Mathemtaics Department Bylaws

The following bylaws govern the operation of the Department of Mathematics of the University of Wisconsin Colleges. They are in addition to the rules, regulations, policies and procedures of the University of Wisconsin System and the University of Wisconsin Colleges. Parliamentary procedures not specified in these bylaws shall be governed by the latest available edition of ROBERT’S RULES of ORDER.

II. Department Structure

A. Membership

Membership in the department shall consist of all faculty and academic staff with a teaching assignment in mathematics. Other persons associated with the academic program of the department may be admitted to membership on a semester basis with a two-thirds majority vote of the executive committee of the department.

1. Voting membership

All members of the department with at least a 40% appointment in mathematics, at the time of the meeting, have voting rights at that meeting.

B. Department Chair

1. Election

a. The Department shall elect a Chair to a three-year term, subject to annual appointment by the UWC Chancellor as prescribed in Chapter 4 of the UWC Constitution.

b. An election will be held in the fall of the last year of the incumbent chair's term. If the incumbent is not reelected the chair-elect will work with the incumbent chair during the remainder of the academic year and assume the position of Department Chair on June 1.

c. The department chair, or someone so designated by him/her, should solicit, by letter, nominations for the position of department chair for the following year. Credentials of nominees (except for the incumbent) should also be solicited and this information distributed to department members prior to the election.

d. In balloting for the department chair, only members present may vote unless the vote is a mail ballot, in which case the entire department shall vote by mail.

2. Term

The term of the department chair shall be three years. A department chair may be elected to a maximum of two consecutive terms but may be elected to additional nonconsecutive terms.

3. Duties and responsibilities

a. Setting the agenda for meetings.

b. Presiding over meetings of the Department.

c. Serving as the chair of the Executive Committee.

d. Recruiting applicants for vacant positions.

e. Other matters as directed by the Department or UW Colleges.

C. Standing Committees:

1. Executive Committee

a. Membership

Membership of the committee shall consist of the department chair and nine other tenured members of the department. Membership shall be on a rotational basis as described in Appendix A of these bylaws. The chair will not normally vote but may vote if his/her vote will change the outcome.

b. Term

The term of a member shall be three years as described in Appendix A of these bylaws.

c. Duties and responsibilities

i. Conduct all departmental evaluations for retention, promotion, and tenure as required by policies and procedures of UW Colleges.

ii. Conduct merit evaluations of departmental members as required by UW Colleges policies.

iii. Establish the department rosters determining faculty to be scheduled each year for review according to UW Colleges faculty review and development policies.

iv. Act on behalf of the department when decisions must be made between scheduled meetings of the department.

v. Advise the departmental chair on all matters for which such advice is sought.

vi. Whenever the Executive Committee makes a personnel recommendation regarding an individual, the individual shall be informed immediately.

vii. Minutes of all Executive Committee meetings shall be distributed to each member of the committee. Copies of minutes, with specific personnel actions deleted, shall be available to all members of the department who request them.

2. Curriculum Committee

a. Membership

A committee of four members of the department shall be elected to serve as the Curriculum Committee. The committee shall elect its own chair by majority vote.

b. Term

Each member shall be elected for a four-year term. The terms of members will be staggered so that one member will be elected each year.

c. Duties and responsibilities

i. The committee shall annually review the department course offerings. It shall be responsible for reviewing proposed course modifications and making recommendations to the department for new course offerings, revisions in course descriptions, revisions in course prerequisites, and deletions of courses from the curriculum.

ii. The committee upon the request of the Chair and/or department Executive Committee shall review requests for one-time modifications of course prerequisites and make recommendations to the Chair. Such requests shall be made at least six weeks prior to the beginning of the semester in which the change is requested.

3. Grievance Committee

a. Membership

The members of the Mathematics Department Grievance Committee will be the three Department faculty next in line for membership in the Department Executive Committee. If a Department member is unable to serve on the Committee in the required rotation, or if, in any grievance, there is a conflict of interest for or a valid objection to any member of the Committee, a replacement for that member will be the faculty member next in line for membership in the Department Executive Committee. If necessary to resolve conflicts, the Department will elect the Committee member at its next meeting. If a vacancy must be filled before an election can be held, the Executive Committee will select the Grievance Committee member. The Department Grievance Committee will elect its own Chair by majority vote.

b. Term

The term of a member shall be one year.

c. Procedures and guidelines

Grievance procedures and guidelines are set out in Appendix B of these bylaws.

D. Ad hoc Committees

1. Appointments Committee

a. Membership

The Department Appointments Committee shall consist of the Department Chair and two members of the Executive Committee elected by the Executive Committee.

b. Term

The term of a member shall be one year.

c. Duties and responsibilities

It shall be the responsibility of the Appointments Committee to review the credentials of all job applicants and to select those applicants who appear to meet the qualifications for the position(s).

d. Procedures and guidelines.

