FACULTY CONSTITUTION
UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO-VALENCIA CAMPUS
History

A self-appointed faculty group, calling itself the Faculty Committee, formed in December of 1982 to represent faculty at Valencia Campus (then called the Valencia County Branch). The Faculty Committee's immediate goal was to form an elective body to organize and lead faculty. The Faculty Council was subsequently elected, by part-time and full-time faculty, in January of 1983. The constitution governing this group, the Faculty Council Constitution, was revised and renamed the Constitution of the Faculty Assembly by faculty ("Revised Final Draft" October 25, 1985), reviewed by the director, Dr. Omero Suarez, and approved by a two- thirds vote of the Faculty Assembly in fall 1985.

The Faculty Executive Committee (1993-94), with the consent of the Faculty Assembly, has determined that a substantial revision of the 1985 Constitution is needed and that, following the precedent set by Gallup Campus in 1989, this revision should be submitted to main campus for approval.

Guiding Principles

As "Section H" of the University of New Mexico Faculty Handbook states, "The branch campuses of the University of New Mexico are considered fully integrated component colleges, and they are committed to serving the needs of their respective communities in the manner of a comprehensive community college." The Valencia Campus, then, has a dual role which warrants its faculty organizing locally under the aegis of the main campus Faculty Senate and within the authority given to branch faculty by the UNM Faculty Handbook, UNM Faculty Constitution, and Operating Agreement between the UNM Regents and branch Advisory Board. For example, the UNM Faculty Constitution states that "The Faculty of each College shall be an autonomous unit in all matters relating to that particular college . . ." (Art. II, Sec. 1), and "The Faculty of each College shall decide upon the procedure for the efficient functioning of the College" (Art. II, Sec. 3a). Such faculty authority will be exercised in a collegial manner and in open, regular collaboration with other branch constituent groups and main campus.

Sources
* UNM-Valencia Campus Faculty Constitution (1985)
* UMM-Valencia Campus Operating Agreement (1992)
* UNM-Gallup Faculty Constitution (1989)
* UNM Faculty Handbook (Current Edition)
* UMM Faculty Constitution (1949) I. THE FACULTY ASSEMBLY 1. All full-time and contract faculty are voting members of the Assembly.
2. All instructors employed by the branch for the current semester to teach credit-bearing courses and ABE courses are voting members of the Assembly for that semester. Those employed each spring semester are also voting members until the following fall semester begins, upon which, they must be reemployed to continue their membership and voting status.
3. The Director, Chief Instructional Officer (if not a faculty member), Director of Student Services, Librarian(s), Business Manager, Staff Association President, and Student Body President are non-voting, ex-officio members of the Assembly.
4. Any subsequent membership issue shall be decided by a ballot and by all voting members of the Assembly.
  B. Rights and Responsibilities:
  1. Subject to the provisions in the Faculty Constitution--Article 1, Section 2; Article II, Section 1, and Article 11, Section 4(a)--Faculty Assembly has the right of review and action in the following:
  a. Formulation of institutional aims.
b. Creation of divisions, departments, and programs.
c. Approval of major curriculum changes upon recommendation from branch campus administration and forwarding to appropriate UNM entities for final approval.
d. Recommendation of standards for admission graduation, honors, scholastic performance.
e. Approval of candidates for degrees.
f. Procedures of appointment, dismissal, and promotion in academic rank at Valencia Campus, and administration of such procedures.
g. Creation and administration of faculty academic freedom grievance procedures at Valencia Campus.
h. Recommendation of action in regard to general faculty welfare.
  2. Officers of the Faculty Assembly or their appointees will work with the instructional Council and Advisory Board to compose the annual budget for approval by the director and Board.
  C. General Procedures:
  1. Quorum: Members of the voting faculty present, but at least 30 % of full-time faculty, constitute a quorum at Faculty Assembly meetings.
2. The Assembly and its Committees shall follow "Robert's Rules of Order" for parliamentary procedure
3. The Assembly shall meet a minimum of three times during each semester of the academic year, usually on the last Friday of the month. II. FACULTY ASSEMBLY STRUCTURE A. Officers and Representatives:
  1. The Assembly shall nominate and elect faculty to the following positions
  a. Faculty President--Officer
b. Faculty Vice President--Officer
c. Faculty Secretary--Officer
d. Two representatives from separate discipline areas other than the faculty president's, to serve on the Faculty Executive Committee   2. The officers and representatives (a - d above) constitute the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) of the Assembly.

