University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Bylaws

Faculty Council Bylaws:

 

Article I. Name and Purpose

SECTION 1. Name. The name of the organization is the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CAES) Faculty Council, hereafter referred to as the CAES Faculty Council.

SECTION 2. Purpose. The purpose of the CAES Faculty Council is to enact rules and regulations to provide for the interests and welfare of the CAES and its faculty, consistent with the Statutes of the University of Georgia. The CAES Faculty Council represents teaching, research, and extension faculty members on matters of policy.

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Article II. Membership

SECTION 1. Elected Faculty Members.

  • CAES faculty elected as CAES representatives to the University Council shall also serve as voting members of the CAES Faculty Council. The number of elected faculty of the CAES Faculty Council will coincide with the number of University Council positions allotted to the CAES under the University Statutes. To elect representatives to the University Council, each academic department will be allotted one faculty representative. An additional representative will be allotted to each department for every 20 members above the initial 20, as long as the total number of representatives does not exceed the total allotted to the CAES by the University Council. The Executive Committee will assign any additional representatives on a proportional rotating basis to those departments with greater than, but not an even multiple of 20 faculty members.
  • Public service faculty will elect one representative from each district. All public service faculty within each district eligible to vote shall have the opportunity to vote within their district and are eligible to serve as a representative.
  • Public Service faculty holding rank within the CAES that are neither represented by a CAES academic department nor by an Extension district will be combined for election purposes into a pool and representative(s) will be elected from this pool in the same manner described for academic departments. The Dean’s office will determine the procedure for the election.

SECTION 2. Ex Officio Members. The CAES Faculty Council shall include the following non-voting ex officio members:

  • Dean and Director
  • Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs
  • Associate Dean for Research
  • Associate Dean for Extension
  • Assistant Provost and Director of the Griffin Campus
  • Assistant Dean for the Tifton Campus
  • CAES Members of University Council Standing Committees
  • CAES Members of the President's Faculty Advisory Committee
  • CAES parliamentarian

SECTION 3. Appointed Voting Members. The chairs of the following standing committees will serve on the CAES Faculty Council with voting privileges and responsibilities: Undergraduate Affairs and Curriculum, Graduate Affairs and Curriculum, Faculty Affairs and Grievance. The Staff Representative will be elected from among the CAES UGA staff council representatives. The undergraduate student representative elected to the University Council shall also serve as a voting member of the CAES Faculty Council. There shall also be a voting graduate student representative on the CAES Faculty Council. The graduate student representative shall be the president of a departmental graduate student association serving on a rotational (alphabetically by department name) one-year basis.

SECTION 4. Voting. Only those elected members and appointed voting members present at the meeting shall be allowed to vote. Ex Officio Members are non-voting members. A voting member may employ a proxy to designate a substitute person for representation at CAES Faculty Council meetings. A person authorized by a proxy may vote in the same manner as the other voting members; however, no person can represent more than one member at a meeting. The form designating the proxy by the elected member shall be handed to the secretary at the beginning of the meeting.

SECTION 5. Vacancies. If an elected member is unable to serve a full term, a replacement shall be elected by the affected department, district or otherwise appropriate body to serve the remainder of the term. The CAES Faculty Council Executive Committee, hereafter referred to as the Executive Committee, shall notify the department, district, or other respective body of the need to hold an election, and shall receive the results from the election. Results will then be forwarded to the Dean and Directors office. If a standing committee chair is unable to continue to serve, a replacement may be elected from the standing committee upon the request of Executive Committee, and likewise, results will be forwarded to the Dean and Directors office.

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Article III. Council Meetings

SECTION 1. Frequency. The CAES Faculty Council will meet at least twice each semester of the regular academic year. To facilitate CAES Faculty Council members who are also members of University Council, meetings shall be scheduled on the same day University Council meetings are scheduled. Special meetings of the CAES Faculty Council may be called by the CAES Dean and Director, the Chair of the Executive Committee, by petition of 50 faculty members, or by petition of a majority of the Executive Committee members.

