Schedule an Official RPT Departmental Faculty Meeting
- The department chairperson shall call a meeting of the departmental RPT advisory committee to conduct reviews as described in PPM 9-5.1.B
- A secretary of each meeting shall be designated by the chairperson of the department RPT advisory committee and shall take notes of the discussion to provide the basis for developing a summary.
- Notify all candidates at least 30 days prior to the scheduled official RPT departmental faculty meeting. All files must be complete and closed at least 3 weeks prior to scheduled meeting. No additional actions can be considered without soliciting new letters of evaluation and having a second S(H)AC and DAC meeting.
- Quorum: A quorum of a department advisory committee for any given case shall consist of 2/3 of its members, except that any member unable to attend the meeting because of formal leave or absence or physical disability shall not be counted in determining the number required for a quorum.
- SOM policy regarding voting procedures at the official RPT departmental faculty meeting.
- A 2/3 quorum of eligible tenure-track faculty must be present at your official RPT departmental faculty meeting . A absentee ballots must be solicited and received before that meeting. Absentee ballots do not count towards the 2/3 quorum. Note that "eligible voters" refers to tenure-track faculty only.
Your department must list the number of eligible voters for each action (Refer to Voting Procedures ). Do not include faculty members who are on sabbatical or official University leave of absence, and do not count the department chair or the candidate in determining the 2/3 quorum number. Provide a written alphabetical list of the faculty (sorted by rank) in your department, with the names of those present clearly marked.
- Whenever practical, the department chair shall advise all faculty members on leave or otherwise absent of the proposed action(s) and shall request their written opinion and vote. Absent members' written opinions shall be disclosed at the official RPT departmental faculty meeting, and their votes will be counted the same as other votes. Absentee votes must be received prior to the meeting at which a vote is taken by the departmental faculty.
- The SOM allows and encourages full-time clinical-, research-, and lecture-track faculty to participate and vote in the official RPT departmental faculty meeting . Clinical-, research-, and lecturer-track faculty votes do not count, however, towards the 2/3 quorum, according to the University of Utah guidelines. Nonetheless, as part of the required documentation of the SOM, the clinical-, research-, and lecturer-track faculty vote must be recorded, reviewed, and considered in later deliberations . To comply with University of Utah guidelines, the vote by the tenure-track faculty must be recorded separately on the RPT form, under “Tenure-Track Vote,” and the full-time clinical-, research-, and lecturer-track faculty vote also must be recorded on the RPT form, under the heading “Clinical and Research Vote”. The department chair and/or the department faculty should initiate a procedure to be used by the department to facilitate participation by all full-time faculty. Because clinical-, research-, and lecture-track faculty cannot be tenured, the rank of their faculty votes must be higher than that proposed for the candidate.
- Single vote rule: No individual may cast a vote in the same academic year in any person’s case in more than one capacity (e.g. as member of both department and college advisory committees, or as a member of both the department and administration.
- Absentee voting: Whenever practicable, the department chairperson shall advise all members on leave or otherwise absent of the proposed action and shall request their written opinions and votes. Absent members’ written opinions shall be disclosed at the meeting and their votes will be counted the same as other votes. Absentee votes must be received prior to the meeting at which a vote is taken by the RPT department advisory committee. Absentee ballots do not count towards the 2/3 quorum requirement.
- The candidate's completed RPT file shall be made available to those eligible to attend the official RPT departmental faculty meeting a reasonable time before the meeting, which should be specified in department policy. Confidentiality of the RPT file must be maintained, and any discussion of the RPT file with the candidate, including letters of evaluation, is in violation of university policy and the faculty code of conduct, and may be subject to formal disciplinary action.
- A separate set of minutes reflecting the discussion for each candidate must be taken. The official RPT departmental faculty meeting minutes will report the discussion that takes place and an explanation of the vote taken on each proposed action for each candidate. The minutes of the RPT department advisory committee meeting must be signed by the secretary and bear written approval of the committee chairperson. These minutes must be made available for inspection by all eligible faculty members for not less than two business days or more than five business days. After such modification as the committee approves, the secretary shall forward the summary report to the department chairperson and the candidate, along with a list of all faculty members present at the meeting. The minutes should be labeled "Departmental Faculty Meeting Minutes.” Of great importance is that the minutes are substantive. Cryptic minutes are of limited use and could be detrimental to the candidate's evaluation.
- Limitations on Voting: Department chairpersons, deans, and other administrative officials who are required by the regulations to make their own recommendations in an administrative capacity may attend and, upon invitation by majority vote of the committee, may submit evidence, judgments, and opinions, or participate in discussion. By majority vote the committee may move to executive session, from which non-voting participants may be excluded. Department chairpersons, deans, and other administrative officials who cast RPT votes in their administrative capacities shall not vote at the department level. See Policy and Procedures 9-5.1, Section 2, E.5. Limitations.
- All committee and faculty votes and deliberations are personnel actions and should be treated with confidentiality in accordance with policy and law. No information, direct or indirect, should be communicated in any form to the candidate. Discussion of any information stemming from the DAC meeting with the candidate undergoing review, or with anyone outside of the department, is in violation of university policy and the faculty code of conduct.
