CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS Seventh Draft for Review by the College of Engineering Constitution and Bylaws Committee 20 April 2017
CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE I. NAME AND STANDING
1.1 The name of the college shall be the College of Engineering, referred
to in this document as CoE.
1.2 The CoE is one of the colleges of San Diego State University (SDSU).
1.3 SDSU is one of the universities that constitute the
California State University (CSU).
ARTICLE II. VISION AND MISSION
2.1 The vision of the CoE is:
To educate
a diverse group of college students to become engineering innovators, and
To contribute to enhancing the technical knowledge of society at large.
2.2 In line with the aforementioned vision, the CoE's mission shall be
to provide innovative education, research, and dissemination of knowledge.
Accordingly, graduates of the CoE will strive to develop
the critical thinking and associated skills which are necessary to: Recognize human and societal needs,
Design innovative, sustainable engineering solutions,
Embrace an international perspective, and
Create
2.3 The CoE recognizes that excellence in teaching, research, and service
shall be the
overriding objective of faculty development.
2.4 The CoE recognizes the CSU's statutory dual responsibility in teaching and instructionally related research.
Thus, it encourages and actively supports its faculty to strive for balanced achievements in both areas,
as an effective way of fulfilling its mission.
ARTICLE III. ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS
3.1 The CoE shall have the following academic departments:
Aerospace Engineering (AE)
Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE)
Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
Mechanical Engineering (ME).
3.2 The CoE's academic departments offer
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Science (M.S.), and Master of Engineering (M.E.) degrees,
and certificate programs
in their respective fields.
3.3
In collaboration with the
University of California San Diego, the CoE offers a joint doctoral program in Engineering Science (Ph.D.), with the following specializations:
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Bioengineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Structural Engineering
BYLAWS
ARTICLE IV. ORGANIZATION
4.1 All CoE policy decisions shall be voted
and decided upon at officially constituted meetings of
the Faculty Assembly, hereafter FA (Articles 5.1 and 5.2).
4.2 The executive officer of the CoE
is the Dean of the college, hereafter "the Dean".
The Dean is
appointed by the President of the University.
4.3
The Dean shall provide leadership such that a quality academic
program,
4.4 The Dean shall appoint full-time or part-time Associate and Assistant Deans.
The terms and responsibilities of these appointments shall be determined by the Dean.
4.5 The Dean's responsibilities shall be the following: To provide leadership in all matters pertaining to the administration of the college,
including academic policy and planning,
curriculum development, program accreditation, strategic planning, personnel management, and resource allocation.
To work with the campus' Council of Deans in the general administration of the University in all matters,
including policy, planning, curriculum, personnel, and resource management.
To supervise the hiring of CoE faculty and staff and make
recommendations to the President of the University through the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
To supervise faculty and staff as appropriate to ensure the fulfillment of the college's mission.
To chair the CoE Executive Committee.
To chair the CoE Faculty Assembly.
To lead the college's endeavors
in strategic planning,
the pursuit of excellence in teaching, the securement of externally funded research, and
the maintainance of effective ties with the local, regional, state, national, and global communities.
To review and approve faculty and staff workloads.
To mentor new faculty as appropriate.
To practice
shared governance and foster a collegial atmosphere in all college affairs.
To act on all other matters of a supervisory nature which may come to his/her attention.
4.6 The Department Chair is the executive officer of an academic department.
4.7 The responsibilities of a department chair shall be the following: To supervise faculty and staff.
To represent the department in ExComm meetings, as well as in
other college and university meetings.
To prepare the department's teaching schedule, in close coordination with departmental and college staff.
To administer the department's financial and budgetary matters,
in close coordination with departmental and college staff.
To lead in the formulation of the department's teaching and research vision.
To lead the departmental efforts in strategic planning,
the securement of external research funding, and
the maintainance of effective ties with the community.
To lead the department's efforts in obtaining timely and effective
accreditation of all departmental programs.
To mentor new faculty.
