Cinema Department By-Laws And Procedures

Transcription

1 The Faculty of the Department of Cinema have ultimate responsibility for the curriculum and for making recommendations regarding hiring, retention, tenure, and promotion, subject to University regulations ( I. Participation A. Membership and Voting Rights 1. Tenured and tenure-track Faculty in the department, regardless of their time-base or leave status, shall be entitled to full participation in all departmental voting and meetings. 2. Faculty on early retirement, regardless of their time-base, shall be entitled to full participation in all departmental voting and meetings, consistent with University policy. 3. The Production Coordinator, who has status as a 1.0 Lecturer, shall be entitled to full participation in all departmental voting and meetings with the exception of circumstances where departmental or university regulations explicitly specify otherwise (e.g., membership of RTP Committee, voting for tenure line appointments etc.). 4. The Cinema Department Office Manager, Facilities Manager and Equipment Manager shall all be entitled to full participation in all departmental voting and meetings with the exception of circumstances where departmental or university regulations explicitly specify otherwise. 5. Voting for Department Chair shall be open to all Faculty. The Senate s policy on selection of chairs states: For purposes of selection, appointment, and review of chairs, the term Faculty includes tenured and tenure-track Faculty, and instructors of record on a yearly contract excluding temporary Faculty who are also graduate students in the department. Departments shall tabulate votes of temporary Faculty on a pro-rated basis in proportion to the Faculty member's time-base appointment in the semester in which the review or selection process is initiated. 6. Only tenure line Faculty may vote on hiring, promotion and retention of tenure line faculty. 7. Lecturers shall be entitled to pro rata participation in departmental voting and meetings, other than in those circumstances specified above, consistent with University and Trustee policy. 8. In the event that University policies should conflict with these provisions, University policies shall take precedence. B. Meetings Meetings of the Faculty of the Department shall be held at least once a month during the academic year and additionally as necessary. 1. Meetings shall ordinarily be scheduled and called by the Department Chair. 2. Meetings may be called upon the request of one-third of the voting members of the Department. 3. Meetings shall be conducted with Robert s Rules of Order as a guide. 4. Quorum shall be set at 50% of the number of voting members in the Department who are not currently on leave or early retirement. 5. Faculty who are unable to attend meetings may submit proxy votes regarding specific, upcoming minuted proposals in writing to the Chair of the Governance Committee. 6. Student representatives may attend Faculty meetings. Student representatives shall have speaking rights but may not vote. Last Amended 21 November

2 II. Standing Committees A. Governance Committee 1. The Governance Committee shall: a. Review and revise departmental policies and by-laws for consideration by Faculty. b. Ensure the currency of the departmental Faculty Manual. c. Ensure the currency of the description of the departmental administration s responsibilities. d. Identify situations that may need to be addressed by the adoption of further by-laws. e. The committee has the mandate to propose changes to departmental policies and by-laws but any such proposals require the approval of a majority of Cinema Department Faculty present at a properly constituted Faculty Meeting. 2. The Governance Committee consists of three Faculty members and a student representative. a. Members shall be recommended by the Chair and elected by the voting members as a whole, for two-year terms. Voting members may also nominate members. b. The committee elects its own chair. B. Curriculum Committee 1. The Curriculum Committee shall: a. Review and recommend to the Department Chair and Faculty any proposed changes in requirements for undergraduate programs, including majors, minors, CEL classes and Junior College class equivalencies in Cinema. b. Review and recommend to the Department Chair and Faculty regarding all changes in courses offered by the department, proposals for new courses, or deletion of existing courses. The Committee may delegate to the Department Chair the approval of variants of generic courses. c. Advise the Department Chair and Faculty regarding all aspects of the undergraduate program, including advising and recruiting of students. d. Advise the Chair and Faculty regarding departmental participation in curricular matters outside the department, including general education and other all-university requirements. e. All changes to curriculum agreed within the Cinema Department must then be taken forward according to University Recommendations. 2. The Curriculum Committee consists of at least three members: a. Members shall be recommended by the Chair and elected by the voting members as a whole, for two-year terms. Voting members may also nominate members. b. The committee elects its own chair. Last Amended 21 November

