Record of Substantive Revisions and Amendments to these Bylaws

These By-laws were passed by majority vote in a secret ballot at the Annual Arts and Sciences Faculty meeting on April 25, 2011.

Amended by Faculty Vote May 22, 2017

These are the bylaws for the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida State University. These bylaws were last amended/approved on May 22, 2017 by a majority of the applicable voting members of the college and on May 28, 2022 by the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement.

Preamble

The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences, being dedicated to upholding standards of excellence in all its graduate and undergraduate programs of study and research, recognizes that standards of excellence can best be achieved through shared governance. Working relationships between administrators and faculty and among faculty within the academic units must be based on mutual respect, transparency, participation of the faculty and its elected representatives, and clarity of roles. The By-Laws of the College of Arts and Sciences define procedures under which the College faculty and administrators conduct the business of the College through shared governance grounded in acceptance of mutual accountability and shared commitment.

I. Bylaws

 A. Adherence with Other Governing Documents. At all times, college policy shall adhere to and be consistent with all university policies found in the FSU Constitution, the BOT-UFF Collective Bargaining Agreement (if applicable to this college), the Faculty Handbook, and the Annual Memorandum on the Promotion and Tenure Process issued by the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement.

 B. Bylaws Revision. An amendment to these By-laws may be proposed on the written request of ten per cent of the voting membership representing at least two departments from the Humanities and two departments from the Sciences, by the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee, or on request of the Dean. The amendment shall be discussed at a general meeting of the Arts and Sciences Faculty, and may itself be amended by majority vote at that meeting if a quorum is present. The proposed amendment shall be made available to all voting members of the College faculty at least one month in advance of the meeting at which it will be discussed. The amendment becomes part of the By-laws if approved by two thirds of the ballots cast in a mail ballot of the voting faculty membership and at least half of the eligible faculty cast ballots.

 C. Substantive Change Statement. Faculty and staff members are expected to be familiar with and follow the Florida State University Substantive Change Policy as found on the university web site https://sacs.fsu.edu/substantive-change-policy/

II. Membership and Voting Rights

 A. Faculty Membership. The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences shall consist of those persons holding full-time appointments at the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or hold full time academic appointments and have been granted voting rights in the College by their Department. Members shall be classified in one of the two areas of the College. The areas shall be Humanities and Sciences.

 B. Faculty Voting Rights. All faculty as defined in II.A. can vote on college matters.

III. College Organization and Governance

 A. Jurisdiction.

  1. The basic legislative body of the College of Arts and Sciences shall consist of the full faculty in the college, defined as those persons holding full-time appointments at the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or hold full time academic appointments and have been granted voting rights in the College by their Department faculty. Subject to state law, the regulations of the Florida Board of Governors, and the Constitution of FSU, this legislative body shall have full authority to develop policy and decide matters of curriculum, program offerings, admissions, grading, and any other academic matters of concern to the college.

  2. The voting faculty in the College may resolve on any issue of general interest to the University or College and make recommendations to the appropriate officer or body.

  3. Through these By-Laws, the faculty of the College has delegated its authority over academic policy matters to committees. Such delegated authority may only be overridden by revision of the By-Laws. In addition, the Departments are delegated authority to establish their own academic policies, to the extent that they do not conflict with policies established by the faculty of the College.

 B. College Faculty Meetings.

  1. The Arts and Sciences faculty shall meet in a regular session in the Spring Semester of each year prior to the last two weeks of classes on the call of the Dean. At the meeting, the Dean shall report on the state of the College.

  2. Special sessions shall be held at the call of the Dean either on his own initiative or at the request of the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee.

  3. The Chair of the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee shall be the presiding officer. In the absence of the Chair, a person designated by the Chair shall preside.

  4. One-third of the voting members of the faculty representing at least one-third of the departments in the College shall constitute a quorum at any regular or special meeting.

  5. All meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Robert's Rules of Order, latest revision, except as otherwise provided in these By-Laws.

  6. Minutes shall be kept by a Secretary of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty, who shall be appointed by the Dean. The minutes shall be distributed to all members of the College faculty.

 C. College Leadership.

  1. Dean: The duties and authority of the dean are outlined in the FSU Faculty Handbook. The selection of the dean is determined by the provost, to whom the dean reports.

  2. Associate Dean(s) The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences may appoint one or more associate deans to assist in the administration of the college’s business.

 D. College Committees.

  1. Arts and Sciences Policy Committee

   a. The Arts and Sciences Policy Committee shall consist of five faculty members They shall serve staggered two-year terms. Each spring, faculty members shall be chosen to replace the members whose terms expire at the end of that academic year.

   b. One member shall be elected by the faculty members of each of the following groups of departments:

    i. Group 1: Classics, History, Religion, Aerospace Studies Department (Air Force ROTC) Military Science Department (Army ROTC)

    ii. Group 2: English, Modern Languages & Linguistics, Philosophy

    iii. Group 3: Computer Science, Mathematics, Scientific Computing, Statistics

    iv. Group 4: Anthropology, Biological Science, Psychology

    v. Group 5: Chemistry & Biochemistry, Physics, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (Geological Sciences, Meteorology, Oceanography)

   The representatives for odd numbered groups shall serve terms starting in odd numbered years, and the representatives for even numbered groups shall serve terms beginning in even numbered years. Vacancies created by resignation or other events shall be filled by special election in the appropriate group. The representative from each Group shall not be from the same Department for more than two consecutive terms. This committee shall elect its own chair for each academic year.