To foster a collegial atmosphere in all departmental affairs.
To act on all other matters of a supervisory nature which may come to his/her attention.
4.8 The Dean shall be assisted and advised
in the formulation of policy and in the general administration of the college by an
Executive Committee, hereafter ExComm.
4.9 The membership of the ExComm shall consist of: (a) the Dean, (b) the Department Chairs, and (c) the Associate and Assistant Deans
(ex-officio, i.e., non-voting, members).
4.10 Should the Dean be unable to attend an ExComm meeting,
he/she may appoint an acting chair to preside over the meeting.
4.11 Should a department chair be unable to attend
an ExComm meeting, he/she may appoint a tenured/tenure-track member of the department to act as his/her representative,
with full voting privileges.
4.12 The meetings of the ExComm are scheduled at the Dean's discretion.
ARTICLE V. THE FACULTY ASSEMBLY
5.1 The Faculty Assembly (FA) shall meet to deliberate and act on issues regarding policy and the general welfare of the college.
5.2 Membership in the FA shall consist of all CoE tenured/tenured-track faculty members, each with full voting privileges. In accordance with university policy, faculty not in residence are especifically excluded.
5.3 The officers of the FA are: (i) Chairperson, (ii) Secretary, and (iii) Parliamentarian.
5.4 The chairperson of the FA is the Dean or, in his/her absence, the Dean's designee.
5.5 The FA Secretary and Parliamentarian shall be elected
in the first meeting of an academic year. For each of these positions, the term of the appointment is two (2) years.
Both positions shall be eligible for
reelection.
5.6 The Policy File is the collection (or sum total) of all
policies and resolutions adopted by the FA to complement the present Bylaws.
5.7 The duties of the Secretary shall be the following:
To distribute the agenda for the FA meetings.
To keep the minutes of the FA meetings.
To keep a master file of the FA meeting minutes.
To keep current a
master file of the CoE Constitution and Bylaws.
5.8 The duties of the Parliamentarian shall be the following:
To chair the Constitution and Bylaws
Committee (CB).
To provide advice
regarding parliamentary procedure.
To assist in the interpretation of Robert's Rules of Order, to assure an orderly conduct of all
deliberations.
5.9 The FA shall meet at regularly scheduled intervals, during the academic year. The length of the
interval shall be determined by the Dean.
For the meeting to be officially constituted, a quorum of more than fifty percent (50%)
of the eligible membership is required.
5.10
The FA shall conduct its affairs with the aid of standing committees, which are permanent.
5.11
In addition to the standing committees, ad-hoc committees may be established
for a specific purpose
and with an established timeframe.
5.12 Extraordinary meetings of the FA shall be convened at the request of either:
The Dean;
A group of faculty, constituting more than 15% of the membership. In this case, the faculty shall select one of its members to preside over the meeting; or
A standing committee of the College,
when expressly necessary to promote or advance the business of the committee.
5.13 An agenda for the FA meetings shall be distributed to the Faculty at least
five (5) working days prior to every meeting. In exceptional cases, this five-day rule
may be waived by a two-thirds majority (67%) of the eligible membership.
5.14 The Secretary shall be responsible for the timely and accurate preparation of the minutes, which shall accurately reflect
all important decisions adopted.
Once approved in the subsequent meeting, the Minutes shall constitute the
official position of the Faculty Assembly.
5.15
Upon request by any member, the Secretary shall make the minutes available for examination.
ARTICLE VI. STANDING COMMITTEES
6.1 The FA shall have the following
standing committees :
Academic Policy and Planning Committee (AP&P)
Constitution and Bylaws Committee (CB)
Curriculum Committee (CC)
Computer Policy Committee (CP)
Honors and Awards Committee (H&A)
Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Committee (RTP)
Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Committee (RS&CA)
6.2 The Academic Policy and Planning Committee (AP&P) shall make recommendations to the Ex Comm and FA
on policy and planning issues.
