• Convene your committee early in the fall semester and have the members elect the chair for the academic year.
  • The previous chair or a representative approved by the Faculty Senate's Administrative Committee will convene the first meeting. The committee elects a new chair at that meeting.
  • Notify the Governance Manager with the name of the chair.
    • Committee chairs comprise the Administrative Committee (along with Faculty Senate leadership and the Provost). The chair will be added to the email distribution list for the Administrative Committee.

• Identify a regular meeting time for your committee.
  • Contact the Governance Manager if you would like a meeting poll created for you.
  • Notify the Governance Manager of your regular meeting time and  if you need rooms booked for meetings.

• Facilitating remote or hybrid participation for your committee. 
  • A quorum consists of at least 50% of the voting members of a committee. Committees must
    accommodate members at a distance. Presence may be established by in-person participation or participation by audio-conference, Zoom, or other distance technology utilized by committees for meetings.
  • Zoom: Zoom is the primary platform for holding hybrid or remote calls. Committee members that are unable to attend via Zoom may call in to the meeting via the provided call-in instructions for that committee.

• Review the Faculty Senate bylaws with your committee and decide if they need to be updated.
  • Go to the current "Committees" section of the bylaws. The bylaws are located on the Faculty Senate home page. 
  • Changes to committee-related bylaws require a formal motion to go before the full Faculty Senate for voting.
  • Look at a sample motion to change committee bylaws. See Chapter 4 in the Faculty Senate Handbook and Directory for more information about motions and resolutions, and for more examples.
  • The committee-approved motion is brought by the chair to the Administrative Committee for discussion and approval to be included in the next Faculty Senate meeting agenda.
  • Faculty Senate bylaws contain important information about the membership of each senate committee and should be regularly reviewed by the membership at least once a year.
  • Ex-Officio members are non-voting members and do not count toward a meeting quorum.

• What to do with requests from external entities
  • From time-to-time, you may get requests from entities external to the Faculty Senate to look into a particular issue. If you have not received such a request in writing, please ask for it to be put in writing (email is fine). Share this with the Governance Manager and Faculty Senate leadership. By doing so, you will help facilitate answering any questions to ensure an issue is considered by the appropriate committee, and help in prioritization of tasks that committees are being assigned.

• Set the agenda for committee meetings.
  • You may distribute agendas to your committee members if that is your preference; or, upon your request the Governance Manager will distribute them for you via email.
  • Include the meeting location and Zoom information (if applicable) in your agenda.

• Identify a committee member to take meeting minutes during the meeting.
  • Usually minutes from the prior meeting are reviewed at the next meeting and approved by all committee members. Minutes can be approved via email if that is preferred.
  • Send a copy of the approved minutes to the Governance Manager for inclusion in the Administrative Committee and Faculty Senate meeting agendas.

• Attend Administrative Committee meetings.
  • Schedule of Faculty Senate and Administrative Committee Meetings is posted on the Faculty Senate Meetings.
  • Committee actions (usually in the form of motions or resolutions) are brought by the committee chairs to the Administrative Committee for discussion. Upon the consensus of the Administrative Committee, actions will be included in the next agenda for Faculty Senate.
  • The Administrative Committee is also a forum for discussion of issues affecting faculty and the university. The Provost is an Ex-Officio member of the Administrative Committee.
  • Attending Administrative Committee meetings is not optional. If a chair can not make a particular meeting, arrange for an alternate to attend that meeting.
  • If a committee has co-chairs, both usually attend the Administrative Committee meetings. If one of the co-chairs can not attend, the co-chair in attendance has the responsibility to update the other.

• Attend Faculty Senate meetings.
  • Attendance at Faculty Senate meetings is a primary responsibility of all Faculty Senate members, but particularly committee chairs.
  • If your committee has formal action for the Faculty Senate, the chair brings this action to the floor of the senate and provides background and information and answers questions as necessary.
  • If an action is referred back to the committee, the chair brings the matter back to the committee at their next meeting.

• Prepare an annual report at the close of the academic year.
  • The annual report summarizes the work of the committee for the past academic year. Its purpose is to inform and prepare the next term's committee for continuing business.
  • The annual report is turned in prior to the last Administrative Committee meeting in April to be included in the May Faculty Senate agenda. Annual reports are due: April 10, 2024.

2023-2024 Administrative Committee meeting schedule and members