   c. The Arts and Sciences Policy Committee shall function as a liaison between the faculty and College administration. It shall serve as the Dean’s advisory Committee, and meet with the Dean at least once during each fall and spring semester. It may formulate and propose to the full faculty College-wide academic policy. It shall review all proposed changes to the organization of the College, poll College members affected by major organizational changes, and disseminate the results of such polling. In consultation with the Dean, it shall establish the agenda for general meetings of the College. It may call for a special Faculty Meeting of the College,

   d. Curricular changes approved by the Area Committees will be made available to the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee. If no Policy Committee member raises any objections to the course proposal within one week, the Chair will approve the proposal and forward it to the Dean. If concerns were raised at the previous levels of review, or if objections are raised by one or more Policy Committee members, the Chair will request more extensive review by the committee. In the event of detailed committee review, a majority vote of Policy Committee members is required to approve the new course proposal and forward it to the Dean. The Policy Committee will conduct a full review for all new degree program proposals, and these will require a majority vote to approve and forward to the Dean. During absences of the Chair, the Chair shall designate another member of the Policy Committee to perform these tasks. During the spring and fall semesters, the Policy Committee Chair must either approve or send back proposals for revision within two weeks of dissemination of the Policy Committee. Consideration of proposals brought to the committee between semesters must take place within two weeks of the beginning of the next semester.

   e. When the position of Dean becomes vacant, the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee shall submit to the University President or his or her designees a set of recommended criteria for selection of a new Dean, and recommend to the University President or his or her designee names of faculty members for service on the Dean Selection Committee. The Committee shall also represent the faculty of the College in nominating faculty representatives for other search committees for administrators over faculty of the College and University.

  2. Area Administrative Committees

   a. Each area of the College shall have an Administrative Committee consisting of its institute and program directors, and department chairs. The chair of each Area Administrative committee shall be elected by the committee members for a one-year term.

   b. The Area Administrative Committee shall review and approve new academic and research programs and all curricular changes, and may consult with the Dean on all matters of interest to the area. The Dean’s office will inform all department chairs, directors of programs and institutes of the curricular recommendations of each Area Administrative Committee, and submit the recommendations to the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee for approval.

   c. Area Administrative Committees shall meet monthly during the academic year unless members vote not to meet or to meet virtually.

  3. Promotion and Tenure Committees

   a. Each department in the College shall have a committee charged with evaluating candidates for, and making recommendations on promotions and tenure. The membership of these committees shall be determined by each department in accordance with University guidelines. These departmental recommendations shall be submitted to the appropriate area promotion and tenure committee. By September 1 each year, each department committee shall elect one member to serve on the appropriate area promotion and tenure committee for the academic year.

   b. The two areas of the College shall each have a committee charged with evaluating the candidates from their departments for promotion, and submitting the Area Promotion and Tenure Committee’s recommendations to the College Promotion and Tenure Committee. Recommendations for granting of tenure shall also be submitted to the College Promotion and Tenure Committee. The Area Promotion and Tenure Committees shall elect their own chairs.

   c. The College shall have a Promotion and Tenure Committee charged with evaluating the candidates and the recommendations from the area Promotion and Tenure Committees. The College committee shall forward its recommendations to the Dean, who shall forward them to the University-wide promotion and tenure committee, along with his or her recommendation. The College Promotion and Tenure Committee shall consist of members of the Area Promotion and Tenure Committees. The Sciences Area Promotion and Tenure Committee shall elect four of its members to serve on the College Committee, and the Humanities Area Promotion and Tenure Committee shall elect three of its members to serve on the College committee. The Dean is the non-voting chair of the College Promotion and Tenure committee.

  E. Faculty Senators.

   1. The allocation of Arts and Sciences representation in the Faculty senate shall be as follows:

    a. Each of the departments of the College shall have the responsibility of electing at least one senator, with the exception of the Department of Aerospace Studies and the Department of Military Science. Each of these departments shall have the responsibility of electing one senator, alternately, for a one-year term to represent both departments.

    b. Additional senators shall be distributed to the departments in proportion to the number of voting members. Determination of the proportion shall be made by the Dean in consultation with the Arts and Sciences Policy Committee.

   2. Procedure for Electing Senators by Departments

   Each department shall hold an election for its senator or senators in the spring semester using a procedure specified by its by-laws. Department chairs shall send the names of the senators-elect to the Dean’s office. 8

  F. Unit Reorganization. Any restructuring of the College would involve a change to the bylaws and follow the guidelines for bylaws revision laid out above in Section I.B

IV. Degree Approval

The procedure for approving candidates for graduation in Arts and Sciences shall be as follows:

  A. After receiving a list of candidates for graduation from the Registrar’s Office, the Student Affairs staff circulates a departmental list to each departmental representative. Departments are responsible for performing a preliminary clearance of major requirements for graduation and forwarding these clearances to the Student Affairs staff of the College which then performs a clearance for College and University requirements.

  B. After the posting of final grades each term, the Student Affairs staff of the College confirms, for each candidate on the list, completion of major, College, and University requirements for graduation. Names of students cleared for graduation or deleted from the graduation list are forwarded to both the Registrar’s Office and the departmental representative.

  C. The Student Affairs staff of the College shall defer to the Departments in determining whether a student has fulfilled the requirements for the major.