6.2.1 The responsibilities of the AP&P Committee shall be:
To periodically review CoE policy and planning in order
to formulate
and prioritize its educational goals.
To facilitate communication
between the sources of university policy (the University Senate,
the SDSU Administration and the CSU Chancellor's Office) and the FA.
To assist in the coordination of college and departmental responses to actions taken by
higher levels of the University in the area of policy.
To support the work of its homologous Senate AP&P Committee.
To review proposals for new
academic programs as well as proposals for modifications to existing programs.
6.2.2
The membership of the AP&P Committee shall consist of one (1) elected representative from each academic department.
Each member of the AP&P Committee shall serve a three-year term; members are eligible for reelection.
The Dean of the CoE shall act as ex-officio member.
6.2.3
The chair of the AP&P Committee shall be elected at the beginning of each academic year.
The position of committee chair is eligible for reelection.
6.3 The Constitution and Bylaws Committee (CB)
shall be responsible for all
recommendations to the FA regarding additions, modifications, or ammendments to these Bylaws.
6.3.1
The membership of the CB Committee shall consist of:
One (1) elected representative from each academic department, and The FA Parliamentarian,
who shall act as chair.
6.3.2
Each departmental representative of the CB Committee shall serve a two-year term, with half of the membership renewed every year.
The members of the ECE and ME departments
shall renew in odd years; the members of the AE and CCEE departments shall renew in even years.
Members shall be eligible for reelection.
6.3.3 Action on changes to these Bylaws may originate as motions passed by the FA and referred to the CB Committee for
a recommendation. Any change to these Bylaws shall require a referral to and subsequent recommendation of the CB Committee.
6.3.4 Following a request by the FA, an interpretation of these Bylaws by the CB Committee shall be considered binding, unless subsequently reversed by action of the Faculty Assembly.
6.4
The Curriculum Committee (CC)
shall make recommendations on all matters regarding the CoE curriculum.
The CC shall consult with relevant academic departments across the campus,
for the purpose of assuring that their course offerings
are substantially in agreement with the curricular needs of the college.
6.4.1 The responsibilities of the CC shall be:
To review and recommend,
in accordance with procedures established by the University Senate, new courses,
changes in course title and/or content,
modifications to degree requirements, and new degree or non-degree programs.
To review and make
recommendations on all curricular matters brought to its attention,
across the college and university, by one or more academic departments.
6.4.2
The membership of the CC shall consist of one (1) elected representative from each academic department.
6.4.3
Each member of the CC shall serve a two-year term, with half of the membership renewed every year.
The members of the AE and ME departments
shall renew in odd years; the members of the CCEE and ECE departments shall renew in even years.
Members shall be eligible for reelection.
6.4.4
The chair of the CC shall be elected at the beginning of each academic year.
The position of committee chair is subject to reelection.
6.5.1 The responsibilities of the CP Committee are:
To initiate, establish, and periodically review college computer policies in the areas of
hardware, firmware, software, and staffing.
To make recommendations concerning policies for the operation of
college-wide computing facilities and laboratories.
To make recommendations concerning
the use of computers and computer-based instructional technologies.
6.5.2
The membership of the CP Committee shall consist of:
(1) the department chairs, and (2) an Associate Dean designated by the CoE Dean.
Each chair may choose to designate
a faculty member from the his/her department to serve in his/her place.
The Associate Dean shall chair the CP Committee.
The CoE Information Technology (IT) manager
shall act as ex-officio member.
6.6 The Honors and Awards Committee (H&A) recommends faculty and students
for honors, awards, scholarhips, and other distinctions.
6.6.1 Annually,
the H&A Committee shall solicit nominations from the engineering student body for the Outstanding Teacher Award.
6.6.2 The responsibilities of the H&A Committee are:
To select students to be awarded college-wide and campus-wide scholarships.
Each committee member shall select only student nominees belonging to his/her own department.
To select students to receive such honors and awards as may be offered by the University
or by any other organization whereby students are not restricted to a particular department.