The list of persons selected by the Department Appointments Committee for consideration for appointment shall be sent to the campus appointment committee(s) by the department chair.

2. Professional Development and Grants Committee

a. Membership

The Professional Development and Grants Committee will consist of three members, at least two of whom must be faculty. The committee shall elect its own chair by majority vote.

b. Term

Each member shall be elected for a three-year term. The terms of members will be staggered so that one member will be elected each year.

c. Duties and responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the committee shall be to:

i. Develop and recommend to the Department policies to guide professional development and use department resources to support professional development;

ii. Provide information on available research and professional development opportunities for faculty and instructional academic staff;

iii. Prepare guidelines for the awarding of all research and professional development grants falling under the purview of the Department;

iv. Review and make recommendations to the chair on all research and professional development proposals requesting funds;

v. Review reports submitted by all grantees and submit a report to the chair;

vi. Perform such other duties relating to research and professional development the Department, the Executive Committee or the chair may request.

d. Procedures and guidelines

i. The procedures and guidelines that will be used in awarding professional development grants are set out in Appendix K.

3. Instructional Technology Committee

a. Membership

The Instructional Technology Committee shall consist of four members of the department. The committee shall elect its own chair by majority vote.

b. Term

Each member will be elected for a four-year term. The terms of members will be staggered so that one member will be elected each year.

c. Duties and responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the committee shall be to:

i. Distribute information regarding technology and the availability of grants for the acquisition of technology;

ii. Recommend department policies regarding course deliveries via distance education;

iii. Implement a procedure for the annual distribution of a report which includes the mathematical software being used by each campus of the UW Colleges, along with any other technology related information that the committee or department chair deems appropriate.

4. Developmental Mathematics Committee

a. Membership

The Developmental Mathematics Committee shall consist of five members of the department. The committee shall elect its own chair by majority vote.

b. Term

Members shall be elected, each fall, to serve staggered three-year terms.

c. Duties and responsibilities

The committee shall be responsible for advising the department concerning developmental mathematics policies and practices, and responsible for promoting appropriate activities for improvement of instruction.

5. Department Assessment Committee

a. Membership

The Assessment Committee will consist of four members. The committee shall elect its own chair by majority vote.

b. Term

Each member will be elected for a four-year term. The terms of members will be staggered so that one member will be elected each year.

c. Duties and responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of the committee shall be to:

i. Develop and recommend to the department policies on assessment;

ii. Prepare guidelines for assessment in mathematics courses;

iii. Review assessment reports submitted by all mathematics instructors and submit a report to the chair;

iv. Assist the department in revising curriculum and instructional methods based on assessment results;

v. Disseminate relevant information on assessment to faculty and instructional academic staff in mathematics;

vi. Perform such other duties relating to assessment that the department, the executive committee or the chair may request.

vii. The chair of the committee shall serve as the Department Assessment Coordinator.

d. Procedures and guidelines

i. Early in each semester, the committee shall select a set of courses and one or more performance indicators for participation in the UWC assessment program and convey this information to all faculty and IAS in the department.

ii. Early in each semester, the committee shall specify the department-level assessment objectives for the courses selected and convey this information to all faculty and IAS in the department.

iii. Each semester, the committee shall prepare a report containing the results of assessment for that semester and present it to the department.

6. Other committees

The Department, the Executive Committee, or the Department Chair, may establish additional ad hoc committees as deemed appropriate to meet special needs.

E. Associate Chairs:

1. Appointment

Each year the department chair shall appoint a member of the department on each campus to serve as the Associate Chair for that campus. On campuses where there are more than two full-time members of the department the local departmental members may advise the chair regarding this appointment.

2. Term

The term of office of an Associate Chair shall be one year.

3. Duties and Responsibilities

The primary responsibility of each associate chair is to be the liaison among the dean, the department, and the campus. In addition the associate chair shall help with arranging teaching schedules and any other departmental matters as they arise.

III. Personnel Procedures and Policies

A. Faculty

1. Tenure track appointments

a. Criteria for initial appointments

i. Faculty appointments shall be made according to the criteria outlined in Appendix C.

ii. Expectations upon Hiring - Faculty with mathematics as their home department shall have the appropriate training to qualify them to teach all precalculus and calculus courses. If the appointment is 100% in mathematics, faculty shall have the training to quality them to teach all mathematics courses.

iii. Split Appointments - Faculty with some other department as their home department may be hired and recommended for tenure, to teach a specific subset of mathematics courses. Such faculty must meet the minimum criteria for appointment in Appendix C, except in special cases for those teaching only Intermediate Algebra or College Algebra. Such exceptions must have the approval of the Executive Committee. The set of approved courses may be stipulated by the chair at the time of appointment or by the Executive Committee during the pre-tenure reviews.