3 C. Graduate Committee 1. The Graduate Committee shall: a. Review and recommend to the Department Chair and Faculty any changes to policies governing the MFA and MA programs. b. Review and recommend to the Department Chair and Faculty regarding all changes in MFA and MA courses offered by the department, proposals for new ones, or deletion of existing courses. All changes to curriculum agreed upon within the Cinema Department must then be taken forward according to University Recommendations. c. Advise the Department Chair and Faculty regarding recruiting, admission and advising of graduate students. d. Recommend candidates for all GTA and GA positions, and for Production Assistants in consultation with their departmental staff supervisors. All effort should be made to take the recommendations and requests of individual faculty into consideration. e. Assist Coordinators and graduate selection committees with the shortlisting and ranking of applicants to the MA and MFA degrees. 2. The Graduate Committee shall consist of the MA and MFA Coordinators and an additional Faculty member (for a total of three Faculty members) as well as a student representative from both the MA and the MFA: a. Members shall be recommended by the Chair and elected by the voting members as a whole, to serve two-year terms. Voting members may also nominate members. b. The Graduate Committee is co-chaired by the MFA and MA coordinators. D. Retention, Tenure and Promotion Committee 1. Responsibilities. The RTP Committee shall: a. Review and recommend to the Department Chair and Dean regarding retention, tenure and promotion of probationary Faculty. b. Review and recommend to the Department Chair and Dean regarding promotion of tenured Faculty. c. Comply fully with all University policies and procedures with all provisions of the collective bargaining agreement. d. Fully support all Faculty coming up for review and advise on processes, good practice and deadlines in good time. 2. Membership. The RTP Committee shall consist of at least three tenured members: a. Two weeks prior to the first faculty meeting of the Fall term, the Chair will initiate a nomination process via , making his or her own recommendations for the composition of the RTP committee, and inviting all tenure-track faculty to make their own nominations. At the earliest faculty meeting of the Fall semester, members will be selected by secret ballot to serve three-year terms. Provision shall be made to ensure continuity of membership so that in any year there will be carryover of at least one person on a three-member committee and at least two persons on a five-or-more-member Last Amended 21 November

4 committee. In the event a committee member cannot fulfill the term of office, a substitute shall be selected through the standard election procedures to fill out the remainder of the unfulfilled term. b. The RTP Committee shall elect its own chair. E. Development Committee 1. The Development Committee shall: a. Craft and update a strategic fundraising plan for the Cinema Department. b. Develop a list of naming, endowment and scholarship priorities for Chair and faculty review. c. Work with the Chair and faculty to identify and cultivate donors. d. Work with the Chair and faculty to identify grants and funded project opportunities. 2. The Development Committee shall consist of three members: a. Members shall be recommended by the Chair and elected by the voting members as a whole, to serve two-year terms. Voting members may also nominate members. b. The Development Committee shall elect its own chair, to serve a term of two years. III. Searches and Selection of Faculty and Department Chairs A. Tenure-line Faculty 1. Constitution of the Hiring Committee Hiring Committees will normally include all tenure and tenure-track faculty in the Department who agree to participate in all aspects of the search. 2. Responsibilities of the Hiring Committee a. Read the files of all applicants b. Attend all interviews and presentations by applicants chosen for campus interviews c. Maintain the confidentiality of the hiring process. 3. Steps in the hiring process may include some or all of the following: a. Drafting the job announcement, in consultation with the Chair, for submission to the Dean. b. Reducing a large number of candidates to an initial list of seven to ten. c. Conducting reference checks and preliminary interviews with candidates on the initial list. d. Deciding which candidates among those on the initial list to invite for oncampus interviews. Last Amended 21 November

