Department Chairs

Department Chairs

Department Chairs

PROCEDURE FOR ELECTIONS OF DEPARTMENT CHAIRPERSONS

 

Elections for all department chairpersons are to be held during the spring semester. 

Elections must be in accord with University Senate policy and the State/Union Agreement.  All elections must be completed and reported to the appropriate Dean and the University Senate office by April 30.

 Only the following are PEOPLE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE:

  • All tenured and tenure-track faculty, including those on leave.
  • All full-time professional staff assigned to a department, including those on leave.
  • All professional staff assigned to an academic department, including those on leave. Professional staff are not eligible to serve as chair.
  • Lecturers will be eligible to vote for, but not serve as chair.
  • ¾ time faculty who have served in the department for at least a calendar year immediately before the election will be eligible to vote for, but not serve as chair.
  • Faculty on full-time alternate out-of-unit assignments are NOT eligible to vote.
  • Faculty with 50/50 appointments need to pick a department.

Candidates for department chair should, but are not required to be tenured, ideally at the highest rank to which they can be promoted.

Each election shall be by secret ballot and shall “be conducted in a formal, unquestionable procedure so that it will ensure a fair and just expression of each department member’s preference.”  The elections are to be conducted by an oddnumbered election committee of the department. The chair of the departmental election committee should be a tenured faculty member. This committee will prepare ballots, make all other arrangements necessary for the balloting, EVEN IF THERE IS NO DECLARED OPPOSITION, and open and count ballots at the ballot box.

The ballot box is to be resealed and taken by members of the election committee to the office of the appropriate Academic Dean where it will be stored.  

In any department, the election committee may request that a committee of the University Senate supervise election procedures.  No member of that committee may be a member of the department conducting the election. Additionally, the Senate can design an anonymous, online ballot through Qualtrics. Departments are not allowed to design their own online ballots.

The person receiving a majority (ONE MORE THAN 50 PERCENT) of ALL ELIGIBLE VOTERS of a department shall be declared elected.  The term of office for all newlyelected or re-elected chairpersons shall be three (3) years starting July 1st.

In the event that no candidate receives a majority of the votes of those eligible, a run-off election will be held. This could be the case if:

  • There is an election of three or more candidates, in which case the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will participate in the run-off election.
  • There is an election of two or more candidates and they receive an equal number of votes. In this case, a run-off between the same candidates will be held. This may be repeated in the case of another tie, or the department may vote to have the Dean or Vice President/Provost appoint a temporary chair as detailed below.

In the event that an election result is contested, or called into question by a department member, upon his/her formal written complaint to the Vice President/Provost within ten (10) days of the election, the Vice President/Provost or the appropriate Academic Dean will, in the presence of the complainant and the department election committee, re-open and cause to be recounted the ballots cast in the election.  If this does not satisfy the complainant, the Vice-President/Provost may call for another election, which will then be held under his/her supervision.  The Vice President/Provost may request that the University Senate also send a representative to aid in conducting the election.  The Vice President/Provost may not in any way attempt to influence the outcome of this election.  The Vice President/Provost’s sole concern will be with the election procedures.  No further appeals may be made following this election.

If a chairperson cannot be elected from among department members, the department may seek a chairperson outside the immediate department.  In the event the department is unable to elect a chairperson, the department may then, by simple majority, vote to have the appropriate Academic Dean or the Vice President/Provost appoint a temporary chairperson for no more than one (1) year.

In the event that a chairperson resigns before the end of his or her term an election will be held according to the guidelines above. The person elected will then serve out the remainder of the term of the departing chairperson. In the event that a new department is created, a chair will be elected immediately from among the members who will constitute that department, and that chair will serve for three years.  In the event that a new department is created from a merger or restructuring of two or more departments, a chair will be elected immediately from among the members who will constitute that department, and that chair will serve for three years.