• Meetings: If you need assistance in coordinating schedules with your committee members to determine a meeting time, or need help finding a place to meet, contact Caitlin Calascibetta in the Faculty Senate Office (FSO). DO NOT schedule a fee-associated room for a Senate-related meeting without prior approval to expend funds. In-person meetings are encouraged, which leads to more robust discussions. Please contact Caitlin if you need help with scheduling a Zoom session.
  • Agendas & Minutes – Agendas for each meeting will be posted online; click on the prior link to view a sample of how the agenda and minutes should appear. Minutes, or a recap of each meeting, will be posted online and should be forwarded to the FSO as soon as possible following meetings. The chair may choose to take minutes, they may request a member to volunteer to take minutes, or they may ask the members to rotate taking minutes. Both the agenda and minutes must be forwarded to the Faculty Senate Office as a Word document.
    • To maintain consistency among documents, please be aware that the FSO may change the formatting that you submit, as well correct any misspelled words, punctuation or incomplete sentences and will spell out acronyms. Membership will be corrected to appear in alpha order and categorized by voting members, ex-officio members, etc.
    • Sign-in rosters – some find it helpful to use a sign-in roster (example) when taking notes rather than trying to copy down those present. If you’d like this type of roster, please contact Caitlin. The ‘Minutes’ tab also shows how the attendance should appear when preparing minutes.

Website: The Faculty Senate maintains a website containing information about all Senate committees and councils. This information includes Standing Rules, membership, scheduled meetings (if known), annual reports, etc., Caitlin can work with you to review or post information you would like included on your site.

Electronic Mailing Lists: Each Faculty Senate committee/council has an electronic mailing list to which all members, including ex-officios and the Executive Committee liaison, have been subscribed. Members also have ‘send’ privileges to their respective list so they can respond to a request. Please contact Caitlin if you’d like a list of those who are subscribed to the mailing list. 

Faculty Members: Please contact Caitlin if there is a vacancy on your committee/council – please also indicate whether there is a particular type of faculty needed (i.e., teaching faculty or a particular discipline). The list of volunteers will be checked to determine a replacement, although suggestions are welcome. Faculty may be appointed for an entire three-year term or remainder of a term. If a faculty member is on leave or sabbatical for more than one term (excluding summer term), they create a vacancy and do not have return rights. If they wish to again serve on the committee/council, they must apply via the ‘Committee Interest Form,’ which is distributed in the spring, and again be appointed by the Executive Committee (EC).

Student Members: ASOSU is responsible for appointing student members to Faculty Senate committees/councils; however, ASOSU frequently is not able to recruit enough students to fill these positions. If there are student vacancies, faculty are encouraged to announce in their class or otherwise advise students that a vacancy exists on a particular committee and encourage interested students to apply for a position on the committee/council. Both graduate and undergraduate students MUST apply through ASOSU, regardless of whether organizational Bylaws or governing rules state that a student in a particular position shall serve on a Faculty Senate committee/council.

It would be helpful to have the students contact Caitlin when they submit their application so she can request ASOSU to review the application if it’s been several weeks with no notification from ASOSU to the student. You may wish to direct students to the Standing Rules on the website to get a better idea of the purpose of a particular committee/council.

Students are appointed for one academic year and must submit an application to ASOSU for each year they wish to serve on a committee – their appointments are not automatically renewed.

All inquiries to ASOSU regarding student members must be channeled through the FSO; chairs and ex-officios are not to contact ASOSU directly. When a student is approved to serve on a committee/council, ASOSU will contact the FSO and the student; the FSO will then contact the chair to confirm that the appointment has been finalized by ASOSU. At that time, the FSO will add the student to the appropriate membership and mailing lists and send a letter of appointment.

In most cases, student members are voting members. Check the Standing Rules to determine whether or not they are voting members.

Ex-Officio Members: Some committees/councils have identified ex-officio members. Please note that, unless otherwise noted in the Standing Rules, ex-officio members are non-voting. It is not appropriate for an ex-officio member to represent a committee or council when presenting items to the Faculty Senate or other groups; it is also not appropriate for the ex-officio to run meetings or set agendas, although they may work with the chair to develop agendas or draft the annual report. The regularly appointed voting members shall be the individuals representing the committee/council.

Internal Policies and Guidelines and Data Collection: If your committee/council finds it necessary to create or revise internal policies or guidelines, the materials must be reviewed and approved by the EC prior to implementation. All internal policies and guidelines shall be posted on the respective Faculty Senate committee/council website.

If your group requires data collection from Institutional Research, or other university offices, chairs must work through the Executive Committee, via the FSO, to request this data.

Surveys/Questionnaires: If the members wish to distribute a questionnaire or survey, the instrument, and justification, must be reviewed by the Executive Committee prior to distribution. Contact the FSO to schedule a time with the EC to discuss the materials. If desired, the FSO can assist with development and distribution of the instrument.

Faculty Senate Meetings: If your committee/council wishes to present a resolution, issue, etc., to the Faculty Senate, please contact the FSO as soon as you determine that a presentation is desired. You need to arrange to meet with the EC so they can determine whether they will endorse adding the item to the Senate agenda. If there are materials to be included in the Senate agenda, a final copy needs to be received in the FSO for review at least seven days prior to the EC meeting prior to the Senate meeting. Senate meetings are typically scheduled on the second Thursday of the month, October through June, from 3:00-5:00 PM, usually in the LaSells Stewart Center Construction and Engineering Hall; Faculty Senate meetings are open to the public. Chairs receive an email notice each month indicating that the Senate agenda has been posted online.

Annual Reports: Each committee/council is responsible for submitting an annual report containing information about activities during the past year, including any internal policies or guidelines both submitted and approved by the EC or Senate, any recommendations for the coming year, and a list of all committee members. Although submission of this report is the responsibility of the chair, the report should be prepared in collaboration with committee members, both voting and non-voting. This task shall not be assigned to an ex-officio member or staff. The annual reports are to be submitted electronically in Word format, preferably not more than three pages, and are due June 1. In preparation of the annual report, it may be helpful if the chair keeps a running log during the year indicating actions and activities of the committee/council.

Executive Committee Liaisons: All Faculty Senate committees/councils have an appointed liaison from the EC, which can be found on the online Membership site, and are subscribed to the mailing list. The liaison is NOT a member of your committee/council. They may periodically attend your meetings and/or may contact you to determine if you need assistance with issues. Feel free to contact them if your committee/council is experiencing problems. You are welcome to also contact the FSO if you have additional questions that need further explanation, or if you just have general questions.

Resources:

Faculty Senate: http://senate.oregonstate.edu/

Committees/Councils: http://senate.oregonstate.edu/committees  

Caitlin Calascibetta: 541-737-4344; [email protected]