Bylaws

Bylaws

Bylaws of the Department of Social Sciences Del Mar College

I. THE FACULTY

A. Definitions

  1. 1.  Full-time faculty are those full-time Social Sciences faculty who are tenured or tenure-track. Only tenured and tenure-track faculty will have voting privileges in departmental matters requiring a vote. These faculty will be designated “voting faculty” in these bylaws.
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  3. 2. Full-time temporary faculty, adjunct faculty and Academic Fellows are Social Sciences faculty who assume a non-tenure-track position with teaching responsibilities and other duties as assigned by the Department Chair.
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B. Selection of Faculty

  1. 1. New full-time faculty searches will be conducted according to the guidelines contained in the Del Mar College Manual of Policies and Procedures. An Applicant Evaluation Committee will be appointed by the Department Chair after consultation with the voting faculty of any program seeking additional faculty. The committee will develop and coordinate advertising, review applications, select candidates for interviews, and conduct interviews of candidates. A favorable recommendation for a full-time appointment will require a majority vote of the Applicant Evaluation Committee and concurrence by the Department Chair.
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  3. 2. Except in unusual circumstances, the Department Chair will consult with the voting faculty of each program regarding the appointment of adjunct faculty.
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  5. 3. Appointment of a Professor to emeritus status will be recommended to the College President and Board of Regents by the Department Chair upon the approval of a majority of the Department’s full-time tenured and
    tenure-track faculty and in accordance with the Manual of Policies and Procedures. Recommendations to the Department Chair for emeritus status may be made by any full-time faculty member.
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  1. C. Faculty Responsibilities
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  3. 1. Responsibilities of full-time faculty are outlined in the Manual of Policies and Procedures.
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  5. 2. When available, full-time faculty will advise students in the faculty’s program area. In order to meet student needs, if no faculty member from the student’s program area is available, faculty outside the program may advise students in that program.
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  7. 3. Responsibilities of full-time temporary faculty, adjunct faculty and Academic Fellows are outlined in the Manual of Policies and Procedures.
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II. PROGRAMS OF THE DEPARTMENT
A. The Social Sciences Department consists of programs made up of faculty who teach courses within a similar academic discipline. These will, initially, include the programs of geography, history, political science, psychology, sociology/social work, and military science.

B. The voting faculty of each program will be responsible for ensuring that the program functions efficiently and successfully, that its faculty meet as needed or as requested by the Department Chair, that it recommends to
the Department Chair the names of faculty from the program and from outside the program to serve on Applicant Evaluation Committees and Program Review Committees as needed, and that it attends in a timely fashion to all matters related to the program.

III. OFFICERS AND ADMINISTRATION
In order to encourage faculty to improve leadership skills, to encourage new ideas and approaches within the department, and to reinforce the idea that faculty are teachers above all else, the voting faculty of the Social Sciences Department endorse frequent rotation in departmental leadership.

A. Department Chair

1. Method of Selection

a. The Chair of the Social Sciences Department is appointed by the President of Del Mar College each year.
b. To aid the President and to ensure that the voting faculty of the Department have a voice in the selection of the Department Chair, the Department will use the following procedure:

(1) By November 15 of each year the Department Chair will appoint a Department Chair Recommendation Committee consisting of one voting faculty member from each of the Department’s programs. Except in unusual circumstances, the composition of this committee should change from year to year so that all voting faculty have an opportunity to participate. The chair of the committee will be selected by the members of the committee.

(2) By November 30 of each year, the committee will distribute a memorandum to the voting faculty inviting all who are interested to apply for the position of Department Chair for the next academic year. Interested faculty
will notify in writing any member of the committee. The incumbent Department Chair is encouraged to submit his/her name. Written notification of interest will be accepted by any member of the committee up to January 31 of the following year.

(3) If there are no applicants other than the incumbent, the committee will recommend in writing to the Dean of the Division of Arts and Sciences by March 15 that the incumbent Department Chair be continued in that position.

(4) If the incumbent does not wish to continue as Department Chair, and there are no other applicants, the committee will notify the Dean of the Division of Arts and Sciences and recommend that a Department Chair be selected from outside the Department, according to College policies and procedures.