3. Duties of Officers
 

a. The Faculty President shall,
  (1) Preside over the Assembly as its chief Executive Officer and chair the Faculty Executive Committee.
(2) Represent faculty before community, college or main campus groups and officials (e.g. monthly reports to Advisory Board) where not inconsistent with Article III, Section 3(b) of the Faculty Constitution.
(3) Serve on the Instructional Council and supervise faculty administrator’s evaluations issued by the Instructional council.
(4) Oversee any official documents issued by the Assembly.
(5) Appoint faculty to Assembly and Valencia Campus Standing Committees, in consultation with appropriate faculty and campus administrators, with the concurrence of the FEC.
  b. The Vice President shall,
  (1) Serve on the Executive Committee and actively assist the President.
(2) Perform the duties of the President in the absence of the President (at the President's request).
(3) Function as the Assembly and Executive Committee parliamentarian.
(4) Act as Treasurer, responsible for the Assembly budget and financial reports.
  c. The Secretary shall,
  (1) Serve on the Executive Committee.
(2) Distribute to members, Advisory Board, Administration, and others, and post announcements and documents of the Executive Committee and Assembly (e.g. minutes, agendas, policies) in a timely manner.
(3) Record minutes of meetings of the Assembly and Executive Committee.
(4) Act as custodian of official Assembly documents.
(5) Conduct the correspondence of the Assembly.
(6) Maintain a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of Assembly members and compile a phone information network, if deemed necessary, to expedite communication among Assembly members.
  4. Election of Executive Committee Members
  a. The election of Assembly Officers and Representatives of the Executive Committee shall be conducted annually at the last regular Assembly meeting of the spring semester or at the first meeting thereafter.
b. The election shall be chaired by the outgoing President of the Assembly.
c. The new officers and Executive Committee shall take office immediately upon election.
d. Nominations for Faculty officers and Representatives may be submitted to the Executive Committee through the Secretary before the election meeting; additional nominations may be made from the election meeting floor.
e. The President, Vice President, and Secretary shall not all be from the same discipline area.
f. No Executive Committee member shall also be serving at a chair level or above.
g. Executive Committee Members are elected for one-year terms. If any Member resigns before the end of his/her term, the Executive Committee will temporarily fill the vacancy and hold a special election to officially fill the vacancy at the next Assembly meeting following the resignation.
  B. Faculty Executive Committee (FEC):
  1. Membership--President, Vice President, Secretary and 2 Representatives of the Faculty Assembly.

2. Duties of the Executive Committee-- 

a. Direct the work of the Assembly and its committees (i.e. function as a committee on Committees); review the minutes and official actions of all Standing and Ad Hoc Committees of the Assembly and present any committee action, requiring Assembly vote, to it with recommendations.
b. Identify goals and set meeting agendas for the Assembly.
c. Review Assembly procedures and structure and make recommendations for their improvement.
d. Appoint, after a nomination process, all faculty representatives to Assembly and Valencia Campus Standing Committees.
e. Appoint representatives to fill committee vacancies between the two-year cycle of the committee bid process.
f. Represent the faculty to off-campus groups regarding faculty business.
g. Compose and distribute (or delegate such) the Faculty Newsletter, to include upcoming Assembly agendas, at least three times each in fall and spring semesters, to be distributed at least four days prior to each Assembly meeting to all college faculty, advisory board members, key administrators, staff, and students, as well as to the President of the Faculty Senate, Regents, Provost, and branch liaison of the University.   C. Standing Committees:
  1. Standing Committees and their charges shall be created by majority vote of the Faculty at the Assembly meeting designated for such a vote by the Executive Committee and the meeting Agenda.
 
2. Mission, size, and composition of committees shall be determined by vote of the Faculty Assembly.
 
3. Service on Assembly and Campus Committees is voluntary but central to faculty professional development and college service. As such, service on the executive committee and other Assembly committees should be given substantial weight on any faculty evaluation and consideration of merit pay. Committee appointments are for two years.

4. Faculty appointments to Assembly and Campus Committees will be made by the Faculty President, with the consent of the Executive Committee, and after consultation with Chairs, and, in the case of non-faculty committees, the appropriate campus administrator.

5. Chairpersons of the Standing Committees shall be elected by committee members of each committee.

6. The Current Standing Committees are,
 

a. Curriculum Committee
b. Faculty Procedure Handbook
c. Professional Development
d. Program Development
e. Tenure and Promotion
f. Adjunct Faculty
g. Faculty Conflict Resolution
  7. Appointments to Assembly Standing Committees are for two years.
  D. Ad-Hoc Committees will be formed and staffed by the FEC as the need for such committees arises. III. AMENDMENTS AND BYLAWS This Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the Faculty Assembly present after presentation of the amendments for debate at two consecutive Faculty Assembly meetings convened at least four weeks apart.
  B. Bylaws:
  1. This constitution may be supplemented by bylaws adopted by a majority vote of the Assembly present after a single presentation at a Faculty Assembly meeting.

2. Such Bylaws shall normally include the following:
 

a. Interpretations and implementations of this Constitution.
b. Creation of Standing Committees of the Faculty Assembly, their statements of mission, duties, size, and composition.
c. Other Faculty regulations. IV. DISTRIBUTION The Secretary of the Assembly shall keep on file a copy of this Constitution, its Amendments and its Bylaws, shall file a copy with the University Secretary, and shall make certain that the Constitution appears in the UNM-Valencia Facultv Procedure Handbook which is distributed to every Faculty member. V. RATIFICATION 1. Faculty Executive Committee (1993-94), acting as the ad hoc Constitutional Revision Committee--Review and Approval (January 24, 1994)

2. UNM-Valencia Campus Faculty Assembly--Review and Approval (March 4, 1994 and April 8, 1994 respectively)

3. University Counsel--Review and Recommendation (April 13, 1994)

4. Valencia Campus Director--Review (April 13, 1994)

5. Valencia Campus Advisory Board--Review (April 13, 1994)

6. UNM Faculty Senate--Review and Approval (April 12 and May 10, respectively)

7. UNM President—Review and Approval (Spring/Summer 1994)

  Approved by the UNM-Valencia Campus Faculty Assembly and its Officers this 8th day of April, 1994.

 Gregory Candela, President

Approved by the UNM Faculty Senate this 10th day of May, 1994.