UWPF Chapter 3: Departments and Centers

3.01 Definitions

(1) A department shall consist of a group of faculty members recognized by the faculty and chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and by the Board of Regents, as dealing with a common field of knowledge or as having a common or closely related disciplinary or interdisciplinary interest.

(2) The faculty and chancellor may establish centers to carry out other academic missions or for interdisciplinary teaching and research. Explicit approval of the faculty senate is required for interdisciplinary centers to offer courses or exercise other curricular powers normally exercised by departments. Centers may be housed either in one of the colleges or in Academic Affairs.

[Revision history: 2019 11 26.]

3.02 Departmental Faculty: Membership

(1) Departmental faculty shall consist of all members of the faculty as defined in 1.01(1) who hold appointments in the department.  A faculty member who accepts one of the administrative positions listed in 3.04(5) shall retain his or her membership in the department, the right to participate in department meetings, and the right to vote on departmental matters not specifically assigned to the executive committee in 3.05.  

The Departmental Executive Committee may grant to departmental academic staff members with training, experience and responsibility comparable to those in the faculty ranks the right to vote or participate otherwise in departmental faculty meetings, provided that this rule shall not be construed to withdraw any membership understanding or arrangements in effect at the time this rule was adopted.

(2) In the case of faculty members with joint appointments, the following shall apply.

(a) For the purpose of conducting departmental business under 3.03, a faculty member with a joint appointment shall be a member of each department in which he or she has formal teaching responsibilities.

(b) The faculty member’s home department shall be the one in which he or she has the greatest teaching responsibility.  In cases where the teaching responsibilities are equal, the faculty member, the Departmental Executive Committees and the Dean will reach an agreement on which department shall be the home department.

(c) The Departmental Executive Committee of the home department shall be responsible for making recommendations regarding annual merit review, contract renewal, tenure, promotion and salary adjustments as specified in 3.05.  The home department shall consult with the Departmental Executive Committees of the other department(s) in these matters.

(d)  Upon being granted tenure, the faculty member shall become a member of the Departmental Executive Committee of the home department.  He or she may be appointed to the other executive committee(s) by following the procedure in 3.08(2).

(3) A faculty member may request transfer of his or her department’s continuing commitment in his/her tenured appointment on professional or academic grounds. In considering such a transfer, those involved should take into account the programmatic interests of the faculty member, the affected departments, and the college(s) concerned.

A transfer of a department’s continuing commitment to a faculty member requires the concurrence of the faculty member proposing the transfer, the approval of the executive committees of the respective departments, and the approval of the appropriate administrative officer. When a proposed transfer involves a single college, the dean is the appropriate administrative officer. When a proposed transfer involves departments outside a single college, the Chancellor is the appropriate administrative officer, who shall make his/her decision after consulting with the deans of the affected colleges.

[Revision history: 2019 10 22.]

3.03 Departmental Faculty: Functions

The immediate governance of the department is vested in its departmental faculty (as defined in 3.02), which has jurisdiction over all the interests of the department, with authority to determine all departmental questions of educational and administrative policy, other than those matters which are vested in the Departmental Executive Committee by 3.05. The faculty of the department shall be responsible for teaching, research, and service, and shall carry out academic planning processes, including program assessment, on a regular basis.  Each department shall meet at least once each semester, and minutes reflecting all formal actions taken shall be recorded.

3.04 Departmental Executive Committee: Membership

(1) Each department shall have a Departmental Executive Committee, consisting of all members of the department who are tenured professors, tenured associate professors, and, with the permission of the committee, tenured assistant professors, except that faculty members with joint appointments are not automatically members of more than one Departmental Executive Committee as specified in 3.02(2)(d).

(2) The chair of the Departmental Executive Committee shall be elected annually from among the members of the Departmental Executive Committee by the members of the Departmental Executive Committee.

(3) Members of the Departmental Executive Committee who are on leave may participate in its decisions insofar as participation is feasible in the judgment of the Executive Committee.

(4) The Departmental Executive Committee may designate a member of the department to serve as secretary, and determine the duties of the position.

(5) A faculty member who accepts an administrative appointment, including an interim appointment, as chancellor, provost/vice chancellor, associate vice chancellor, assistant chancellor, dean, associate dean, or assistant dean, shall not simultaneously be a member of a Departmental Executive Committee. This rule shall not preclude an Executive Committee's electing to confer or consult with any administrative officer on any matter, nor shall it preclude an administrative officer's attending any open meeting of any Executive Committee.  A tenured faculty member will regain status as a member of the Departmental Executive Committee upon expiration or termination of the administrative appointment.

[Revision  history: 2017 11 28.]

3.05 Departmental Executive Committee: Functions

(1) The Departmental Executive Committee shall establish criteria for making personnel recommendations consistent with 6.01, and shall be responsible for making personnel recommendations including hiring, contract renewal, tenure, promotion except promotion to the rank of professor, merit review, post-tenure review and salary adjustments for faculty and academic staff.  The departmental Executive Committee shall be the body called for by UWS 3.06(1) that provides the formal “affirmative recommendation” for initial appointments, contract renewal and tenure.  It may, by annual vote, delegate to a subcommittee the authority to make personnel recommendations.  Recommendations on personnel decisions shall be transmitted through the department chair to the dean.

 (2) The Departmental Executive Committee shall delegate to the tenured full professors of the department the authority to make recommendations for promotions at the rank of professor.

(3)  The Departmental Executive Committee shall be responsible for making decisions regarding the department’s budget.  It may, by annual vote, delegate to a subcommittee or to the department chair the authority to make budget decisions.

3.06 Departmental Chair: Method of Appointment

(1) All members of a department faculty, including those who are designated, in accordance with UWPF 3.02, as being eligible to vote by the departmental executive committee, shall be given the opportunity to vote for departmental chair. Departments shall determine nominees for chair prior to the election.  

