Engineering Faculty Council
The Engineering Faculty Council (EFC) of the Pratt School of Engineering functions as a steering committee for the faculty. Its responsibilities include the establishment of ad hoc committees to consider and report on matters of concern to the faculty.
Bylaws of the Faculty
Revised 2016
ARTICLE I. Faculty Membership
The faculty of the Pratt School of Engineering shall be composed of the president, the provost, the secretary, and all university faculty (as defined in the University Bylaws) who have appointments in the school.
The voting membership of the faculty of the Pratt School of Engineering shall be composed of the president, the provost, the secretary, and those faculty whose tenured, tenure track, or regular rank non-tenure track appointments are in the Pratt School of Engineering and who are eligible to vote at university faculty meetings in accordance with Appendix B, Section V, of the Faculty Handbook.
With the concurrence of the Engineering Faculty Council (EFC), the dean of engineering can extend voting privileges to faculty members with non-tenure-track term appointments, such as research faculty, visiting faculty, and secondary faculty appointments. Such voting privileges will extend only for the duration of the term appointment.
ARTICLE II. Faculty Responsibility
The faculty of the Pratt School of Engineering shall be responsible for the conduct of instruction and research in the Pratt School of Engineering; it also shall be responsible for the Engineering undergraduate and Professional Degree curricula and, through the Curriculum Committee of the Engineering Faculty Council, for approving courses offered to undergraduates and courses offered to students in Engineering Professional Degree Programs in the Pratt school.1
1 Under university procedures graduate courses must also be approved by the Graduate School.
ARTICLE III. Faculty Meetings
The faculty of the Pratt School of Engineering shall meet at least once each semester: near the opening of the academic year (the fall meeting) and near the close of the academic year (the spring meeting).
Additional meetings may be called by the dean. If the Engineering Faculty Council or at least five members of the voting membership of the engineering faculty request a special meeting for the conduct of business, the dean or the dean’s designated representative shall call such a meeting within two weeks of a written
request.
The presiding officer at meetings of the faculty of the Pratt School of Engineering shall be the chair of the Engineering Faculty Council or, in the chair’s absence, the secretary of the Engineering Faculty Council.
The secretary of the engineering faculty shall be the secretary of the Engineering Faculty Council.
The dean and the chair of the EFC will send an announcement of a meeting to each member of the engineering faculty. Faculty members may submit agenda items to the chair or the dean in writing at that time. The chair, in consultation with the dean, will submit a written agenda to the faculty during the week preceding the next faculty meeting.
A simple majority of the voting membership of the engineering faculty shall constitute a quorum.
Members must be present in order to vote. In the absence of a quorum at a meeting, a written mail ballot may be used to vote provided that issue of interest has been discussed at the meeting.
The current edition of Robert’s Rules of Order Revised shall govern the engineering faculty in all parliamentary decisions to which they are applicable, except when they are inconsistent with standing rules or bylaws adopted by the voting membership of the engineering faculty. A parliamentarian appointed by the Engineering Faculty Council may assist the chair in making parliamentary decisions.
ARTICLE IV. Engineering Faculty Council
The Engineering Faculty Council shall represent the faculty and advise the dean of the Pratt School of Engineering with respect to policy and priorities concerning issues that come before the dean.
The dean of the Pratt School of Engineering shall provide essential information to the Engineering Faculty Council regarding any substantial changes in policy before any proposal goes to the Graduate School, Academic Programs Committee or the Academic Council. The EFC, in consultation with the dean and the Executive Administrative Council, shall nominate faculty to serve on standing committees and each committee shall elect its chair. The chairs of the standing committees shall meet with EFC at least once a term to report on committee activities. The EFC responsibilities also include the establishment of ad hoc committees to consider and report on matters of concern to the faculty.
The EFC shall be composed of two voting faculty members from each department and the dean of engineering (ex officio). Members shall be elected to two-year terms and may serve a maximum of two consecutive terms. The term shall begin on July 1 and end on June 30. The first of each department’s representatives shall be elected in even-numbered years by the voting membership of the faculty of the Pratt School of Engineering. Voting will be prior to the spring meeting by secret ballot. The dean of engineering and the chair of the EFC will be in charge of the election process. Tie votes will be resolved by re-balloting.
No more than one regular rank non-tenure track member may be elected during this election. The faculty in each department shall elect the second representative – who must be tenured or tenure track—from its own membership in odd-numbered years, prior to the spring meeting. Each department chair, or the chair’s designated representative, shall prescribe the procedures for counting the votes for the second of these representatives. If a representative is unable to complete a term of office, a replacement shall be selected by the same voting process by which the original representative was elected.
