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Part One

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A. Definitions

  1. The faculty of the University of Colorado Denver (hereinafter UCD) consists of persons enumerated in Article 5 of the Laws of the Regents.
  2. Faculty government exists and derives its powers from the authority delegated to it by the Board of Regents. These powers and duties must be exercised in accordance with the Laws of the Regents, Regent Policies, and the laws and constitutions of the State of Colorado and of the United States.
  3. As the most durable and stable constituency immediately involved with the academic operation of UCD, the faculty has a special concern and responsibility for academic freedom.

    As provided in the Laws of the Regents, the faculty shall formulate faculty governance to effect the principles established under Article I.B, Participation. Faculty government bodies at UCD include the UCD Faculty, the Faculty Assembly and its committees, and the faculties of the colleges and schools of UCD and the Library. Colleges or schools and the Library (hereinafter colleges/schools/library), as provided in the Laws of the Regents, may be further divided into departments or divisions.

    a. The UCD faculty consists of all members of the Faculty Senate of the University of Colorado seated at UCD, including the following titles for faculty who have fifty-percent or more appointments:

    Professor Senior Instructor Scholar in Residence
    Associate Professor Instructor Artist in Residence
    Assistant Professor

    Adjoint, Attendant, Clinical, and Research faculty with fifty-percent or more appointments in the above ranks are also members of the UCD Faculty; Visiting Professors are not. Ex officio members with the right to vote are the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellors, all Deans, and Professors Emeriti and Emeritae. Officers shall not exercise their rights to vote if they are in a position to act on a recommendation emanating from that vote. As new faculty titles are created, the Faculty Assembly shall determine whether such faculty shall be voting members of the UCD Faculty.

    b. The Faculty Assembly is the representative governing body of the UCD Faculty and consists of faculty members elected or appointed as provided in Article III. The standing committees of Faculty Assembly are those defined in Article III. From time to time, Faculty Assembly may establish other committees as it deems appropriate.

    c. The faculties of the colleges/schools/library at UCD are those established in the Laws of the Regents and defined further by the rules of the respective college/school/library.

  4. The Assembly year shall be from July 1 to June 30, inclusive. The terms of all elected members of Faculty Assembly and of faculty members of Assembly committees shall conform to the Assembly year. Terms are specified in the Bylaws. Election of new members of Faculty Assembly and of standing committees of Faculty Assembly shall occur in the spring semester. Election procedures are specified in the Bylaws.

B. Participation of faculty in governance at the University of Colorado Denver is guided by principles of shared governance as recognized by the Board of Regents: faculty and administration shall collaborate in major decisions affecting the welfare of the University. The nature of that participation, shared as appropriate with administration, students, and staff, varies according to the nature of the decisions in question. The faculty takes the lead in decisions about educational policy related to teaching, curriculum, research, academic ethics, and other academic matters. The administration takes the lead in matters of internal operations and external relations of the university. In every case, the faculty and the administration participate in the governance and operation of the university as provided by and in accordance with the laws and policies of the Board of Regents and the laws and regulations of the State of Colorado. The Chair of Faculty Assembly or the Chair’s designee shall be the spokesperson for the UCD Faculty when addressing the Board of Regents on matters of importance to shared governance at the University of Colorado at Denver.

1. The faculty shall have the principal responsibility for originating academic policy and standards, including initial authorization and direction of all courses, curricula, and degrees offered, admissions criteria, regulation of student academic conduct and activities, and determination of candidates for degrees.

2. The faculty shall have principal responsibility for originating scholastic policy, including scholastic standards for admission, grading (consistent with the Uniform Grading Policy of the University), continuation, graduation, and honors. As required by Article 4 of the Laws of the Regents, the deans of the colleges/schools shall have responsibility for maintaining admissions standards and requirements.

3. In the selection and evaluation of faculty, the faculty shall have the principal role, subject to the concurrence of the UCD administration and the ultimate authority of the Board of Regents or its designee(s).

4. In establishing policies and procedures for faculty appointment, reappointment, promotion, tenure, and post-tenure review and establishing policies and procedures for the appeal of decisions in these areas, the faculty shall collaborate with the UCD administration in the development of recommendations for submission to the Board of Regents or its designees.

5. In the selection and evaluation of department chairs and academic administrators in the colleges/schools/library, the faculty shall collaborate with the administration in the development of recommendations to the Chancellor and the Board of Regents or its designee(s).

6. In establishing and reviewing budget policies and plans for resource allocation, the faculty shall collaborate with the administration in the development of recommendations to the Chancellor for submission to the Board of Regents or its designee(s). This includes review of new academic degree program proposals, academic program review, and program discontinuance.

7. In the preparation of budgets, the administration shall have the principal role, with early collaboration of the appropriate faculty governance unit(s), subject to the ultimate authority of the Chancellor and the Board of Regents or its designee(s).

8. In making other policy about the general academic welfare of UCD, the faculty shall collaborate with the administration in developing recommendations to the Chancellor for submission to the Board of Regents or its designee(s).

9. Administrative changes to policy with respect to matters listed in I.B.1-8 shall be promulgated only after consultation with appropriate faculty governance bodies.

10. In Articles II-IV of this constitution, the structure and function of faculty organization at different levels at UCD are defined, and other aspects of faculty participation in UCD governance are specified.

C. Faculty Governance Service shall be considered in annual merit evaluations and in other evaluation processes. Differential workloads may be negotiated by the faculty member and the chair of the appropriate academic unit when faculty governance roles exceed the time normally expected in accord with the University’s service mission. The chair of the appropriate governance unit shall be consulted in determining whether the time and effort normally expected by the University’s service mission will be exceeded. Appropriate compensation, within the limits of campus policies, shall be negotiated for the service of officers and committee chairs in the ongoing business of faculty governance.

D. Procedures for all faculty governance bodies at UCD shall be as specified in this Constitution, in the Bylaws of this Constitution, in unit operating procedures, or, if not so provided, in the latest edition of Robert's Rules of Order.

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