(5) If two or more voting faculty apply for the position, the procedure will be as follows:

(a) The committee will provide all voting faculty with the names of the applicants, set a date or dates no later than seven working days after the January 31 deadline for a departmental interview of the applicants, and develop a set of interview questions. Each applicant will be interviewed separately. Departmental interviews of applicants will be open to all voting faculty of the Department. At the interview sessions faculty may ask questions of the applicants beyond those developed and asked by the committee.

(b) Immediately following the conclusion of all interviews, the committee chair will distribute a ballot containing the names of the applicants to all voting faculty. The ballot is to be completed and returned to the committee chair in a sealed envelope within five working days of the completion of the last interview session.

(c) The committee will meet to count the ballots within two working days of the deadline for the ballots to be submitted. The results of the vote will immediately be provided in writing to the Department Chair and all
other Social Sciences Department members. The Department Chair will forward the results to the Dean of the Division of Arts and Sciences within five working days of notification of the results.

(6) If only one voting faculty member applies for the position, and that applicant is not the incumbent Department Chair, the procedure will be as follows:

(a) The committee will provide all voting faculty with the name of the applicant, set a date no later than seven working days after the January 31 deadline for a departmental interview of the applicant, and develop a set of questions to be asked at the interview. The departmental interview of the applicant will be open to all voting faculty of the Department. At the interview session faculty may ask questions of the applicant beyond those developed and asked by the committee.

(b) Immediately following the conclusion of the interview, the committee chair will distribute a preference form to all voting faculty. The form will ask each faculty member to indicate approval or disapproval of the applicant.
The form is to be completed and returned to the committee chair in a sealed envelope within five working days of the completion of the interview session.

(c) The committee will meet to review the preference forms within two working days of the deadline for the forms to be submitted.

(d) Should a majority of the voting faculty who return completed preference forms indicate approval of the applicant, the result indicated in the preference forms will immediately be provided in writing to the Department
Chair and all other Social Sciences Department members. The Department Chair will forward the result to the Dean of the Division of Arts and Sciences within five working days of notification of the result.

(e) Should a majority of the voting faculty who return completed preference forms indicate disapproval of the applicant, the result indicated in the preference form will immediately be provided in writing to the
Department Chair and all other Social Sciences Department members. The following steps will then be taken:

i) By February 20 or the working day nearest that date, the committee will distribute a second memorandum to all full-time tenured and tenure-track Social Sciences faculty inviting all who are interested to apply for the position
of Department Chair for the next academic year. The unsuccessful applicant from the first effort may apply a second time.

ii) Applications will be due in writing to any member of the committee no later than five working days after the distribution of the second memorandum.

iii) The steps described in Section III.A.1.b.5 or Section III.A.1.b.6 will be followed as appropriate to the number of applicants for the position

iv) If, in this second attempt, only one full-time Social Sciences faculty member applies for the position and the applicant is disapproved by a majority of the voting faculty of the Department who return completed preference forms, the committee will recommend in writing to the Department Chair and the Dean of the Division of Arts and Sciences by March 15 that a Department Chair be selected from outside the Department, according to College policies and procedures.

2. Duties of the Department Chair are outlined in the Manual of Policies and Procedures, Section A2.3.16.3.

3. The Department Chair will maintain the bylaws and will be responsible for ensuring that the provisions of the bylaws are implemented and followed and that any approved amendments to the bylaws are incorporated into
the document.

B. Department Assistant Chair

1. Method of selection

a. The Department Assistant Chair is appointed annually by the Department Chair.

b. The procedure for selecting the Department Assistant Chair is as follows:

(1) By April 1 of each year the Department Chair will solicit names of those voting faculty who desire to be considered for the position of Assistant Chair for the following academic year. The incumbent Assistant Chair
is encouraged to submit his/her name.

(2) By April 15 the Department Chair will begin interviewing those faculty who have submitted their names for
the position.

(3) By April 30 the Department Chair will have interviewed any voting faculty member who has submitted his/ her name for the position, and will have selected from the interested faculty an Assistant Chair for the
following academic year. The Chair will announce the selection to all members of the Department.

