Faculty Senate
TN Tech Board Faculty Rep Selection Procedures
Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees Faculty Representative Selection Procedures
I. Purpose
The following shall be the process by which the Faculty representative to the TTU Board of Trustees (the Board) will be determined:
II. Faculty Senate President
A. The President of the Faculty Senate shall appoint a Nominating Committee composed of three Faculty Senators to approve nominations for the Faculty Board Representative (FBR) at the last Faculty Senate business meeting of the fall semester in those years that the Faculty representative position on the Board is open according to state law.
B. The Senate President shall also at this time arrange for an email to be sent to all University faculty and administration requesting applications for the Faculty Board Representative, directing these applications to the Nominating Committee for review.
III. Nominating Committee
A. The Nominating Committee shall create and share the format/criteria for the application University-wide. Each application packet must include a letter of support from at least one other full-time tenured faculty member.
B. All potential candidates shall submit a statement of qualifications (application) to the Nominating Committee. Such qualifications must include holding tenure at TTU, active and satisfactory service on University-level committees for at least the prior two years, commitment to shared governance and full-time appointment as teaching faculty (non-administrative).
C. Complete application packets are due from candidates to the Nominating Committee no later than February 15th.
D. The Nominating Committee will share with Senators the application packets of all candidates within 10 days of receiving complete application packets.
IV. Vote
A. A secret ballot will be submitted by the Nominating Committee at the second Faculty Senate business meeting in the spring semester. In the event of 4 or more candidates, the Senate will select their top three candidates by secret ballot. Each senator may vote for up to three candidates. The three candidates with the most votes will be the nominees.
B. Each of the three nominees will be allowed a five-minute interaction on the Senate floor. The Senate will then hold a secret ballot to vote for the Faculty Board Representative position. If no nominee gets more than 50% of the votes, then a second round of voting of only the top two nominees will be held.
C. The nominee with the highest number of votes from the Senators present will then be notified by letter from the President of the Faculty Senate to the President of the University.
D. In the event no single nominee receives more than 50% of the votes, then the selection process will begin again. The time table will be determined by the Faculty Senate.
V. Faculty Board Representative
A. If the newly-elected Faculty representative to the Board is not currently a member of the Senate, he/she automatically becomes an at-large, ex-officio member of the Senate and must remain a member in good standing for the duration of his/her term. This includes mandatory attendance at scheduled meetings of the Faculty Senate (to report on Board initiatives) and the TTU Board of Trustees.
B. The Faculty Board Representative will serve a 2-year term.
C. The Faculty Board Representative’s term will begin July 1st.
VI. Interim Faculty Board Representative
A. In the event circumstances prevent the elected Faculty Board Representative from fulfilling his/her duties for some extended period, as indicated by a letter from the FBR to the Faculty Senate President, the President of the Senate shall call for nominations and a secret ballot vote from the Senate to elect an interim FBR. Only an elected member of the Faculty Senate is eligible for this interim duty. The candidate must obtain greater than 50% of the votes of the present senators.
B. This interim FBR shall serve until a new University-wide selection is initiated and completed through the standard procedures as described above for FBR selection or until the serving FBR is able to return to duty. If an interim is elected, the President of the Faculty Senate shall notify the TTU Board of Trustees by letter of the new interim member.
VII. Review
These procedures will be reviewed every four years, or whenever circumstances require review, whichever is earlier, by the Faculty Senate with recommendations for revision.
VIII. Amendments
This document may be amended at any business meeting of the Faculty Senate by a two-thirds vote of the total membership, provided that the proposed amendment has been previously submitted in writing to each member.
[Approved by the Faculty Senate, April 10, 2017]
[Approved by the University Assembly, April 19, 2017]