5 e. Deciding which candidate(s) among those invited for on-campus interviews to recommend for the position. The committee may elect to recommend one candidate, to rank all candidates, to exclude candidates, etc. f. Drafting a memo to the Chair in support of the Committee s decision. The Hiring Committee may, by a 2/3 vote, designate a sub-committee to complete any of the aforementioned tasks. B. Departmental Chair 1. Voting rights: a. All tenured and tenure-track Faculty members shall be entitled to one full vote, regardless of their time-base during the semester of the selection process. b. Faculty on early retirement shall be entitled to one full vote, regardless of their time-base during the semester of the selection process. c. Lecturers shall be entitled to pro rata participation in chair voting and faculty meetings consistent with University and Trustee policy. 2. The nomination process for internal candidates shall be: a. A call for nominations shall go out to all permanent and temporary Cinema faculty. b. A sub-committee consisting of at least three Faculty members, elected by the Faculty as a whole, shall serve as a nominating committee. c. The sub-committee will receive the nominations and determine who is willing to stand for election. c. Ballots shall be distributed to all Faculty with voting rights as discussed above. d. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, the candidate with the lowest number of votes shall be dropped from the ballot and another vote taken, until one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast. 3. External searches: In circumstances where the University has approved an external search, a Search Committee shall be formed, which shall be a sub-committee of the hiring committee. The hiring committee shall be the Faculty as a whole. 4. In circumstances where an Acting Chair is required for leave or sabbatical cover, or during the period of an external search (for example), the nomination process shall be the same as for the internal election of a new Department Chair. 5. In all other matters the Department follows the existing Academic Senate policy. In the case of contradiction, Academic Senate policy shall take precedence. IV. Department Administration A. The Department Chair 1. The current senate policy outlining the duties of the Department Chair can be found here: Last Amended 21 November

6 B. The MFA Coordinator 1. The MFA Coordinator shall be recommended by the Chair, or nominated by the faculty, and elected by the voting members as a whole for a term of three years. 2. Duties of the MFA Coordinator: to supervise the MFA program; manage the application and selection process for MFA admissions; manage an active induction and orientation process for incoming MFA students; conduct MFA program review and assessment; ensure reasonable access and availability to MFA students in person and by Coordinate with the Chair and Faculty hiring and deployment for all GA, GTA and Production Assistant posts for MFA students. 4. Monitor and, where necessary, manage the revision of MFA class and program descriptions in the Bulletin. 5. The MFA Coordinator shall receive one individual instructional course per semester as part of his or her three and three teaching load. C. The MA Coordinator 1. The MA Coordinator shall be recommended by the Chair, or nominated by the faculty, and elected by the voting members as a whole for a term of three years. 2. Duties of the MA Coordinator: to supervise the MA program; manage the application and selection process for MA admissions; manage an active induction and orientation process for incoming MA students; conduct MA program review and assessment; ensure reasonable access and availability to MA students in person and by Coordinate with the Chair and Faculty hiring and deployment for all GA, GTA and Production Assistant posts for MA students. 4. Monitor and, where necessary, manage the revision of MFA class and program descriptions in the Bulletin. 5. The MA Coordinator shall receive one individual instructional course per semester as part of her or his three and three teaching load. D. The Undergraduate Coordinator 1. The Undergraduate Coordinator shall be recommended by the Chair, or nominated by the faculty, and elected by the voting members as a whole for a term of three years. 2. Duties of the Undergraduate Coordinator: to supervise the undergraduate program; conduct briefings for prospective undergraduate students at University events; conduct an active induction and orientation process for incoming students; ensure reasonable access and availability to students in person and by ; conduct undergraduate program review and assessment; conduct advising sessions for new students; serve as a resource on General Education questions; make recommendations for curriculum development to the Curriculum Committee. 3. Monitor and manage the revision of course and program descriptions in the Bulletin. E. The Internship Coordinator 1. The Internship Coordinator shall be recommended by the Chair, or nominated by the faculty, and elected by the voting members as a whole for a term of three years. 2. Duties of the Internship Coordinator: to supervise all internships offered by the Department. Last Amended 21 November