SECTION 2. Conduct of Meetings. The Executive Committee Chair shall preside over the meetings. In the Executive Committee Chair’s absence, the Chair Elect of the Executive Committee will act as Chair.

A non-voting Secretary shall be a staff member provided by the Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs. The Secretary shall promptly submit minutes of the CAES Faculty Council meetings to the office of the Dean and Director for posting on the CAES website.

Robert's Rules of Order (Newly Revised) shall be used to govern the CAES Faculty, as subject to additional rules and regulations adopted by the CAES Faculty Council that will be clearly set forth in the bylaws. The CAES Executive Committee shall appoint a parliamentarian that shall be responsible for Robert’s Rules compliance during Faculty Council meetings. If the parliamentarian who is appointed is not an elected member of the CAES Faculty Council, they will serve as an ex officio member of the CAES Faculty Council and can serve for an indefinite period. In the absence of the parliamentarian, the Executive Committee Chair Elect shall serve as acting parliamentarian.

All CAES faculty members may attend any and all meetings of the CAES Faculty Council and may address the CAES Faculty Council when recognized by the Chair. The CAES Faculty Council shall pass no rules abridging the rights of CAES faculty to speak.  

SECTION 3. Quorum. A simple majority of the CAES Faculty Council voting members shall constitute a quorum. The Executive Committee shall determine the definition of a participating member, whether physically or electronically present. Motions may be passed by a majority of participating members. The CAES Faculty Council may not conduct normal business if a called quorum is lacking. The Executive Committee will determine when a quorum of voting members is available for a specific meeting and whether physical (face-to-face) meetings or other means will be acceptable to constitute the needed quorum. Therefore, quorums can be constituted through a variety of means, to include physical meetings (face-to-face), teleconferencing, video conferencing, e-mail or other, as appropriate to the need of the council.

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Article IV. Executive Committee

SECTION 1. Membership. The Executive Committee shall consist of seven CAES Faculty Council voting members, elected annually by the CAES Faculty Council at the last regularly scheduled meeting of the academic year. Six members shall be elected from members representing academic departments and one member shall be elected from members representing public service faculty. Members of the Executive Committee shall be elected to three-year terms. Executive Committee members can continue to serve on the Executive Committee after their standard term has expired on the CAES Faculty Council, and as such, they will continue to serve as voting members of the CAES Faculty Council. Prior to the first meeting of the newly elected Executive Committee, the members shall elect a Chair and a Chair Elect from among the Executive Committee members. The Chair and Chair elect shall become familiar with the CAES by-laws. The CAES Faculty Council secretary will serve as an ex officio member of the Executive Committee. The immediate past Chair shall also serve an additional year as an ex officio member of the Executive Committee.

SECTION 2. Meetings. The Executive Committee normally shall meet at least ten days before regular or special CAES Faculty Council meetings to set the agenda for the CAES Faculty Council meeting. At the beginning of each academic year (August), the dates of regularly scheduled Executive Committee meetings and CAES Faculty Council meetings shall be set and announced to the faculty via department heads and district directors to allow timely inputs for the agenda of the CAES Faculty Council.

SECTION 3. CAES Faculty Council Agenda. The Executive Committee shall receive and prepare agenda items in any of the following ways:

  • Items received from the CAES Dean and Director shall be placed on the agenda of the CAES Faculty Council.
  • Items received from any of the standing or ad hoc committees of the CAES Faculty Council, including the Executive Committee, shall be placed on the agenda unless the Executive Committee decides by two-thirds majority vote to refer the item back to originating committee.
  • Items received from the CAES faculty or from the duly constituted representative body of any department, shall be placed on the agenda or referred to an appropriate committee of the CAES Faculty Council.
  • The Executive Committee shall also receive items from any CAES person or group not provided for above. If it decides, by majority vote, that such items merit consideration, it will refer them to the appropriate standing committee or place the items on the agenda.
  • Items presented to the Executive Committee endorsed by the signatures of 10 or more faculty members shall appear on the agenda.
  • Items approved by two-thirds vote of the CAES Faculty Council (email or at meetings) will be placed on the agenda of the CAES Faculty Council.
  • The agenda and other pertinent materials normally shall be distributed to each CAES Faculty Council member no later than 7 days before any CAES Faculty Council meeting.

