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College Governance

BYLAWS

College of Education, Health and Human Services
(Amended: January 15, 2022)

PHILOSOPHY

The College of Education, Health, and Human Services (CEHHS) is committed to the principles of shared governance by members of the CEHHS Community and the Dean. The governance structure shall encourage a balance of responsibility, authority, and accountability with the goals of maintaining and developing the viability and diversity of College programs and promoting excellence in undergraduate and graduate education. College governance shall operate in a spirit of fair play, mutual respect, and commitment to the CEHHS Community, and with elected representation to reflect the perspectives of each academic discipline. The faculty, with appropriate input from staff and students, shall assume primary responsibility for developing, and recommending to the Dean, College academic policy, procedure, budget, allocation of instructional and support positions, and curriculum. It is understood that the Dean will consult regularly and meaningfully with the faculty via the regular governance process described in this document. On those occasions when the Dean chooses not to follow a recommendation put forth by the faculty or any of the governance committees, the Dean shall strive to clearly communicate their reasons for doing so. College governance shall be consistent with the University and College Mission Statements and the Memorandum of Understanding between the California Faculty Association and the Trustees of the California State University.

CEHHS COMMUNITY

The CEHHS Community shall carry out its duties in formulating policies and establishing procedures through College meetings and through participation in the College Coordinating Committee and the standing committees (see below). As appropriate, policies related to specified aspects of the College's educational program are to be implemented (administered) by the Dean, academic units and programs, institutes, centers, school directors, department chairs, and program coordinators.                                                                                                                        
CEHHS Community meetings are essential to the effective governance of the College. At these meetings, members will be informed of the business and decisions being transacted in the committees. Of equal importance is the opportunity for the community to comment upon and give advice to the standing committees and the Dean (who will also give brief reports at each meeting) on a regular and formal basis. In addition, the meetings will be the place where members of the College can call for discussion of College business falling outside the regular business of the committees.

A. The presiding officers of the CEHHS Community meetings will be the Chair and Vice Chair of the College Coordinating Committee (CCC). The Chair and Vice Chair shall be tenured faculty members of the CEHHS Community and shall be from different units. The terms of the Chair and Vice Chair will be staggered 2-year terms. Faculty on the Faculty Early Retirement Program are eligible to vote and serve as Chair or Vice Chair, as long as they are on contract in both Fall and Spring semesters.

B. CEHHS Community meetings shall be held at least two times a year. All voting members of the College are expected to attend regular and special meetings, which will be public. The Chair of the CCC will have the responsibility for setting meeting dates and agendas, in consultation with the Dean’s office and faculty. The CCC Chair may call a special faculty meeting at their discretion, as academic and business matters within the College warrant.

C. Reports from each of the standing committees and the Dean will be heard and discussed at regular meetings. Recommendations from standing committees need not be approved by the faculty before being forwarded to the Dean. However, the voting members of the faculty are free to call for a vote of endorsement, dissatisfaction, or modification of any aspect of committee business, as well as matters falling outside of regular business of the committees, at any faculty meeting. The Chair of the CCC shall have the authority to allow for deliberation or input before the ballot goes out to the voting body. The opinions of voting members will be reflected in the minutes of the meetings, and the results of the ballot will be communicated back to the voting membership via email and at the next CEHHS Community meeting.

D. The Chair shall conduct the meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order, and the Vice Chair shall be responsible for coordinating with the clerical support staff to keep and maintain the minutes of the meetings. The Chair may call a special meeting at her/his discretion. Clerical support to the Chair and Vice Chair will be provided by the Office of the Dean.

VOTING MEMBERSHIP AND PROCEDURES OF THE CEHHS

Voting membership of the CEHHS Community shall be as follows: 1) each School/Department (SOE, SON, HD, KINE, PH, SLP, SW) will determine their voting constituency (faculty, lecturers, staff and/or DTIR) and communicate that in writing to the Dean’s office for purposes of recordkeeping and polling; and 2) each School/Department shall have one equal vote (by simple majority of its voting membership) toward college-wide decisions with a recommendation to the Dean by simple majority across the Schools/Departments. Faculty on the Faculty Early Retirement Program are eligible to vote in their school or department.

COLLEGE COORDINATING COMMITTEE

The College Coordinating Committee (CCC) shall represent the CEHHS faculty and staff in coordinating the governance of the CEHHS and in advising and making recommendations to the Dean on college- wide policy and direction. The Dean shall provide the CCC with information necessary to make these evaluations and recommendations. The primary duties of the CCC are to: draft, revise, and implement the strategic plan of the CEHHS and to facilitate and steer the operational business matters of the CEHHS. Responsibilities of the CCC include but are not restricted to the following:

  • Advising and consulting with the Dean on College matters such as:
    • College strategic plan and three-year rolling plans
    • Aligning College priorities with resource and budget allocations
    • Administrative policies and procedures
    • College governance and mission
    • Academic planning, curriculum development and evaluation
    • Standards for, and maintenance of a high level of professional conduct
  • Receiving recommendations from committees and community members for further action
  • Proposing changes to the CEHHS Governance Bylaws 

The membership of the CCC shall be comprised of one elected faculty member from each of the seven academic units (i.e. Schools/Departments: SoE, SoN, HD, KINE, PH, SLP, SW), the elected Chair and Vice Chair of the CCC, the standing committee chairs, two elected staff members (from different units within the CEHHS), and the Dean, Associate Dean and Assistant Dean of the CEHHS. Voting members of the CCC shall be the seven elected faculty members from each of the seven academic units and the two elected staff members. The Chair and Vice Chair of the CCC, the standing committee chairs and the Dean, Associate Dean and Assistant Dean of Student Services of the College shall be non-voting members.

