Senate Membership

Senators

The Senate consists of elected voting members, ex officio non-voting members and student non-voting members. The elected voting membership of the  Senate is apportioned equitably among the Academic Units based on the  membership of 150 members.

Voting Members:
  • Senators are expected to attend all the regularly scheduled meetings of the Senate during the academic year and to make every effort to attend special meetings.  Unexcused absence from three consecutive meetings constitutes resignation from the Senate, except that a Senator whose term is interrupted by a temporary absence from the University may be replaced by a termporary senator.
  • A senator who accepts a position having Faculty Senate liaison status as set forth in Article IV Section 2(C) of the Constitution concomitantly vacates the elected senate seat.
Non-voting Members:
  • Ex-officio members:  Members of the Senate Steering Committee and the chairs of other constitutionally specified committees and councils elected by the Senate are ex-officio non-voting members if they are not otherwise elected members of the Senate.
  • Student members:  Five student non-voting members are chosen annually for one-year terms by a procedure established by student government.  In addition, three student non-voting members are selected annually from the Graduate School and one student non-voting member is selected annually from each of the following colleges  - Dentistry, Law, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine.

Officers and Advisors

The Faculty Senate Officers are the Chair, Chair Elect and Past Chair.  Senate Advisors are the Secretary and Paliamentarian.

  • Each of the officers has a one-year term, beginning June 1 of each year.
  • At the April Senate meeting, the Senate elects a Chair-Elect from the voting membership for a term beginning the forthcoming June 1.
  • On June 1, the Chair Elect in the prior academic year becomes the Chair and the Chair becomes the Past Chair.  In the case of the death or resignation of the Chair, the Chair Elect serves as Chair for the reminder of his or her term.
  • The Paliamentarian is selected by the Chair of the Faculty Senate.
  • The Senate Steering Committee appoints the Senate Secretary.

Liaisons

Liaison personnel are provided notice of the meetings of the Faculty Senate and have the right of the floor:  the president, provost, and vice presidents of the University, full deans of the Academic Units and the Registrar.