Bylaws

The College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Development Fund Committee reviews applications for the Faculty Development Fund (henceforth FDF) and collectively makes a decision for awards in a manner articulated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (henceforth CBA). The committee also maintains, and can revise by Committee consensus decision, the guidelines by which they navigate their decisions over the FDF award distribution.

Membership

The FDF Committee has ten members per the CBA. Membership includes faculty representatives from the arts and humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. The Dean appoints up to five members, one of whom can be a faculty member and four of whom are administration delegates, and the USFFA appoints five members. One member from each group is appointed as co-chair; an administrative co-chair is appointed by the Dean, and a faculty co-chair is designated by the existing faculty members of the Committee or, if necessary, appointed by the Dean. Whenever possible, the faculty co-chair for the Committee shall be a former or existing member of the FDF Committee who is familiar with the guidelines, procedures and University’s accounting rules. The faculty co-chair represents the CAS faculty on FDF-related issues within the USFFA as needed. Faculty co-chairs serve terms of up to three years, which can be renewed by FDF Committee decision.

Up to four non-voting members, Program Assistant(s) and Business Manager(s) from the Dean’s Office, also attend Committee meetings.

The standard term for elected or appointed faculty serving on the Faculty Development Committee is normally three years. Exceptions for shorter or staggered terms can be made at the discretion of the Committee co-chairs in consultation with the Committee.

Meetings

Co-chairs determine the time and place of meetings, and develop and make available meeting agendas and materials for meetings. Decisions are reached by consensus or by majority vote of members present. The Dean’s Office program assistant records the decisions and discussions made during the meetings for a record. Typically, the FDF Committee meets twice during an academic year. However, when the deliberation of award distribution takes longer than usual or the discussion of guideline revisions is needed, the co-chairs may call for additional meetings. 

Co-chairs are empowered by the Committee members to oversee the faculty’s FDF accounts and to make off-cycle decisions regarding adjusted use of funds within an award (for the awarded purpose) and emergency awards, as described in the FDF Guidelines. The faculty co-chair is expected to collaborate with the USFFA and its relevant bodies whenever it is called upon for such a service. 

Procedures

Full-time faculty members are expected to adhere to the College’s FDF application processes outlined on the Faculty Development Fund pages. (Per CBA and addendum agreement with the University, each academic unit can locally govern the procedures of FDF award distribution and management so long as such procedures do not deviate from the CBA and addendum agreements.) The Committee members use the FDF guidelines to recommend their decision for all applications in the College. Each committee member is typically assigned a subset of applications to review (typically 30-60, depending on the number of applications in a given cycle). Committee members typically receive 80-90% of assigned applications in their representative area and 10-20% in other areas. The Committee draws on each faculty and administrators’ knowledge in their areas to make an informed and objective decision on each application.

Faculty members of the FDF committee who have submitted an application for funding is not assigned their own application for review, nor are they assigned the applications of their spouses or partners. In addition, faculty members of the FDF committee are not assigned applications in which they serve as a collaborator on the project submitted for funding. 

In cases in which the applications of a faculty member on the committee, or their spouses or partners, require discussion before the full committee, the faculty member recuses themselves from the discussion and decision regarding their own applications and those of their spouse or partner. Similarly, should a faculty member serve as a collaborator on a project under discussion, the faculty member recuses themselves from the discussion and decision.

After discussion, the Committee either approves or rejects submitted applications; final decisions may also be conditional on the provision of additional documents or clarification from the applicant.  “Approve” sends the approval letter to the applicants. “Reject” returns the applications to the faculty originator. Depending on the reasons for the rejection, an applicant may be invited to revise and resubmit their application; when the originator completes the revisions and resubmission to satisfy the standards set by the Committee, the Committee co-chairs make the final decision.

Approved by FDF Committee: November 6, 2020; additions approved December 5, 2022
Approved by USFFA: Arts Council, February 22, 2021; COSEC, March 15, 2021; additions approved December 13, 2022
Approved by CAS Dean’s Office: March 17, 2021 (by AD Gamson on behalf of the Dean’s Office); additions approved December 15, 2022