Faculty members elected as voting members may also serve as a standing committee chair. Each of the schools/departments of CEHHS shall have representation on the committee and will have a single equally weighted vote on the CCC. Vacant seats may only be filled by a member of the school/department that holds that seat. Should a vacancy or vacancies result in an uneven number of votes, the Vice Chair of the CCC will be the tiebreaker.

The Chair of the CCC will convene the CCC on a regular basis in order to review and implement the strategic plan, coordinate the flow of business from committees, advise the Dean’s Office on ad hoc matters, and enhance communication between faculty, staff and students, and the administration. In addition to the regular Standing Committees, the CCC may create ad hoc or special committees for specific purposes.

As well, the Dean may ask the Chair of the CCC to convene the College Coordinating Committee for purposes of discussing the possible need for ad hoc committees (e.g., Task Forces). The CCC shall either appoint members to the ad hoc committee under discussion or shall arrange for the election of representatives to the ad hoc committee.

ELECTION RULES AND PROCEDURES

In order to facilitate the election process, a nomination form listing continuing members and identifying all vacant seats will be posted by the Dean’s office in Spring semester. The nomination form shall solicit self-nomination by eligible faculty or staff for appropriate vacant seats in the election. Elections for all vacant seats shall be by electronic ballot and conducted by the Dean’s office by early May. Generally, ballots will be due 5 working days from the date of distribution.

All eligible voters are qualified to run for membership on committees. All full-time staff are eligible to run for committee staff seats. No community member may stand for election for both a unit position and an at-large position for the same committee. Faculty members in the Faculty Early Retirement Program may run for election if they work both semesters during the year.
Election to Standing Committees: Eligible voters shall be permitted to vote for one candidate for each vacant position within their respective school/department. Staff seats will be elected by staff members of the CEHHS. Election will be by plurality of votes cast, including write-in candidates. In the event there is a tie among more candidates than there are seats available, the College Coordinating Committee (CCC) shall select a winner by lot.

Election of the Chair and Vice Chair of the College Coordinating Committee: Eligible voters for election of the CEHHS Community Chair and Vice Chair will be consistent with voting membership of the CEHHS community. Staff seats on the CCC will be elected by staff members of the CEHHS.

CEHHS STANDING COMMITTEES

The standing committees shall select their chairs in spring once the committees are formed. Terms of office begin the first day of the fall semester. Standing committees will run regularly scheduled meetings at the established time. Agendas of the standing committees shall be submitted to the Clerical Support Staff for posting within 24 hours of the meeting time. Meetings may be cancelled by the Committee Chair if there are no issues for discussion.

Before the end of the first week in April (when not spring break), chairs shall provide a list of upcoming vacancies to the Vice Chair of the CCC to initiate the election process for the next AY. If a committee has remaining vacancies following the spring election process, volunteers over summer will be appointed to open seats in their respective schools on a first come basis by the Chair of CCC. If seats remain open at the start of fall, a call will go out. Should a volunteer run unopposed at the time of the first CCC meeting of the AY, then they will be appointed to that committee during the CCC meeting. Should there be more than one volunteer for a single seat, then a ballot will go out to all eligible voters within the respective school. Following the first CCC meeting of the AY, volunteers will be appointed to open seats in their respective schools on a first come basis by the Chair of the CCC.

If a committee member cannot fulfill her/his term of office, the resulting vacancy shall be filled for the remainder of the term of office by a replacement member selected from the same school as the original member. The replacement member shall be selected from a pool of volunteers by the College Coordinating Committee. The Clerical Support Staff, at the direction of the Vice Chair of the CEHHS Community, shall publish a notice of the vacancy, soliciting volunteers to serve in replacement, and shall record and publish the decision of the CCC.

Under very rare circumstances a constituency may wish to recall its representative to a committee.  A petition to recall a committee member may be initiated by a member of the relevant constituency. If 25% of the predetermined constituents sign the petition, a recall ballot shall be prepared by the Dean’s office and distributed to all voting members of the constituency. Recall must be favored by a majority of the eligible constituents.

The role of the Dean’s Office representatives on the CEHHS committees is to provide information and advice relevant to the topics at hand. In consideration of the importance of the balance of power implied by shared governance, Dean’s Office membership on the committees is non-voting.

Recommendations from standing committees shall be reported to the CCC and forwarded to the Dean. However, the voting members of the CEHHS Community are free to call for a discussion of endorsement, dissatisfaction, or modification of any aspect of committee business, as well as matters falling outside the regular business of the committees, at any CEHHS Community meeting. The CCC shall subsequently convene a meeting to discuss points raised at the CEHHS Community meeting and a recommendation will be made to the Dean.

Each Standing Committee will provide minutes of each meeting to the Clerical Support Staff for posting on the Governance website and submit an annual report at the end of the academic year.