2. The Assistant Chair will carry out such duties as assigned by the Department Chair.

3. The Assistant Chair will serve as Acting Chair of the Department at any time the Department Chair is unavailable.

C. Committees

  1. Standing Committees
    a. The Department Chair, with the approval of a majority of the Department’s voting faculty, may create standing committees as needed. In addition, creation of standing committees may be initiated by any voting
    faculty member. Any proposal to create an additional standing committee must be in writing and accompanied by the signatures of at least 20 percent of the voting faculty of the Department. Any such proposal, with signatures,
    will be submitted to the Department Chair by the initiating faculty member.
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  3. b. The Department Chair will submit the proposal and a ballot to the voting faculty for their consideration within 15 working days of receiving the proposal. The Chair may schedule a meeting of the Department’s voting faculty
    to discuss the proposal prior to balloting.
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  5. c. Voting faculty will have 10 working days following notification by the Department Chair of the proposal and the completion of any departmental meeting pertaining to the proposal to submit their ballots to the Department
    Chair. The Department Chair will count the ballots immediately and notify all departmental members of the results.
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  7. d. Approval of the proposed standing committee will require a majority vote of the voting faculty of the Department who return completed ballots. If approved, creation of the standing committee will occur
    immediately unless otherwise indicated in the proposal.
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  9. e. Appointments for membership on any standing committee will be made by the Department Chair on a one year basis. The composition of any standing committee should change from year to year so that all voting faculty
    have an opportunity to participate.
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  11. 2. Ad Hoc Committees
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  13. a. The Department Chair may create ad hoc committees as needed. In addition, creation of ad hoc committees may be initiated by any voting faculty member. Any proposal to create an ad hoc committee must be in writing
  14. and accompanied by the signatures of at least 20 percent of the voting faculty of the Department. Any such proposal, with signatures, will be submitted to the Department Chair by the initiating faculty member.
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  16. b. The Department Chair will submit the proposal and a ballot to the voting faculty for their consideration within 15 working days of receiving the proposal. The Chair may schedule a meeting of the Department’s voting faculty
    to discuss the proposal prior to balloting.
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  18. c. Voting faculty will have 10 working days following notification by the Department Chair of the proposal and the completion of any departmental meeting pertaining to the proposal to submit their ballots to the Department
    Chair. The Department Chair will count the ballots immediately and notify all departmental members of the results.
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  20. d. Approval of the proposed ad hoc committee will require a majority vote of the voting faculty of the Department who return completed ballots. If approved, creation of the ad hoc committee will occur immediately unless otherwise indicated in the proposal.
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  22. e. Appointments for membership on any ad hoc committee will be made by the Department Chair.
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  24. D. Committee Membership
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  26. 1. Only voting faculty may serve on standing and ad hoc committees.

 

2. Except in unusual circumstances, membership on standing committees will be for a one-year term.
The composition of any standing committee should change from year to year so that all full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty have an opportunity to participate.

3. The chair of any committee will be selected by the members of that committee.

4. Committee chairs will provide reports of each meeting to all members of the Department.

IV. RATIFICATION AND AMENDMENT PROCESSES

A. Approval by a majority of the voting faculty of the Department is required for the implementation of these bylaws. Upon such approval, these bylaws will become effective immediately.

B. Amendment Process

1. Amendments to the bylaws may be initiated by any voting faculty member. Any proposed amendment must be accompanied by the signatures of at least 20 percent of the voting faculty of the Department and submitted to
the Department Chair.
2. The Department Chair will submit the proposed amendment and a ballot to the voting faculty for their consideration within 15 working days of receiving the proposal. The Chair may schedule a meeting of the Department’s voting faculty to discuss the proposal prior to balloting.
3. Voting faculty have 10 working days following notification by the Department Chair of the proposed amendment and the completion of any departmental meeting pertaining to the proposed amendment to submit
their ballots to the Department Chair. The Department Chair will count the ballots immediately and notify all departmental members of the results.
4. Approval of any proposed amendment will require a majority vote in favor of the amendment by the voting faculty of the Department who return completed ballots. If approved, implementation of the amendment
will occur immediately unless otherwise indicated in the amendment.
5. Following approval of any amendment to the bylaws, the Department Chair will ensure that the appropriate change(s) is/are made to the bylaws. A copy of the revised bylaws will be distributed to all members of
the Department.

Page last updated March 21, 2018.

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Contact Information

Social Sciences
101 Baldwin Blvd.
Corpus Christi, TX 78404
(361) 698-1228