The EFC normally shall meet monthly during the academic year. A quorum for the conduct of business shall be a simple majority of the membership of the EFC. Immediately following the spring meeting of the engineering faculty, the continuing and newly-elected Engineering Faculty Council members shall meet to elect by secret ballot its own chair and secretary (who serves in the chair’s absence). Election shall be to one-year terms. The same policies and procedures that govern Academic Council meeting attendance—and member replacement in the event of excess absenteeism—shall apply to the EFC.
ARTICLE V. Professional Degree Programs
The faculty through the EFC will be responsible for oversight of all Engineering Professional Degree Programs (the Programs). Oversight of such Programs will be through a Program Committee established specifically for each Program. Program Committee membership will be recommended by the dean and approved by the EFC. Program Committees must be chaired by a tenure/tenure track faculty member of the Pratt School and include the dean or a representative of the dean as an ex-officio member. Course approval for each Program will be considered by the EFC at the recommendation of the Program Committee.
ARTICLE VI. State of the School
A State of the School address by the dean shall be included as an agenda item at the spring meeting.
ARTICLE VII. Amendment of Bylaws
These bylaws can be amended by a two-thirds majority of those voting members present at any called business meeting of the engineering faculty, provided a quorum is present, and provided that the amendment has been circulated to the faculty in written form at least two weeks before the meeting.
Procedures for Faculty Recruitment, Promotion, and Tenure
Faculty Recruitment
- When a vacancy is created by resignation, retirement or other causes the department chair will ask for authorization from the dean to initiate a faculty search. The request should contain, as appropriate, details about the expected field of specialty of the new faculty member, desired experience level and salary range.
- The departments will send to the dean a written description of the position that constitutes the announcement for the position. A list of journals and/or individuals to whom the announcement of the position is sent will be enclosed.
- After the department has identified one or more highly desirable candidates for the position it will request dean’s authorization to invite them to the campus for an interview.
- For prospective tenured appointments, the candidates’ interview itineraries should include the provost or his or her deputy and the dean of the Graduate School. The curriculum vitae should be sent to these individuals before the visit.
- Before an offer is extended, the EEO self-audit form and a request to make an offer should be sent to the dean who may consult the Director of Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action before approving the request. Upon dean’s approval of offer terms, an offer letter will be written by the dean’s office, with copies to the department and provost’s offices. Copies of acceptance or rejection letters should also be provided immediately upon receipt.
- The departments are responsible for maintaining complete files of all correspondence relative to an appointment, which should be detailed enough to provide proof that equal opportunity procedures have been respected.
Promotion and Tenure
- The promotion and/or tenure action begins with an annual review of all faculty members in ranks eligible for promotion and/or tenure by the chair and/or the assembly of full professors of the department. Possible nominees (if any) are then considered for detailed departmental review.
- The possible nominees are informed by the chair of their eligibility for detailed departmental review. If they desire to be reviewed for promotion and/or tenure, they are asked to provide the chair with complete copies of all major publications and suggestions of up to three referees outside of the university from whom assessments of the nominee’s scholarly and professional accomplishments might be obtained.
- The chair requests letters from at least six outside referees, some of whom may have been suggested by the nominee, and also gathers data (with the help of a committee if necessary) about the nominee’s teaching skills.
- A dossier containing resume, complete publications, and all outside reference letters is circulated to the faculty of the department holding appointments above the candidate’s present rank. Faculty members respond by a confidential vote either for or against the promotion recommendation, and have whatever explanations they consider necessary to support their vote.
- The chair summarizes the responses and announces the intention to either recommend or not recommend the nominee. The nominee is informed orally of this intention.
- If the nominee is recommended for promotion, a dossier consisting of all the nominee’s publications, an investigative report on his or her teaching, and all inside and outside reference letters, will be forwarded to the dean of the school. The forwarding letter shall contain a summary of the views of the faculty on the candidate as well as the chair’s personal views concerning the recommendation. In addition, individual faculty members may write to the Office of the Provost in support of or dissent from the department and school recommendation. Copies of such correspondence shall be sent to the department chair and the dean of the school.
- All recommendations received from departments are subjected to an administrative review by the executive group of the Engineering Administrative Council, which consists of the dean and engineering department chairs. This group in recent years has delegated this responsibility to a faculty committee appointed by and advisory to the dean. The purpose of this review is primarily to ensure that all recommendations relative to the faculty in the Pratt School of Engineering are made following a uniform set of standards. The dean of the school summarizes the views of the executive group in his or her forwarding letter to the provost which is attached to the complete dossier(s) of the nominee(s). The nominee is informed orally through his or her department chair, of the result of action at the school level. For a full and authoritative discussion of current university policy on tenure and promotion applicable to the Pratt School of Engineering, see Chapter 3 of the Faculty Handbook.