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Faculty Handbook
Chapter III: Organization and Governance
FACULTY COUNCIL
5.1. Duties
The Faculty Council will consider all academic matters
and any other matters related to the faculty, and to the operation
of the School of Medicine and its academic community. The
Faculty Council will make recommendations via its Steering
Committee to the Executive Faculty and the Dean.
5.2. Composition
The Faculty Council will be an elected body representative
of the faculty of Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Its representatives
may hold the academic ranks of Instructor or higher in the
School of Medicine; a Department Chairperson or Center Director
may be elected. The Dean will be a voting member of the Council.
5.3. Elections
Nominations and elections will be conducted by the Elections
Committee of the Faculty Council by procedures adopted by
the Elections Committee. All individuals who have faculty
appointments in the School of Medicine at the academic ranks
of Instructor or higher shall be eligible to nominate and
vote for both full-time and part-time/voluntary faculty as
Council representatives and alternates. For Mount Sinai based
faculty and individuals at alliances who hold faculty appointments,
nomination and voting will be for representatives and alternates
from the Department or Center at Mount Sinai in which the
faculty member has his/her primary appointment. For faculty
at affiliate institutions, nomination and voting will be at-large
from the total faculty population at that institution. All
elections will be completed by June 1 of each election year.
In the event of a permanent vacancy in the position of representative,
the alternate will assume the position of representative until
a new representative is elected by the Department, Center,
or affiliate institution.
5.4. Terms of Service
All terms of service will begin on the first day of September
of each year. Representatives and alternates to the Faculty
Council will serve a four-year term. There will be no limit
on the number of consecutive terms. Officers of the Council
will be elected from the membership for a term of two years.
No officer can be elected to the same office for more than
two full consecutive terms. Non-officer members of the Steering
Committee will serve a two year term. Non-officer members
of the Steering Committee may not serve more than two full
consecutive terms.
5.5. Meetings
The Faculty Council will meet at regular intervals, not
less frequently than once a month during the academic year.
Special meetings may be called by petition of any 50 members
of the electorate, ten members of the Council, a majority
vote of the Steering Committee, or by the Dean. The Dean will
be afforded the opportunity to address any meeting. The meetings
of the Faculty Council will be open to all faculty of Mount
Sinai School of Medicine.
Notice of the time, place and agenda of every regular and
special meeting will be mailed to the usual address of every
representative, alternate, and ex officio member at least
one week before the date of the meeting. Attendance will be
taken at every meeting. The attendance will be maintained
by the secretary. If a Department or constituency within a
Department is not represented by either its representative(s)
or alternate for four consecutive meetings of the Council,
then the Steering Committee may call for a new election from
that Department or constituency.
A quorum for the purpose of the transaction of business
will consist of one-third of the total votes in the Council.
The election of officers and non-officer members of the
Steering committee 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 Dean and each
representative will have one vote. Alternates will only vote
in the absence of at least one departmental representative.
The procedure at meetings of the Council will be governed
by Robert's Rules of Order.
5.6. Officers
The officers of the Council will consist of a President,
Vice-President and Secretary. They will be elected by the
voting members of the Council at the September Council meeting
after the general election of representatives. The second
election of officers will be held two years later. All three
officers must be elected representatives, but all cannot represent
the same constituency (basic science, full-time clinical science,
part-time/voluntary clinical science). In the event of a vacancy
in the Presidency, the Vice-President will assume the position
of President and a new Vice-President will be elected by the
voting members of the Council. In the event of a vacancy in
position of Vice-President and/or Secretary, the voting members
of the Council will elect a new Vice-President and/or Secretary.
In the event of a lack of a quorum for election of new
officers, the incumbent officers and non-officer members of
the Steering committee will remain in office until such time
as elections can be held, whether or not they retain the status
of elected representatives to the Faculty Council.
The President of the Faculty Council will act as chairperson
of the Steering Committee and will represent the Faculty on
the Research and Education Policy Committee of the Board of
Trustees. The Vice-President will assume the functions of
the President whenever the President is unavailable. The Secretary
will keep an accurate record of all Council and Steering Committee
meetings. These minutes will be sent to the Dean, the Executive
Faculty and the membership of the Faculty Council.
5.7. Faculty Representation
For purposes of determining representation on the Faculty
Council, the faculty of the School of Medicine has been divided
into basic science, full time clinical science and voluntary/part-time
clinical science faculty.
The number and distribution of representatives to the Council
has been weighted, based on the current faculty census and
the School of Medicine responsibilities of each category of faculty.
Each department will have at least two representatives. For
Mount Sinai-based faculty (which for voting purposes will
include faculty at the alliances) with appointments in departments
in which less than 20 percent of the faculty are part-time/voluntary,
all representatives will be from the full-time faculty. The
entire faculty of each Mount Sinai-based department will vote
for its full-time and part-time/voluntary representatives
and alternate. A Mount Sinai-based faculty member may only
vote in the Department in which a primary appointment is held.
For affiliate-based faculty, representation will be at-large
from the total faculty at each affiliate institution.
Representation on the Council will be as follows:
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The basic science Departments and Centers (Anatomy and Functional Morphology; Biomathematics; Gene and Cell Medicine; Genetics and Genomic Sciences; Immunobiology; Medical Education; Microbiology; Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology; Pharmacology and Biological Chemistry; Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; Neuroscience; and Oncological Sciences) will each have two representatives and one alternate.
- Based on one representative per 50 faculty, the following
clinical science Departments will have one full-time and one
part-time/voluntary representative: Dermatology, Neurosurgery,
Orthopaedics, Otolaryngology, Radiology, Radiation Oncology,
Rehabilitation Medicine, Surgery, and Urology. The following
Departments will have one full-time and two part-time/voluntary
representatives: Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive
Science; Ophthalmology; and Neurology. The Department of Dentistry
and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery will have one full-time and three part-time/voluntary representatives.
The Departments of Anesthesiology, Cardiothoracic Surgery,
Community Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Geriatrics, Health
Policy, and Pathology will each have two full-time representatives.
The Department of Pediatrics will have two full-time and
two part-time/voluntary representatives. The Department of
Psychiatry will have two full-time and four part-time/voluntary
representatives. The Department of Medicine will have four
full-time and five part-time/voluntary representatives. Each
Department will have one alternate.
- Based on one representative per 50 faculty (full-time,
part-time and voluntary), Elmhurst Medical Center will have
six representatives, Bronx Veteran's Administration Hospital
will have three, Queen's Hospital Medical Center and Englewood
Hospital will each have two, and the Jewish Home and Hospital
for Aged and North General Medical Center will each have one
representative. As other affiliates develop over time, each
will have one representative per 50 faculty. Faculty at
each affiliated institution will elect representatives from
their own full-time, part-time, or voluntary faculty.
- All chairpersons of Committees of the Faculty Council
will be ex officio, non-voting members.
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