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Article V. Faculty Council Elections

SECTION 1. Elections. The office of the CAES Dean and Director shall coordinate the election of new CAES faculty representatives to the University Council (who also serve on the CAES Faculty Council) and CAES Faculty Council standing committee members yearly in the Spring. The Public Service Faculty and academic departments with vacancies on the council and its committees shall select or elect their representative. The Executive Committee shall be informed about the nominations and election of CAES faculty to the University Council, CAES Faculty Council, standing committees, and CAES representatives to the University Council Executive, Curriculum, Faculty Admissions, Faculty Affairs, Faculty Benefits, and Libraries and Facilities Committees.

  • The procedure for the faculty elections may be determined by each department or district, but the elections shall be conducted in such a manner that the faculty fully supports the procedure. Any CAES faculty member, holding at least a 50 percent time contractual appointment within The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences shall be voting members of the faculty of the CAES for the purpose of CAES Faculty Council elections. Membership shall be for three-year terms beginning on July 1 each year with exceptions during transitions to new council and at other times to maintain staggered terms.
  • See Article 1 Section 3 for undergraduate and graduate student representative appointment procedures.

SECTION 2. Ad Hoc Committees. Committees of the CAES Faculty Council provide a mechanism whereby faculty members individually and collectively participate in policy decisions and actions of the CAES. The Executive Committee shall have the authority to appoint ad hoc committees charged with accomplishing temporary assignments focused upon specific tasks. Reports, recommendations, and proposals from the various committees go through the Executive Committee for consideration.

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Article VI. Standing Committees

SECTION 1. Committees. The CAES Faculty Council shall have three standing committees: Undergraduate Affairs and Curriculum, Graduate Affairs and Curriculum, and Faculty Affairs and Grievance. Standing committees have mandated charges and shall receive appropriate items for consideration from the CAES Faculty Council and the CAES community.

SECTION 2. Meetings. New terms on each committee commence July 1st. Prior to the posting of the agenda for a CAES Faculty Council meeting, the Chair can either meet directly with the committee members or transact business by email to consider matters and action items. The vote for any action item shall require a simple majority of members to be present at a meeting or recorded by email.

Each committee should be aware of the importance of keeping accurate records and shall maintain minutes. This responsibility shall fall to the vice-chair of each committee. The chair of the committee will submit to the Executive Committee reports for inclusion on the agenda. Each committee will specifically report on the disposition of each item referred to that committee.

SECTION 3. Membership. Members shall be elected for three-year terms, except those elected to fill unexpired terms. The vice-chair will assume the duties of committee chair at the start of the following academic year.

  • The Committee on Undergraduate Affairs and Curriculum shall be composed of the undergraduate coordinator for each department. The elected University Council student representative shall serve as an ex-officio non-voting member of this committee. The chairmanship of this committee will rotate alphabetically based on name of the academic departments.
  • The Committee on Graduate Affairs and Curriculum shall be composed of the graduate coordinator for each department including the Institute for Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics. The Committee shall also include the graduate representative. In accordance with Graduate School Policy, members of the Committee on Graduate Affairs and Curriculum must hold graduate faculty status. The graduate student representative shall serve as a non-voting ex officio member. The chairmanship of this committee will rotate alphabetically based on name of the academic departments.
  • The Faculty Affairs and Grievance Committee shall be composed of one member representative from each academic department, two member representatives from the public service faculty, and an at-large faculty representative from each of the Athens, Tifton, and Griffin campuses. At its first meeting of the academic year, the committee shall vote to elect one of its members as vice-chair. The vice-chair will assume the duties of committee chair at the start of the following academic year.