The nomination and selection process shall be determined
by the H&A Committee, unless it has been explicitly stated otherwise by the award donor.
To select faculty members to receive such honors and awards as may be offered to the faculty, and to
forward the nomination to the Dean in a timely manner.
The nomination and selection process shall be determined
by the H&A Committee, unless it has been explicitly stated otherwise by the award donor.
6.6.3 Membership of the H&A Committee shall consist of one (1) elected representative from each academic department.
Each member of the H&A Committe shall serve a two-year term, to be renewed
at the beginning of the academic year (Fall Semester). In even-numbered years,
the representatives of the CCEE and ME
departments shall be renewed; in odd-numbered years, those of the AE amd ECE departments shall be renewed.
Members shall be eligible for reelection.
6.6.4 The chair of the H&A Committee shall be elected at the beginning of each academic
year. The position of committee chair is eligible for reelection.
6.7 The Reappointment, Tenure and Promotion Committee (RTP) shall be responsible for the timely review and
recommendation concerning each faculty member under consideration for reappointment, tenure, and promotion.
6.7.1 The RTP Committee shall operate in accordance with procedures and criteria set forth in the SDSU Senate's Policy File and pertinent direction from the Office of Faculty Affairs.
6.7.2
Membership of the RTP Committee shall consist of one (1) elected representative from each academic department, and an external member, selected
by the RTP Committee as specified in Section 6.7.5.
Only tenured faculty members who hold the rank of Professor are eligible for membership on the RT&P Committee.
6.7.3
Faculty members serving in a full-time or part-time administrative rank are not eligible to serve on the RTP Committee.
6.7.4
Membership in the RTP Committee shall be limited to tenured faculty members holding a
full academic-year appointment.
6.7.5
Each member of the RTP Committee shall serve a two-year term, with half of the membership renewed
every year. The members of the AE and ME departments
shall renew in odd years; the members of the CCEE and ECE departments shall renew in even years.
Members shall be eligible for reelection. Each year, the external member shall be selected by the RTP
Committee from a list provided
by the University Senate.
6.7.6
The chair of the RTP Committee shall be elected at the beginning of each academic year.
The position of committee chair is subject to reelection.
6.7.7 Voting in all RTP Committee personnel decisions shall take place by secret ballot.
Every eligible member may choose to exercise his/her right to vote,
including the committee chair. Abstentions and null votes are not counted.
6.7.8 During a given performance review, should a certain RTP Committee decision be contrary to the recommendation of a given department,
the committee shall take the following actions:
Inform the subject departmental RTP (or personnel) committee of its decision, in writing.
Confer with the departmental committee within ten (10) working days
Following the meeting with the departmental RTP committee, the college
RTP Committee shall review its original decision,
forwarding the Committee's final recommendation to the next higher level.
6.7.9 In addition to its stated responsibilities, the RTP Committee shall consider and respond to all CoE personnel matters.
6.8 The Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Committee (RS&CA)
shall evaluate the intramural grant proposals
submitted by CoE faculty members.
The Committee shall rank the proposals, and where
6.8.1
The RS&CA Committee
shall formulate and disseminate criteria for the evaluation of proposals.
6.8.2 Annually,
the RS&CA Committee shall perform a college-wide ranking of sabbatical leave applications,
following established university procedures.
6.8.3
Membership in the RS&CA Committee shall
consist of: (i) one (1) elected faculty member from each department, and (ii) a graduate student in good standing,
6.8.4 The chair of the RS&CA Committee shall be elected at the beginning of
each academic year.
The position of committee chair is eligible for reelection.
ARTICLE VII. RECOGNITIONS, HONORS, AND AWARDS
7.1 Graduation with Honors shall be granted to those students
who have achieved a sufficiently high grade-point average in accordance with the following timelines: (i) by the beginning of the Fall Semester for
December graduates, and (ii) by the end of the Fall Semester for May and Summer Session graduates.
