Provost's Advisory Committee

Welcome to the New College Faculty Provost's Advisory Committee Homepage. This page provides information about the membership and the Committee charge.

Membership

Membership:  Six tenured faculty (excluding divisional chairpersons and full-time administrators): two members from each Division, elected for staggered terms by the entire voting faculty and the five voting student representatives to faculty meetings (see Section 3.7.3).  May 9, 2007.  PAC members serve two-year terms but are not eligible for successive terms.  A faculty member must stand for election to the PAC, unless at the time of election he or she has served on either the PAC or the SASC in the current year or previous two years.  Service for one or two full semesters (e.g., as an alternate) makes the faculty member exempt from standing for election at the end of that academic year.  Service for three or more full semesters make the faculty member exempt from standing for election at the end of that academic year and the following two years.  Faculty who have served on either the PAC or the SASC are eligible to stand for election to the PAC beginning in the first year after completing a term on the PAC or the SASC if they notify the PAC of their wish to stand.  The Chairperson of the Faculty and the Secretary of the Faculty are exempt from serving on the PAC during the period of service as Chairperson and Secretary of the Faculty. 

PAC elections are conducted by the FASC during the fifth week of the Spring semester.  A faculty member is exempt from standing for election to the PAC if, at the time of the election, he or she has already been approved for leave and/or assigned research amounting to the entirety of the upcoming academic year.  Tenured faculty who will be on leave for less than the entire upcoming academic year must stand for election to the PAC, but will be replaced by the elected alternate for the period of the leave.  Subject to conditions specified above, a tenured faculty member must stand for this election.  December 12, 2007; May 14, 2008

Members for 2007-2008 Academic Year

Definition

For purposes of election to the PAC, a faculty member is considered "tenured" when his or her application for tenure has been approved by New College and forwarded to the New College Board of Trustees.  If the faculty member's application for tenure is subsequently denied by the New College Board of Trustees, the faculty member is no longer considered "tenured" for purposes of election to the PAC. If such denial occurs before the PAC election, the faculty member is not eligible to stand for election. If such denial occurs after the PAC election, and if the faculty member has been elected as a member (or an alternate) to the PAC, an election will be held to fill that faculty member's position on the PAC.

Voting Information

In elections to the PAC, each eligible voter must vote for at most one candidate from each Division.  A vote for none or more than one in any given Division counts as an abstention for that Division.

Committee Charge

The functions of the PAC, which are primarily concerned with retention, promotion, and tenure, are described in detail in Chapter 4.  A summary of its activities is presented below.

1. Divisional ballots on retention, promotion, and tenure are tallied by the PAC.

2. If a faculty member receives a negative retention vote in his or her third year, then the PAC participates (makes a recommendation to the Provost).  (See "Retention" section, Chapter 4.3). 

3. Any individual recommended for promotion must be considered by the PAC, which forwards its recommendation to the Provost.

4. The PAC considers all candidates for tenure and forwards its recommendation to the Provost.

5. The PAC meets with faculty members holding tenure-earning appointments at the end of the second and fourth tenure-earning years of service to review their performance.  A PAC review of a retention, tenure, or promotion vote in the same year will serve as a substitute for this review.  Tenured faculty are reviewed at seven-year intervals after tenure is granted. Persons holding the rank of distinguished lecturer at the College are reviewed in every seventh year of their service  (05/13/98).

6. Applications for leaves for full-time faculty members are initiated in the Division and are reviewed by the PAC before being sent to the Provost.