Elections

Affiliate Faculty Governance Elections

The CLAS Affiliate Faculty Governance Elections page contains information about affiliate faculty elections and, when available, serves as the voting portal.

*The next election for affiliate faculty will be in winter 2025*

Tenure-Track Faculty Governance Elections

The CLAS Tenure-Track Faculty Governance Elections page contains information about tenure-track faculty elections and, when available, serves as the voting portal.

*The special fall 2024 election for tenure-track faculty has concluded - Please view the updated roster below. The next election for tenure-track faculty will be in winter 2025.

Special Fall 2024 Election Results

CLAS Committees

The College has five elected faculty governance committees. During the first year of the College, a task force designed the current system and elections were held to constitute the CLAS Curriculum Committee, the CLAS Faculty Council, the CLAS Faculty Development Committee and the CLAS Personnel Committee. In 2017, bylaws for a faculty governance committee for Affiliates were approved, creating the first election for members of the CLAS Affiliate Faculty Advisory Committee.  

Committee rosters for AY 24-25, updated 11-10-24, are in this spreadsheet (or click here for PDF).

More information including committee bylaws, rosters, nomination and voting, for specific CLAS Committees can be found on their individual webpages, linked below.

CLAS Faculty Council
The CLAS Faculty Council (CFC) serves as the executive committee of faculty governance within CLAS and represents the general interests of the CLAS faculty collectively.

CLAS Personnel Committee

The CLAS Personnel Committee (CPC) reviews and recommends to the Dean on all contract renewals, promotion and tenure decisions, dismissal for adequate cause, as well as on personnel policies and issues. 

CLAS Curriculum Committee

The CLAS Curriculum Committee (CCC) reviews and recommends to the Dean on all curricular matters, including proposals for new courses or programs, course and program changes, program requirements, and general education courses.

Faculty Development Committee
The CLAS Faculty Development Committee (FDC) advises the Dean on faculty development in teaching, scholarship, and service. This includes the mentoring of new faculty consistent with the goals of liberal learning.

CLAS Affiliate Faculty Advisory Committee
The CLAS Affiliate Faculty Advisory Committee (CAFAC) advises the Dean on issues concerning Affiliate faculty such as working conditions, workload, the evaluation process, opportunities for development and advancement, and roles within respective units.

CLAS Faculty Governance Bylaws

CLAS Faculty Governance bylaws can be found HERE.

All proposed revisions passed in the winter 2024 election. Here is the combined tenure-track and affiliate proposal vote:
Proposal 1: 173/187 = .93
Proposal 2: 178/186 = .96
Proposal 3: 185/188 = .98
Proposal 4: 161/187 = .86
Proposal 5: 174/184 = .95
Proposal 6: 184/186 = .99
All proposals received “yes” votes in proportions greater than 2/3 = .67, which is the threshold required to pass.

Reminders of revisions to bylaws appear below.

1) Previous wording of the Preamble from the CLAS Bylaws for Faculty Governance:

CLAS Faculty Governance is a deliberative and broadly representative forum that exists to consider the activities of the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) in all of its facets, with particular attention to educational objectives and those matters that affect the common interests of faculty, staff and students. Any standing committee may recommend general policies and otherwise advise the Dean of CLAS. All standing committees are authorized to initiate policy proposals as well as to express their judgment on those submitted to it by the administrative officers of the University and its various academic divisions. CLAS Faculty Governance is also empowered to request information through appropriate channels from the University administration.

Adopted revision to sentence 1 from the Preamble:

CLAS Faculty Governance is a deliberative and broadly representative forum that exists to consider the activities of the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) in all of its facets, with particular attention to educational objectives and those matters that reflect the common interests of faculty.

2) Previous wording of Section 1.d. from the CLAS Bylaws for Faculty Governance:

Purpose:  The CLAS Faculty Development Committee (FDC) will advise the Dean on faculty development in teaching, scholarship, and service.  This includes the mentoring of new faculty consistent with the goals of liberal learning.  The committee will also advise the Dean on assisting faculty and student research collaboration, and will support faculty in the grant proposal process as a liaison between CLAS and internal and external audiences. 