7.2 To be eligible for distinction, a student must have a minimum 3.5 average grade-point average (GPA) in the upper division
major and a minimum 3.0 average GPA in his/her overall academic record.
7.3
The grade-point average shall be computed on the basis of work done at SDSU, except that
if the grade-point average for work at other institutions is lower,
those grades shall be included in the computation.
7.4 Upon recommendation of his/her department,
a student doing superior work may be graduated with distinction.
7.5
By April 15 of each academic year, each department shall select from the graduating classes
(December, May, and August) the one individual to receive the Departmental Award of Outstanding Graduate in the Department.
7.6
By April 30 of each academic year, the FA shall select among that year's departmental outstanding graduates,
the one individual to receive the award of Outstanding Graduate in the College of Engineering.
ARTICLE VIII. ASSIGNED TIME
8.1 Assigned Time refers to the number of weighted teaching units (WTU)
for which an individual faculty member
shall be released from teaching in a given semester
for the pursuit of research, teaching, or service-related activities.
8.2 To be considered for assigned time, a faculty member shall submit to his/her respective
department chair(s) an Annual Report by the end of the first week of the Spring Semester, covering his/her activities
during the
previous calendar year.
8.3
Individual departments shall establish a committee
for the purpose of evaluating the annual report(s) and making recommendations on the equitable allocation of
assigned time.
This committee shall include the department chair as ex-officio member.
8.4
Assigned time shall be based on the evaluation of activities spanning the
previous four calendar years.
8.5 The department chair shall recommend to the Dean
the allocation of assigned time.
8.6 In accordance with CSU policy and practice, the normal work assignment (teaching load) shall be a total
of fifteen (15) weighted teaching units (WTUs) per semester. Three (3) teaching units serve as assigned time
for student advising and related service. Therefore, the normal teaching load for classroom instruction shall be
twelve (12) WTUs per semester.
8.7 At least six (6) weighted teaching units (WTUs) of classroom instruction per semester shall be required of all faculty,
unless: (a) buyout is provided from a research grant; or (b) when assigned time is provided
for critical university activities.
8.8
In any given semester, the amount of assigned time
shall not exceed six (6) WTUs. Howewer, in extraordinary cases,
additional units may be awarded by the Dean at his/her discretion.
8.9 Assigned time for research and scholarly activities shall be awarded to individual faculty members when warranted.
8.9.1 Three (3) WTUs of assigned time shall be awarded to faculty members who are able to show satisfactory
completion of items (a) and (b) of the following list, plus
one (1) of the three (3) (c) items listed below:
Supervision of SDSU undergraduate or graduate student research.
Under this provision, qualifying undergraduate research is subject to approval by the department chair.
Author or coauthor
of at least one (1) peer-reviewed publication (paper) in a scholarly or professional journal
per calendar year, averaged over the previous four (4) years.
Choose one of the following items:
c1. Scholarly productivity at an exceptional level, e.g.,
(i) authorship or coauthorship of at least two (2) peer-reviewed publications per calendar year; or (ii) authorship or coauthorship of a research monograph or textbook published
by a reputable publishing company, professional society, or university press,
per calendar year.
c2. Submission of at least one (1) external grant proposal per calendar year,
with the faculty member being the principal investigator (PI)
or co-principal investigator (Co-PI),
responsible for project performance and administration.
c3. Ongoing externally funded research, with
the faculty member being the principal investigator (PI) or co-principal investigator (Co-PI),
responsible for project performance and administration.
8.9.2 In any one semester, faculty awarded three (3) WTUs
of assigned time under Section 8.9.1 may be awarded up to three (3) additional WTUs,
provided they are able to show satisfactory
activity in at least three (3) items from the following list:
Two (2) peer-reviewed publications per calendar year, averaged over the previous four (4) years.
Conducting ongoing externally funded research for at least two (2) of the previous four (4) calendar years, either as the PI or co-PI.
Submission of two (2) or more grant proposals per calendar year, averaged over the previous four (4) years.