7 3. Ensure all external internship companies meet the strict standards of Executive Order No. 1064, including maintaining all appropriate and required paperwork and agreements, conducting yearly site visits, and grading. 4. Maintain a list of all internship opportunities; advertise the opportunities to Cinema students on a regular basis using, at the very least, the Department s website and Facebook page. 5. Monitor and, where necessary, manage the revision of the internship courses and program descriptions in the Bulletin. 6. The Internship Coordinator shall receive one individual instructional course per semester, specifically the internship course, as part of his or her three and three teaching load. F. Cinema Department Staff Duties [See Appendix I, below.] V. Retention, Promotion and Tenure Criteria A. The Cinema Department s own criteria for RTP are available from the San Francisco State University Faculty Affairs Website, here: as are the general University criteria. VI. Appointment of GA/GTAs A. Principles 1. The Department supports the training and employment of graduate students through all of the unit's operations. 2. To be eligible for a GA or GTA position, Cinema graduate students must first take and pass CINE In all situations, a graduate student working as a GTA, GA, or ISA, or enrolled in 852, may not earn credit for the course she or he is assisting or teaching. 4. Since only four units of instructional support can be applied to a graduate student's degree, Cinema graduate students cannot enroll in more than four units of instructional assistance coursework without the written permission of the chair. 5. Graduate students enrolled in undergraduate courses must complete additional coursework as specified by the instructor. Graduate students in an undergraduate class should not be grading any work done by other classmates in the same course. 6. To ensure the department meets the requirements of the Unit 11 Collective Bargaining Agreement, Cinema graduate students cannot teach, grade or assist in the administration of a Cinema course on a volunteer basis without the written permission of the chair. B. Procedures 1. The chair identifies the number of GA and GTA positions and the courses those positions are to support with an eye on supporting as many graduate students as possible. In the end, the number of positions is to be based on the needs of the curriculum and on funding. 2. The chair puts out a call for applicants at least three months prior to the start of each semester, and simultaneously notifies the faculty. The application will consist of a one-page form filled out by the student and the student s resume. The Chair receives and organizes all applications. 3. The Graduate Committee (excluding student representatives) reviews applications and determines all selections. Criteria include completion of CINE 852, the applicant s Last Amended 21 November

8 background and experience, past performance, and input by individual Faculty. Preferences, if any, should be directed to the Graduate Committee, and will be honored to the extent possible. 4. When possible, selectees should come equally from the MA and MFA programs. 5. The Chair notifies selectees and faculty and, per university guidelines, prepares all contracts. VII. Curriculum A. Distance Learning The Department supports distanced learning as one element in its curriculum, within the following parameters: 1. No more than 18 distance learning units may be applied to the major. 2. No student can be required to take an online course. To assure that this is the case, undergraduate core and foundational courses offered online during any academic year must also be offered on campus during the same academic year. In addition, a sufficient number of elective courses must be offered on campus every semester to ensure that students can complete the program in a timely manner without relying on online courses. 3. No faculty member can be required to teach an online course. 4. Faculty who create online materials retain the rights to those materials. This includes streaming audio-video lectures and interactive learning modules they have designed and created. Such material cannot be used without the permission of the faculty member who created it. 5. Peer reviews of teaching effectiveness in distance learning courses may be conducted in ways analogous to their conduct on campus. 6. The Department may create multiple sections of an online course with different sections designed and taught by different members of the faculty. 7. Student evaluation of teaching effectiveness procedures for online courses will be developed and analyzed in comparison to on-campus courses. B. Course Fees The university allows certain courses to have fees attached. These are not part of tuition charges but are supplemental course fees to be collected by the university, not by individual instructors. The fees are intended to be used by a department to both enhance the quality of our studentsʼ classroom experience and to cover costs associated with our ability to maintain courses, such as, in the Cinema Departmentʼs case, equipment repair and upkeep, etc. 1. The Cinema Department supports the application of course fees only when doing so meets California State University Executive Order 1034, Attachment 3 Miscellaneous Course Fee (MCF) Policy. (The order provides that such fees can only be charged for the actual cost of providing exceptional instructional materials... that have a tangible benefit to students ; see Executive Order 1034 at 2. The Faculty must vote on the adoption of proposed course fees before the application to adopt a course fee is advanced to the administration for review and approval/disapproval. Last Amended 21 November

