Bylaws of the Faculty

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.