- Duties
The Faculty Council will:
- Consider academic and other matters related to the faculty and to the School of Medicine.
- Provide input and make recommendations to the Dean on major issues related to the School.
- Communicate with faculty at large about issues of importance.
- Serve as a resource for faculty and departments wishing to bring issues of importance to the broader School community.
- Composition
The Faculty Council will be an elected body representative of the faculty of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Representatives will hold the academic rank of Instructor or higher in the School and will hold full-time, voluntary or part-time faculty status. Department Chairs and Institute Directors will not be eligible to serve on the Faculty Council.
The Faculty Council will be comprised of elected representatives from the following constituencies:
- Academic Departments - Academic departments will elect voting representatives in accordance with the following formula:
- Departments with over 200 full-time faculty: three representatives
- Departments with 100 - 200 full-time faculty: two representatives
- Departments with under 100 full-time faculty: one representative
- Institutes - Each Institute will elect one voting representative.
- Academic Affiliates - Elmhurst Hospital Center and Queens Hospital Center faculty will together elect one representative. The Bronx Veteran's Administration Hospital Center faculty will elect one representative.
No faculty member may represent more than one of the constituencies listed above. No member can have more than one vote on the Faculty Council.
Departments may identify an alternate to attend meetings when the elected representative is unable to attend.
Chairs of the standing committees of the Faculty Council will serve as Ex Officio, non-voting members of the Faculty Council unless they are already elected as representatives to the Council.
- Officers
The officers of the Faculty Council will consist of a President, a Past-President and a President-Elect. The President and President-Elect will be elected by the voting members of the Council at the first Council meeting of the academic year. When the President-Elect assumes the title and role of President, the current President will assume the title and role of Past-President.
The Officers will serve on the Faculty Council Executive Committee. The President of the Faculty Council will be an Ex Officio member of a designated Board of Trustees Committee.
The President of the Faculty Council will preside over meetings of the Faculty Council and meetings of the Executive Committee of the Faculty Council. The President-Elect will take minutes at both meetings and will be responsible for distributing Faculty Council minutes to the faculty at large electronically.
- Term of Service
The terms of service of Faculty Council representatives will be two years in length. Representatives may be re-elected and may serve for an unlimited number of terms.
The terms of service of Faculty Council Officers will be two years in length and are not renewable.
- Meetings
The Council will meet a minimum of five times between September and June of each academic year. Special meetings may be called by petition of any 100 members of the electorate, ten members of the Council, a majority vote of the Executive Committee, or by the Dean.
The Dean will be invited to participate in at least two meetings per year, and will be afforded an opportunity to address any meeting.
The meetings of the Faculty Council will be open to the entire electorate at the discretion of the Faculty Council President.
Notice of the time, place and agenda of Faculty Council meetings will be distributed electronically to elected representatives and alternates.
Each elected representative will have one vote. An alternate may attend and vote only when the elected representative of the relevant constituency is not in attendance. A quorum for the purpose of the transaction of business will consist of one-third of the total votes of the Council. Attendance will be taken at every meeting and will be maintained by the President-Elect. If a representative attends fewer than 50 percent of meetings, the relevant constituency may replace that individual.
The election of officers will be by secret ballot. All other votes will be by show of hands unless there is a request for a secret ballot. No votes will be accepted by proxy.
The procedure at meetings of the Faculty Council will be governed by Robert's Rules of Order.
Minutes will be taken at every meeting of the Faculty Council. Minutes will be distributed electronically to the faculty via e-mail and will also be posted on the School website.
- Elections
Nominations and elections will be conducted at the department, institute and affiliate levels. All full-time, voluntary and part-time faculty with appointments in the School of Medicine at the academic rank of Instructor or higher will be eligible to nominate and vote for faculty representatives. Department Chairs may seek nominations and present for vote a slate of candidates comprised of the three to five individuals receiving the most nominations.
Faculty are entitled to cast only one vote per election. The following rules will apply:
- For faculty based at Mount Sinai, nomination and voting will be for representatives from the Department in which the faculty member has his/her primary appointment.
- Faculty with joint primary appointments will select one of their two academic departments for purposes of voting.
- Faculty with membership in an Institute can vote either in their capacity as Institute members or through their primary academic department, but may not vote in both.
- Faculty based at the Bronx Veteran"s Administration Medical Center, Elmhurst Hospital Center and Queens Hospital Center can nominate and vote for representatives either from their home department or from another department at their affiliate institution.
The Office of the Dean will work with the departments, institutes and affiliates to ensure that elections are held and that each department, the institutes and the integrated affiliates are appropriately represented on the Faculty Council.