9 The fee amount will not be adjusted without a majority vote of the Faculty. The voting members will meet at least once a year during a regular scheduled Faculty meeting to review extant course fees in an effort to ensure that the fee amount is appropriate and necessary. A majority vote of the voting members present at the meeting is required to adjust or remove such fees. However, if the Faculty vote to adjust fees, the fee proposal must be resubmitted to the university for approval/disapproval, as is SFSU policy. 3. The Cinema Department will charge a $10 fee per semester for each upper-division threeunit production course, with the exception of screenwriting courses. Also, for each distance learning course offered by the Department, there will be a $10 fee charged per semester. At no time will a student be charged a double fee for any single course. 4. All students in a course must pay the same fee. If students do not pay the fees, they are dropped from the course by the university. All syllabi for classes for which a fee shall be charged must include a statement concerning the amount of the fee, how it is to be paid, and the consequences to the student of the fee not being paid (being dropped from the class). 5. The Chair will monitor reconciliation of fees collected with allocations to the designated department accounts. VIII. Amendment These by-laws may be amended by a quorum (see I B 4 above) of the voting members at a departmental meeting. IX. Rights The enumeration of rights granted under these by-laws should not in any way be construed to deny or disparage others retained by Cinema Department Faculty and Staff. Last Amended 21 November

10 APPENDIX I: Cinema Department Staff Duties The Office Manager maintains Departmental budgets, accounts, and financial records; hires, trains, and supervises Department office staff, including student workers; maintains faculty evaluations, and currency of department databases and directories that contain faculty and curriculum data; provides administrative support for Lecturer, Graduate Teaching Associate, and Graduate Assistant appointments; for HRTP processes, including file maintenance and documentation; for curricula-related activities and reviews; and for Chair as needed. The Academic Services Coordinator builds and maintains the class schedule for all semesters in consultation with the Chair; coordinates scheduling of events in Coppola Theatre; provides administrative support for the M.A. and M.F.A. programs, including admissions, correspondence with prospective and current students, and assistance for graduate coordinators as needed; and, for annual departmental scholarship application and selection process. The Production Coordinator schedules use of the Sound Stage, the Edit Cage, and Digital Cinema Lab; oversees, with the Department Chair, the production budget; facilitates the advanced production pool process; coordinates staff support to the production dimensions of the unit. The Production Coordinator also teaches two courses per semester, supervises internships and independent studies, and sits on MFA review panels. The Facilities Manager manages the Foley Stage, sound mixing rooms, and telecine machine; ensures that the Sound Stage, green room (where lights, flats and sets are stored), the Coppola Theatre, Cinema Studies Center, media library and archive, sound libraries, and post-production labs meet all safety and curricular requirements; troubleshoots and repairs equipment; and supervises student support staff. The Equipment Manager maintains equipment inventory of 30 digital and motion picture cameras, light kits, sound equipment, and related production technologies; checks in and out equipment to students; troubleshoots and repairs equipment; and supervises student support staff. The Studio Manager maintains and upkeeps the hardware and software unique to Cinema classes taught in our various studios and labs, including animation, digital cinema, and new media, as well as trains faculty and staff on the technology associated with specialized software and hardware; troubleshoots and repairs equipment; and supervises student support staff. Last Amended 21 November