2. Retention, Tenure and Promotions

a. Recommendations regarding retention, the granting of tenure, or promotion in rank shall be made using criteria for retention, promotion and tenure set out in Appendix C of these bylaws.

b. Existing criteria for retention, promotion, and tenure shall be applied to all tenure-track faculty, including those less than full-time.

3. Tenured Faculty Review and Development Conferences

Review and development conferences for tenures faculty shall be conducted in accordance with the tenured faculty review and development policies and procedures of the department set out in Appendix G of these bylaws

4. Emeritus status

a. Procedures

i. Recommendations regarding emeritus status shall be made by the Executive Committee following nomination by the individual or any member of the department. Nominations should be made in a timely fashion in order to meet the deadlines of the UW Colleges Senate Policy FPP#507 for Emeritus Status.

ii. Following nomination, the candidate shall indicate to the Executive Committee his/her reasons for seeking emeritus status. Such application shall include a vita and two letters of recommendation.

b. Criteria

The requirements for emeritus status are:

i. At least ten years of service in the University of Wisconsin Colleges.

ii. An overall record of distinguished service, and the expectation of continued contributions to the discipline or the University.

B. Instructional Academic Staff

1. Instructional Academic Staff Appointments

a. Criteria for initial appointments

Instructional Academic Staff appointments shall be made according to criteria outlined in Appendix D.

2. Evaluation of Instructional Academic Staff

a. When feasible, each instructional academic staff member will be visited by at least one tenured faculty member or probationary faculty member with at least three years teaching experience in the UW Colleges during the instructional academic staff member's first semester of teaching. Visitations will be conducted following the procedures for classroom visitation set out in Appendix E of these bylaws.

b. Visitations for instructional academic staff members beyond their initial semester of teaching shall be scheduled when feasible at the discretion of the department chair or upon the request of the instructional academic staff member or a campus dean.

c. Instructional academic staff members shall conduct all student evaluations required of faculty in the department. They may be requested, by the Executive Committee to conduct additional student evaluations.

d. Evaluation of instructional academic staff members shall be based on teaching performance. Results of student evaluations and visitation reports shall be the prime source of material on which to base the evaluation. Procedures for evaluation are set out in Appendix H of these bylaws.

e. Each instructional academic staff member is expected to submit an annual activity report listing classes taught and related pertinent information. (See Appendix H).

f. Exceptions to the application of these policies for individual cases may be made by an affirmative vote of the Executive Committee.

C. Merit Process

1. Merit evaluations shall be conducted in accordance with the merit policies and procedures of the department set out in Appendix F.

2. Merit consideration should be given for work in computer science in the area of professional growth.

3. The guidelines set out in Appendix J shall be used when considering professional service.

D. Class Visitations

Class visitations for purposes of evaluation of Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff shall be conducted according to the department's Class Visitation document set out in Appendix E of these bylaws.

E. Evaluation of Faculty by Former Students

Evaluation of faculty by former students shall follow these guidelines:

1. A former student is one who has taken a course from the instructor during the seven preceding academic years except for the current and preceding academic year.

2. Former students are to be selected randomly according to UWC Senate guidelines currently in place.

3. Former students shall be polled using the departmental student evaluation form (see Appendix I) for all tenure and promotion considerations.

4. The list of former students who were requested to complete the evaluation forms shall be available, upon request of the faculty member, following the date of the deadline for returning the forms. Following receipt of the summary results of the evaluations, the faculty member shall be provided with a list of respondents if he/she requests one.

IV. Curriculum

A. Curricular planning and new course development

All matters related to curricular planning, new course development, changes in course description, title, credits, and/or prerequisites will be referred to the curriculum committee. Recommendations of the curriculum committee will be considered and voted upon at a meeting of the department.

B. Special Topics courses

1. Mat 290 - Topics in Mathematics.
Any person wishing to offer this course must obtain the approval of the Executive Committee.

C. Independent Study/Reading courses

1. Independent Reading in Mathematics, Math 299, may be offered for 1, 2, or 3 credits. The student must have completed a 200 level math course and must have the consent of the instructor before enrolling in 299. Readings, reports, and papers are to be determined by the individual instructor who will arrange for the course meetings. Before any 299 course is offered it must be approved by the departmental Executive Committee, or the department chair and the Curriculum Committee.

2. If a course must be canceled due to low enrollment then the student(s) should take a correspondence course. No instructor should be expected to carry a reading course over and above the regular course load in order to replace a canceled class.

D. Workload

Faculty workload is governed by UW Colleges Senate Policy FPP#601.

1. The normal teaching load is 12 credit hours per semester.

2. A maximum of three preparations per semester shall be considered a normal load.

3. Teaching load expectations are to be applied on each campus as a whole and shall be yearly averages for the department at that campus.

