Guidelines for Department Committees

General procedures:

 

These procedures apply to all Departmental Standing Committees.  

 

Committee Chair will circulate agenda to geog-list@umd.edu prior to the scheduled meeting.

 

Committee meetings are open to all members of the department.

 

Committees should use their terms of reference, as well as requests for actions from the Departmental Chair, to guide the setting of their agenda and subsequent activity.

 

Committee should be made aware of departmental, or campus deadlines by departmental administration, and work accordingly.  

 

Where an area of consideration clearly overlaps the responsibilities of more than one committee (for example a teaching lab proposal would need input from both the teaching and the facility committee), committees should make every effort to coordinate their efforts before presenting motions to the faculty committee or departmental chair.

 

Committee focus groups/sub-committees should meet outside of the regular committee meetings and provide updates/consensus as an agenda item at the next regular committee meeting.  If campus deadlines require a more urgent response, sub committee should update regular committee members via email, or a specially held meeting.

 

Committee chair is responsible for providing a written summary of the key action items and decisions coming out of the committee meeting using the format outlined in the terms of reference document for departmental committees.   The written minutes should be circulated to geog-list@umd.edu. Outreach Coordinator will post minutes to the Department Intranet.

 

The minutes will be permanently archived on the share drive of the department administration server as well as on the department web pages.

 

Departmental committees have an advisory role to the Chair of the Department; however, under the new committee structure, authority has been delegated to the committees to handle basic decisions and actions regarding their terms of reference.   

 

Decisions that will require substantial changes to current policy should be brought before the faculty meeting as well written motions for consideration and vote.   The committee chair should make the first determination, with consultation with department chair if needed, about whether, or not, a committee decision should be brought to a faculty meeting vote.  The Departmental Chair can require that decisions reported in the committee’s circulated minutes be brought before the faculty meeting if appropriate.

 

Responsibility of Committee Chair:

 

Ensure general guidelines listed above are followed.

Mediator and leader of committee discussions.

Maintains dialog with departmental administration to help ensure that departmental administration is informing committee of relevant deadlines.

Ensure committee follows its terms of reference and operates under campus deadlines.

Primary point of contact to departmental chair and departmental administration.

Ensure agenda and corresponding minutes and action items are circulated in a timely fashion.

 

 

Format of meetings:

 

 

Chair presents the agenda and gets approval from the committee for the proposed agenda.   Agenda items are then gone through one at a time and discussed.

 

A motion is a proposal that the committee take certain actions or make certain decisions. 

It often saves time to allow a discussion before a motion is formally brought to vote.  The committee chair must monitor discussion to ensure that it does not diverge from the topic. 

The committee chair can bring a motion before the committee, or a committee member can bring a motion forward during committee discussion.

 

As a general rule every motion should be seconded.  This is to prevent time from being consumed in considering a question that only one person favors and consequently time is taken away from the agenda items.

 

Members of the department may voice their views during the debate, however only the members of the committee may vote on a motion.

 

Committee chairs should make every attempt to finalize and formalize approved committee decisions.   Motions, the corresponding vote, and the final decision should be clearly documented in meeting minutes.    If decisions are to be brought to the faculty meeting for a vote, the motion should be clearly written and circulated to the faculty one week prior to the faculty meeting to allow all members of the faculty committee to review and think about the motion before the faculty meeting.

 

Options for dealing with a motion:

 

-         To modify or amend the motion.  When a resolution or motion is not worded properly, or requires modification to meet the approval of the committee, it can be handled two ways.  If the changes can be made during the meeting by substituting, inserting and/or deleting words or sections, then the modified motion can be voted upon.  However if the changes required are substantial, then it is better to refer the question back to committee members or sub committees as appropriate for modification.  The modified motion can then be brought back to the committee at a later date.

 

-         To defer action:  If it is appropriate to put off further consideration of a question until more information is obtained or until after a certain event has passed.  It is critical that a deferred action is not forgotten and is quickly brought to resolution once the additional information is obtained.  Often a focus group is assigned to collect this information and complete the analysis.   It is acceptable for other members of the department to be included in the focus group if their expertise is desirable.

 

-         Committee chair has the authority to table (or stop discussion) on a motion that he/she feels is not appropriate for that committee.   Chair should then seek guidance from Departmental Chair to determine appropriate avenue for motion.

 

 

Voting:

 

1) A quorum is required for a vote.  A quorum consists of 2/3 of the committee members being present for the vote. 

 

2) All members of the committee have a vote including the undergraduate and graduate representative.   This does not apply to search committees. 

 

3) Members of the department who are not members of the committee cannot vote on committee motions.   

 

4) Members of a committee’s focus group who are not members of the regular committee also cannot vote on the focus group’s motion once it is brought forward to the regular committee.

 

5) In calling for a vote after the debate, the chair should again state the motion so there is no question about what is being voted for.  The chair should first ask for a show of hands for all committee members voting yes, then no, and then abstaining.  The totals should then be announced and recorded in the formal minutes of the meeting.