March 27, 2003

To:       Dean Janet Fields

            Dean Jimmy Ishee

            Dean JoAnn Jones

            Dean Beth Rushing

From:   W. Ken Farr, Chair

            Executive Committee of the GC&SU University Senate

The Executive Committee met on March 26, 2003 and the following decisions were made to facilitate the election of faculty members to the 2003-2004 University Senate.  According to the newly adopted Bylaws of the University Senate (see Article II, Section 2,A of the University Senate Bylaws), the Executive Committee shall apportion thirty-four (34) University Senate elected faculty positions among the Schools and the Library/General Division (faculty not assigned to one of the academic schools shall constitute a group of faculty referred to as the Library/General Division). This apportionment shall be based on the percentage of the members of the Corps of Instruction (see Article V, Section 1.A of the University Statutes) assigned to each of the Schools and the Library/General Division.  Only Corps of Instruction faculty members that are counted in the numbers for apportionment of senators are eligible to serve on the University Senate and vote for faculty senators.*   The number of faculty senators apportioned to each School and the Library/General Division is as follows:

According to Article VI, Section 2.B of the University Statutes, the Executive Committee is charged with ensuring that terms for elected faculty senators are staggered so that no more than half the membership changes in any given year.  The apportioned numbers above are divided among one (1) and two (2) year terms of service to accomplish this requirement during the transition to the new form of governance.  In subsequent years, faculty elected to the University Senate will serve two (2) year terms.

According to the University Senate Bylaws, the Faculty of each School shall determine how faculty senators are elected.  Each School’s Dean is responsible for carrying out the election and notifying the Secretary of the Executive Committee (Dr. Jerry Fly) of the results prior to 4:00 pm on April 15, 2003.  The Executive Committee will conduct the election of faculty senators from the Library/General Division that must also be completed by April 15, 2003 (see Article II, Section 2.C of the University Senate Bylaws).

To serve as faculty senators, faculty must be members of the Corps of Instruction and have at least two (2) years of service at Georgia College & State University at the time they take office in the fall of 2003.  Corps of Instruction faculty that started employment after Fall 2001 are therefore not eligible to serve on the University Senate for the 2003-2004 academic year (see Article VI, Section 2,B of the University Statutes).*

After the elections are completed and results reported to the Executive Committee Secretary, each School shall then prepare and provide a written description of the method that was used to elect faculty senators.  The description is due to the Secretary of the Executive Committee (Dr. Jerry Fly) by April 18, 2003. 

I’m sorry for the short amount of time to conduct these elections, but much of the procedure necessary for elections were approved just this past Monday on March 24, 2003 by members of the transitional University Senate. 

For this new form of shared governance to work successfully, faculty that are elected must be willing to dedicate a lot of time and energy.  This is a grand opportunity and the members elected this year will have the chance to set the standard for the just how successful this type of governance will be at GC&SU.  Please remind your faculty of the importance of electing people that have a sincere interest in governance and that want to help pilot the future direction of Georgia College & State University.

* A list of faculty members in the Corps of Instruction assigned to each School and also the Library/General Division is available in an excel file attached to the email.