(2) The method of election must be by written ballot at a departmental meeting, or by mail ballot, or by electronic ballot. Ballots shall be prepared by the secretary of the faculty. 

(3) In all cases, the individual votes shall be received by the secretary of the faculty, who shall inform the dean of the results. 

(4) A departmental faculty member on leave may vote provided that it is not accomplished through a substitute person or by proxy.

(5) The dean may exercise the authority to appoint a chair upon the recommendation of the faculty as received from the results of the election.

(6) If the dean contemplates appointing an individual who is not recommended by the department, not a member of the faculty of the department, or who is not tenured, the dean may do so only after consultation with the departmental faculty and with the advice and consent of the University Committee.

(7) The term of office of a departmental chair shall not be longer than three (3) years; there is no limit upon the number of terms he/she may serve.

[Revision  history: 2023 02 21.]

3.07 Departmental Chairperson: Duties and Responsibilities

In collaboration with department faculty and in consultation with the appropriate academic administrator, the department chair shall have primary responsibility and accountability for the following:

(1) Curriculum and Instruction

(a) Initiate and facilitate long-range curricular planning, including new program development.

(b) Administer periodic internal reviews of the department’s programmatic and service offerings, including its contributions to the university’s General Education program.

(c) Lead the department in carrying out required external reviews of academic curricula and assessment of student learning outcomes, addressing accreditation and licensing standards as appropriate.

(d) Submit new courses, major revisions of existing courses, deletion of courses and program revisions proposed by the department for action by the appropriate university committee.

(e) Oversee the preparation and timely submission of a cohesive, well considered course schedule.

(f) Assign teaching duties to departmental faculty and instructional staff in consultation with the department as a whole and subject to review by the departmental executive committee in accordance with PSF 11/95-96, Faculty Workload Policy Principles.

(g) Monitor class enrollments to identify wait-lists that need attention as well as classes with low enrollment; inform the college/school of situations requiring attention;

(h) Review courses in articulation and program-to-program agreements.

(i) Review requests for transfer credit analyses.

(j) Ensure that the UW-Parkside Catalog is accurate and up-to-date.

(k) Supervise the operations of departmental activities and facilities, such as classrooms, clinics and laboratories, especially as these operations are related to health and safety issues.

(2) Personnel

• Coordinate annual faculty and staff evaluations, contract renewal consideration, and annual statements of progress toward tenure.
• Initiate and schedule post-tenure reviews, in accordance with UWPF 3.05.
• Assist tenure-track faculty in understanding the annual evaluation process, as well as the criteria and procedures for contract renewal, tenure and promotion.
• Assist tenure-track faculty in preparing and assembling their tenure/promotion dossiers.
• Schedule and establish the agenda for tenure/promotion meetings and ensure that university requirements for deadlines and notification are followed; oversee the solicitation of evaluations from external reviewers approved by the Departmental Executive Committee; prepare recommendation letter from the Executive Committee to the dean.
• Oversee the appointment of all staff personnel, including student help; supervise and evaluate clerical and technical staff assigned to the department.
• Ensure that PARs are appropriately prepared and submitted, search and screen committees are appropriately selected and prepared, searches are appropriately conducted, and recruitment paperwork is prepared in accordance with university policies and procedures.
• Oversee the student grade appeal process in accordance with university policies and procedures.

(A) Budget and Resources

• Exercise budget authority as delegated by the departmental executive committee under 3.05(3).
• Administer the department’s 102 budgets (S&E, LTE, student help), as well as any other budgets assigned to the department, requesting temporary or permanent adjustments as appropriate.
• Ensure that university policies and procedures are followed and that expenditure records are properly maintained and are accessible to the proper authorities.
• Coordinate the development of budget plans and other resource requests (e.g., computer software, equipment, maintenance agreements, classroom/lab mod requests).
• Work with appropriate university personnel in planning for use of new facilities.

(B) Leadership

• Serve as the official channel of communications for all matters affecting the department as a whole between the department and the president, the chancellor, the dean, other university officials or departments, as appropriate.
• Determine that all necessary records of meetings, teaching, research and service of the department are properly kept until archived.
• Report to the dean regarding the activities and needs of the department.
• Keep the department informed about budget-related matters.

E. Other duties as assigned by the dean or other appropriate university official.

• The department chair may delegate duties other than personnel decisions to another faculty member in the Department or a subcommittee of faculty in the Department.

3.08 Exceptions

(1) If a Departmental Executive Committee consists of fewer than three tenured faculty, augmented members shall be appointed to bring its membership to at least three.

(a) Augmented members are appointed annually by the dean of the school or college, in consultation with the departmental faculty, and with the advice and consent of the University Committee,

(b) For matters other than consideration of cases of promotion to full professor, augmented members are appointed from tenured faculty members holding the rank of professor or associate professor in other departments of the university.

(c) For consideration of a candidate for promotion to full professor, the membership of the subcommittee of full professors must number at least three. If this requirement is not met, the membership of the subcommittee of full professors shall be augmented by the appointment of tenured faculty members holding the rank of professor in other departments of the university to bring its membership to three. Such augmentation is done following the procedure set forth in (a), above, and is solely for purposes of dealing with candidacies for promotion to full professor.

(2) The dean of the college or school may augment a Departmental Executive Committee or full professor subcommittee  for reasons other than achieving a minimum membership of three faculty.  Such augmentation is done following the procedure in 3.08(1).  When seeking the advice and consent of the University Committee, the dean will provide a clear reason for the additional augmentation.

(3) The need for an augmented Departmental Executive Committee shall be reviewed annually by the departmental faculty and the dean.