At least one of the grants shall feature full indirect costs at the federally negotiated rate.
In addition, the grants shall include full academic-year support for graduate students at
graduate teaching/research assistantship (GTA/GRA) levels.
Supervisory teaching units amounting to
at least one (1.0) WTU per year, averaged over the past two (2) years.
for advising graduate students in their theses (0.5 WTU awarded per student), or advising undergraduate students in their research projects (0.3 WTU awarded per student).
8.10 Assigned time for one or more significant pedagogical or service activities
may be awarded to a faculty member upon his/her request.
Up to three (3) WTUs may be assigned,
provided that:
8.10.1 A significant pedagogical activity may include:
Developing a new course,
Making extensive changes to an existing course or courses,
Producing additional teaching material and tools,
Testing innovative teaching techniques,
Advising a large number of undergraduate students,
Advising several student chapters,
Performing substantial service activities related to program accreditation,
Performing substantial service activities at the university level,
and
Performing substantial service activities in the local community.
8.10.2
It is incumbent upon the faculty member requesting service-related assigned time
to justify the time expenditure and contribution(s) to be expected.
8.11
The teaching load for a new tenure-track faculty
member shall be negotiated at the time of initial appointment, after which
the faculty member shall be subject to the normal teaching assignment.
8.12
A faculty member may request a reconsideration of the assigned time
by means of a written communication to the department chair,
with copy to the Dean, explaining his/her reasoning.
To be timely and valid, such a request shall be made no later than four (4) weeks after the information about assigned time was communicated to the faculty.
8.13
The chair shall review the request for reconsideration and consult with the Dean regarding the appropriate course of action. The decision shall be communicated in writing
to the subject faculty member within two (2) weeks of the date of initiation of the request.
8.14
Faculty members shall be responsible for a detailed reporting of the activities for which they had been granted pedagogical or service assigned time.
A report no longer than two (2) pages in length must be submitted detailing the accomplishmens and/or status of the
activity or activities, no later than the last day of classes, for each semester for which assigned time was granted.
Such reports shall constitute the primary basis for evaluating future requests for assigned time.
ARTICLE IX. VOTING
9.1 Unless specifically stated otherwise,
all FA voting shall be by simple majority, that is, more than fifty percent (50%)
of those members present and voting, including proxies
and excluding abstentions and/or null votes. The chair is eligible to vote only when his/her vote
will make or break a tie.
9.2 Voting in all personnel decisions shall be by secret ballot. In this case, every
member of the assembly may exercise his/her right to vote, including the chair.
Abstentions and/or null votes are not counted.
9.3 Voting normally requires physical presence,
unless a proxy is submitted in writing
to the FA Secretary prior to the voting.
If a member of the asssembly has to leave a meeting early and a certain vote is pending,
he/she may submit his/her proxy to the FA Secretary.
ARTICLE X. PARLIAMENTARY AUTHORITY
10.1 The rules contained in the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order Revised (RROR)
shall govern the conduct of the deliberations in all FA and ExComm meetings.
10.2 The FA Parliamentarian shall have available a copy of the applicable RROR, for consultation
upon demand.
10.3 All efforts shall be made to conform with established parliamentary procedures.
An exception is warranted when a specific RROR rule is inconsistent with these Bylaws, in which
case the
latter shall prevail.
ARTICLE XI. IMPLEMENTATION, AMENDMENT, OR REPEAL
11.1 These Bylaws supersede all other bylaws of the CoE.
They shall become effective immediately after their adoption,
at a regular meeting of the FA,
by approval of a two-thirds majority of the eligible membership.
Faculty on authorized leave or deputation are excluded from the majority count.
11.2 These Bylaws may be amended or repealed, in part or in whole,
at a regular meeting, by a two-thirds majority of the eligible membership.
Faculty on authorized leave or deputation are excluded from the majority count.
11.3 The motion to ammend or repeal shall be communicated, in writing, to the members of the FA
at least two weeks prior to the meeting when the decision is to be voted upon.
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