year term as an at-large senator.  If the President's previous elected term has not expired it will be filled by election.

Section 2. Elections shall be held annually to replace approximately one-half the membership of the Senate.  The Senate also will elect three two at-large members each year.

Section 3. Regular election to the Senate shall be for a term of two years.  Senators are eligible for re-election.

Section 4. During the spring semester of each academic year, the Vice President of the Senate shall circulate to each eligible faculty member a list of those ineligible for Senate election by reason of continuing Senate membership and solicit nominations for senators at-large.  A total of six nominations is required to place a nominee on the at-large ballot.  The Vice President will conduct an election to fill the senator at-large positions.

Section 5. Each year, subsequent to the at-large election described in Section 4, the Vice President will distribute to the members of each area mentioned in Article I, Section I, paragraph (b), a list of its members ineligible for Senate election by reason of continuing Senate membership or election as senator at-large.  Nominations for senator from each area will be solicited and the Vice President will distribute ballots to the appropriate faculty members.  The Vice President will determine the need for run-off elections.

Section 6. Senate members elected in the spring semester shall take office June 1, except that the newly elected members of the Senate, and those members of the Senate with one year remaining in their terms, shall meet in May for the purpose of electing Senate officers for the forthcoming academic year.

Section 7.  Vacancies on the Senate shall be filled by vote of the Senate for unexpired terms with the provision that the selected member shall be of the appropriate area (see Faculty Senate Rules, # 9 & 10 --  http://webs.wichita.edu/senate/FSRules-2005rev.htm)

Section 8. A senator who leaves the area from which he or she was elected will be considered to have resigned.  However, the term may be completed if the change occurs during the spring semester of the last year of the member's term.