Section 1: Eligibility
All full-time faculty members holding academic rank of professor, associate professor or assistant professor, who meet the criteria established by the UNCW Graduate Council (hereafter called Graduate Council) shall be eligible for membership in the Graduate Faculty. Appropriate exceptions may be approved from time to time, including persons holding the status of adjunct professor.
Persons employed for the first time at UNCW as tenure track faculty, adjunct, or visiting faculty may be granted membership on the Graduate Faculty at the discretion of the graduate dean for an initial appointment not to exceed three years.
Faculty with full-time administrative appointments that include the administration of graduate programs shall be members of the Graduate Faculty in recognition of those duties and responsibilities. Whenever such administrative appointments are concluded, such persons shall be granted a five-year extension of membership, after which each shall be evaluated using the prevailing criteria in the normal five-year cycle, as described in Section 2.
Section 2: Admission and Criteria
An eligible person desiring membership on the Graduate Faculty may be appointed (or reappointed) to a five-year membership by the dean of the Graduate School upon nomination by the appropriate department chair and college or school dean, and with the advice and consent of the Graduate Council.
At the minimum, the following general criteria shall be required for membership on the Graduate Faculty.
Section 1: Purpose and Call
A general meeting of the Graduate Faculty shall be called by majority vote of the Graduate Council, the chancellor, the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, the dean of the Graduate School, or by petition of at least 10 percent of the Graduate Faculty.
A general meeting shall be for the purpose of communication, discussion, and/or determining whether an issue warrants a referendum by the full membership of the Graduate Faculty.
Section 2: Quorum
A quorum shall consist of 25 percent of the Graduate Faculty.
Graduate Faculty referenda shall be conducted only with the consent of the Graduate Council or the Graduate Faculty, shall be conducted by mail ballot, shall be conducted only during the September-May academic year, and shall be valid only if one-third or more of the eligible voters return ballots. A majority of the ballots cast shall represent the decision of the Graduate Faculty. The decision shall be binding on the UNCW Graduate Council.
Section 3: Chair of the Graduate Council
The chair shall be the dean of the Graduate School, who shall vote only in the case of ties. In the absence of the dean, the associate dean has the authority to preside over meetings of the Graduate Council and shall vote only in the case of ties.
Section 4: Vice-Chairperson of the Graduate Council
At the first meeting of each academic year the graduate council will elect a vice-chairperson. The vice-chairperson's primary responsibility is to preside over the graduate council when the dean of the Graduate School is unable to attend a meeting due to a schedule conflict.
The vice-chairperson will also be responsible for convening a meeting and presiding over it if a situation arises when the majority of the voting members of the graduate council request that a meeting be called without the dean of the Graduate School being present.
Section 5: Election of Members
Faculty members of the Graduate Council shall be elected in the spring for a term of three years. Newly elected members shall begin service at the beginning of the subsequent fall semester.
Representatives must be tenured members of the Graduate Faculty and may be from any department regardless of whether that unit awards an advanced degree. Administrators (half-time or more) and department chairs are ineligible to serve as elected members.
Election of members shall occur within voting division (College of Arts and Sciences Division I, College of Arts and Sciences Division II, College of Arts and Sciences Division III, Cameron School of Business, Watson College of Education and the College of Health and Human Services). Terms of members within each division shall be staggered. No more than one member may serve from any department.
Each spring the Graduate School shall distribute a list of eligible candidates to members of the Graduate Faculty for challenges and withdrawals. Having processed the responses, the Graduate School shall distribute ballots to members of the Graduate Faculty in divisions where there is a vacancy. Faculty may vote for one candidate for each vacancy within their division.
The candidate receiving the most votes within a division shall be elected for a three-year term. In the case where more than one vacancy exists within a division, the candidate receiving the second-most votes shall serve the second longest term, and so on, consistent with the stipulations in the preceding paragraph.
If a member is unable to complete a term, the Graduate Council shall appoint a faculty member from within the same division to serve for the remainder of the academic year, with any remainder of the unexpired term to be filled the following year by election. A member who has served for six consecutive years may not be elected to an additional consecutive term.
A non-voting graduate student representative will be chosen by the Graduate Student Association to serve a one-year term. This term will rotate among the schools and college so that each academic unit is represented once every four years according to a pre-determined schedule. The graduate student selected must be currently enrolled and in good academic standing.
Section 6: Responsibilities
The Graduate Council shall:
Section 7: Standing Committees
The standing committees of the Graduate Council shall include, but not be limited to the following:
Section 8: Meetings
Meetings of the Graduate Council shall be held regularly during the academic year (September-May), Special meetings may be called by the dean of the Graduate School by circulating a written notice and agenda to members at least seven days prior to the meeting day,
Also, the dean of the Graduate School must call a meeting within 30 days if requested in writing by at least four members of the Graduate Council.
Section 9: Graduate Council Action Between Academic Years
The Graduate Council shall function only during the academic year (September-May). At other times, the dean of the Graduate School shall render ad hoc decisions on policy matters until such times as the Council resumes its meetings: such decisions as may be necessary shall not necessarily serve as precedents for subsequent actions by the Council.
Section 10: Quorum and Voting
A quorum of the Council shall consist of a majority of the voting members of the Council (i.e., seven of thirteen members), and the affirmative vote of a majority of the quorum shall be necessary to evoke action (i.e., a minimum of four of seven voters present). The dean of the Graduate School shall vote only in the case of ties.