E. Class sizes

1. The maximum class size for a standard lecture-discussion course is 35 students. Developmental mathematics classes are intensive skills courses and the maximum class size is 25 students. These established limits are to be exceeded only with the permission of the faculty or academic staff member teaching the course and with the approval of the department chair.

2. The department chair, with assistance from those whom he/she designates on each campus, shall monitor class size limits and subsequent implementation of those limits. Any resulting problems shall be reported to the department.

F. Final exams

1. A final examination shall be given in all courses, subject to UWC Senate Policy IP#104, on final examinations.

2. For all mathematics courses except 117, 130, 132, 140, 220, 272, 290, and 299 the exam shall be comprehensive, a majority of which shall be given at the scheduled exam time.

3. A copy of each final examination shall be kept by the faculty member for a period of three years. Copies are to be made available to the department chair upon request.

4. Exceptions to any of the above must be approved by the department chair.

G. Placement exams

Each UW College campus shall use the UW System Mathematics Placement Test. The Department recognizes as valid only those Mathematics Placement Test scores for any student from an exam which was taken prior to taking a mathematics course in the Colleges.

H. Final grades

1. The grading symbol "R" may be used in Math 105 and lower numbered courses. It should not be routinely used in place of "F".

2. The distribution of final grades in each course shall be printed by section and distributed to department members.

3. All departmental matters relating to an appeal of a grade in a mathematics class shall be handled by a subcommittee of the Executive Committee. The subcommittee shall consist of the members serving their third year on the committee. If one of these members is the faculty member who assigned the appealed grade, the department chair shall appoint another member of the Executive Committee to replace him/her on the subcommittee for that case. Grade appeals are governed by UW Colleges Senate Policy IP#204.

I. Textbook selection

Each UWC campus mathematics department shall select the text(s) to be used in each multiple-sectioned course for a given semester. Instructors in all sections are to use the same text(s) unless exemption has been granted by the Executive Committee. Requests for exemption shall be submitted by the faculty member and shall include the reason(s) for wanting to use a different text.

J. Credit by Examination

1. The Department of Mathematics supports the concept of credit by examination provided that the department sets the standards in mathematics.

2. A student wishing credit by demonstration of proficiency for Math 221 must first pass a departmentally created and graded advance placement exam and then complete the UW Colleges' Math 222 course with a grade of C or better. (this does not include "C-".) At that time the student will be given a grade of passing for Math 221.

3. Credit by examination may also be earned as follows:

5 credits of Math 221 if a student gets a score of 3, 4, or 5 in the Calculus AB Exam of the College Boards. (O credits for a score of I or 2)

10 credits of Math 221 and 222 if a student gets a score of 3, 4, or 5 in the Calculus BC Exam, 5 credits of Math 221 if a student gets a score of 2 on the BC Exam. (O credits for a score of 1 on the BC exam)

4. Credit in Math 221 may be earned by taking the CLEP exam which includes the free response section.

K. Course prerequisites

In the case of individual students, exceptions to prerequisites must be approved by the department chair, who will then report the decisions to the Executive Committee.

L. Honors course work

1. Honors course work in mathematics may be offered subject to Senate Policy IP #102.

2. The Executive Committee of the Department shall have responsibility for approving or rejecting requests to offer honors course work in mathematics.

3. The proposed additional work shall extend the depth and range of knowledge and skills beyond normal course expectations.

4. Only courses numbered 200 or higher will be considered for approval for honors course work.

5. A request for approval of the honors course work must contain a brief description of the honors work to be done in the course and should be submitted to the department chair. The request should be submitted at least one week before the first day of classes for honors sections or courses, and within the add period for honors work done by individual students.

M. Summer teaching

Mathematics faculty on each campus may develop a procedure to decide who is to teach summer courses that may be offered in mathematics.

V. Amending Bylaws

These bylaws may be amended by a majority vote at any meeting of the Department of Mathematics provided the topic of the amendment was listed on the agenda and distributed to department members at least one week prior to the meeting. Amendments are subject to the approval of the office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.

VI. Proxy and Mail Votes

In meetings of the department and the Executive Committee written or oral statements on behalf of an absent member may be presented but no proxy votes, written or oral, shall be counted.

VII. Appendices: Operational Guidelines/Processes

A. Procedures for the Composition of the Executive Committee

B. Department Grievance Procedures

C. Criteria for Faculty Appointment, Retention, Promotion and Tenure

D. Criteria for Instructional Academic Staff Appointments

E. Classroom Visitation Procedures

F. Merit Evaluations

G. Tenured Faculty Review and Development

H. Instructional Academic Staff Evaluation Procedures

I. Faculty Evaluation by Former Students

J. Guidelines for Professional Service

K. Procedures and Guidelines for Professional Development Grants