Adopted revision to sentence 2 of Section 1.d.:

Purpose:  The CLAS Faculty Development Committee (FDC) will advise the Dean on faculty development in teaching, scholarship, and service.  This includes playing a role in the development of mentoring plans for new faculty that are consistent with the goals of liberal learning…

3) Previous wording of paragraph 1, Section 2.c. from the CLAS Bylaws for Faculty Governance:

During an election, faculty are awarded positions based on the election results. Faculty with the largest percentage of the vote will be awarded 3-year terms for Faculty Council, Personnel Committee, Curriculum Committee and Faculty Development Committee positions while those with the highest vote for the Affiliate Faculty Advisory Committee will be awarded 2-year terms. Shorter terms will be assigned in descending order of vote percentage. The length of the term awarded will be included in the notification sent to new committee members (see section 3j) For clarification on the approval voting process, see Section 3h. There are times when a committee member is unable to finish the term they were awarded.  In these cases, vacancies will be filled with shorter term (1 or 2 years) appointments to complete the original term.

Adopted revision to sentence 2 of Section 2.c. (if approved, this amendment would be applied to the W25 election and beyond):

During an election, faculty are awarded positions based on the election results. Faculty with the largest percentage of the vote will be awarded 3-year terms for Faculty Council, Personnel Committee, Curriculum Committee, Faculty Development Committee, and the Affiliate Faculty Advisory Committee…

4) Previous wording of Section 3.e. from the CLAS Bylaws for Faculty Governance:

A faculty member may not serve more than six consecutive years on the same CLAS governance committee; one year must pass before a faculty member is eligible again for election to that committee.

Adopted revision to Section 3.e. (if approved, this amendment would be applied to the W25 election and beyond):

Section 3.e. (“Term Limits”) will be removed from the Bylaws.

5) Previous wording of paragraph 1, Section 3.i. from the CLAS Bylaws for Faculty Governance:

With the following exceptions, the nominee(s) with the highest number of approval votes are elected:

No more than one person from any one unit may serve on CFC, FDC, CCC, CPC. If there are two nominees from the same unit for these committee positions, the one with the higher number of approval votes will be elected; if both nominees are tied, a coin toss conducted by the Faculty Council will determine the winner.

Adopted revision to paragraph 1, Section 3.i. (if approved, this amendment would be applied to the W25 election and beyond):

With the following exceptions, the nominee(s) with the highest number of approval votes are elected:

No more than one person from any one unit may serve on CPC. If there are two nominees from the same unit, the one with the higher number of approval votes will be elected; if both nominees are tied, a coin toss conducted by the Faculty Council will determine the winner. No more than two people from any one unit may serve on CFC, FDC, or CCC. If there are three nominees from the same unit for any of these committee positions, the ones with the higher number of approval votes will be elected; if all three nominees are tied, Faculty Council will draw names from a bag (or hat) to determine the winners.

 

6) Previous wording of Section 6.e. from the CLAS Bylaws for Faculty Governance:

Information on the work of the CFC, CPC, CCC, FDC, the standing committees of CLAS tenure-line Faculty Governance, will be available to CLAS tenure- line faculty. The current dissemination vehicle is the CLAS faculty blackboard page. Posted information may include meeting announcements, agendas, minutes, and other documents.

Adopted revision to sentence 2 of Section 6.e.:

Information on the work of the CFC, CPC, CCC, FDC, the standing committees of CLAS tenure-line Faculty Governance, will be available to CLAS tenure- line faculty. Information, which may include meeting announcements, agendas, minutes, and other documents, will be posted and accessible to faculty through the CLAS Faculty Governance webpage (password protected).


Faculty Governance Page

The GVSU Faculty Governance site is designed to facilitate communication between faculty representatives in university-wide governance and the faculty-at-large.

GVSU Faculty Governance

Committee Descriptions

Click below for information on any and all GVSU committees with elected CLAS tenure-track representatives.

Committee Descriptions



Page last modified November 10, 2024