SECTION 4. Election of Committee Members. Every year in the Spring, the office of the CAES Dean and Director shall coordinate the selection of new members to fill vacancies on the standing committees for representatives of the public service faculty and academic departments.

SECTION 5. Coordination of Business Items.

  • The CAES Office of Academic and Faculty Affairs shall coordinate the timely transmittal of curriculum items from departments to the appropriate CAES standing committee, and then to the respective committee of the University Council and the University of Georgia.
  • Before each CAES Faculty Council meeting, action and informational items from committees shall be communicated to the Executive Committee Chair in time for consideration at a scheduled CAES Faculty Council agenda-setting meeting.
  • Actions taken by the CAES Faculty Council will be transmitted via timely publication of the minutes by the Secretary of the Faculty Council.
  • The Dean’s office shall forward non-Curriculum items decided by the CAES Faculty Council to the appropriate committee of the University Council and the University of Georgia.

SECTION 6. Committee on Undergraduate Affairs and Curriculum.

  • Shall review and act upon course changes and new course applications for all CAES courses open to undergraduate students, and those for 4000/6000, and 5000/7000 courses shall be co-reviewed with the Committee on Graduate Affairs and Curriculum.
  • Review proposals for new undergraduate degrees and programs and changes to existing undergraduate degrees and programs offered by the CAES.
  • Review periodically the basic core curricula for CAES undergraduate degrees and make recommendations to the CAES Faculty Council and the CAES Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs.
  • Shall advise the CAES Dean and Director, Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, and the CAES Faculty Council on matters which may affect CAES as a whole or relations with other schools or colleges.
  • Review undergraduate student appeals and petitions as needed.

The CAES representative on the Curriculum Committee of the University Council shall serve as a non-voting ex officio member.

SECTION 7. Committee on Graduate Affairs and Curriculum.

  • Shall review and act upon course changes and new course applications for all CAES courses open to graduate students, and those for 4000/6000, and 5000/7000 courses shall be co-reviewed with the Committee on Undergraduate Curriculum.
  • Review proposals for new graduate degrees and programs and changes to existing graduate degrees and programs offered by the CAES.
  • Act on graduate student appeals and petitions.
  • Advise the CAES administration and Faculty Council about matters that may affect graduate degrees and programs in CAES.
  • The representative from the Graduate Student Association serving on the CAES Faculty Council shall serve as a non-voting ex officio member of this committee.
  • The CAES representative on the Curriculum Committee of the University Council shall be a non-voting ex officio member of this committee.

SECTION 8. Committee on Faculty Affairs and Grievance.

  • Shall review and recommend policies on matters of concern to CAES faculty, including but not limited to academic freedom, employment and benefits, promotion and tenure, and facilities. The CAES representatives on the following University Council committees will be ex officio members: Benefits, Facilities, Faculty Affairs, Strategic Planning, and University Libraries.
  • Advise the CAES administration and Faculty Council on matters that may affect the CAES as a whole or its relations between other schools, colleges, or programs.
  • Provide a sounding board for grievances which are brought by faculty – either against the college or other faculty. The official procedure for such grievance resolution shall be developed and preside within the committee. For the faculty member who may wish to initiate a grievance procedure outside of the college, the university guidelines for filing a grievance are outlined in the University's Faculty Handbook.

SECTION 9. Subcommittees. Any standing committee may use subcommittees as necessary to accomplish its objectives. Membership on subcommittees may include faculty not currently serving on the CAES Faculty Council or the standing committee.

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Article VII. Amendments to the Bylaws

The CAES Faculty Council shall have the power to amend its bylaws providing that such amendments be approved by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast at a meeting of the CAES Faculty Council.
(Approved: February 25, 1999)
(REVISED: February 22, 2001)
(REVISED: May 01, 2003)
(REVISED: March 18, 2004)
(REVISED: March 22, 2007)
(REVISED: January 17, 2025)

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