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passed January 20, 1989
amended March 11, 1997
revised December 11, 1998
amended August 20, 2007


BYLAWS
Department of Mathematics


1. FACULTY
The faculty of the Department of Mathematics will be as specified by Article IV of the Bylaws of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Currently the faculty is identified as tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, and others budgeted for more than half time who have been recommended for appointment by a vote of the department faculty. For participation in the election or review of a department head, an untenured nontenure-track faculty member must also have a reasonable expectation of appointment or reappointment beyond the date beginning the new term of the department head service.

2. DEPARTMENT HEAD
The Department Head is the chief administrative officer of the department, as defined in Section 5 Article IX of the Statutes of the University of Georgia, and is responsible for the equitable and effective use of the department’s resources and for providing leadership and focus for the department. The Department Head shall administer the rules and regulations enacted by the faculty. The Head will present all major questions of policy to the faculty for its approval. The Department Head is an ex officio nonvoting member of the Curriculum, Graduate Program, Personnel and Facilities Committees. The Department Head will appoint the Associate Department Head and the Graduate Coordinator.

Ordinarily no person shall serve as department head for more than six consecutive years. During the spring semester of the second year of each three year term, the faculty shall elect a committee of three tenured faculty members to gather data on the performance of the incumbent head. This committee shall report its findings to the faculty during the following fall semester. Subsequent to the committee’s report, the Executive Committee, with the Vice Chair presiding and the Department Head not participating, will conduct an election to determine the Department’s choice or choices for the headship during the next term. The incumbent head may or may not be a candidate. Subsequent to that election the designee of the Dean of Franklin College will conduct the balloting mandated by the Bylaws of Franklin College on the proposition “I favor the reappointment of the current head for a three year term.”

3. MEETINGS
Meetings of the faculty will be held each semester, or more often as required by the Statutes of the University of Georgia and the Bylaws of Franklin College. The agenda for each meeting will be constructed by the Executive Committee and distributed to the faculty no later than one calendar week in advance of the time of the announced meeting. Any item sponsored by three faculty members and given to the Chair of the Executive Committee at least ten days before the meeting shall be placed on the agenda. Generally, meetings will include reports from the standing committees of the Department.

The Department Head may call special meetings as necessary. A petition signed by seven faculty members, as defined in paragraph 1, suffices for the calling of a special meeting of the faculty. Such a petition may be presented to either the Department Head or the Vice Chair of the Executive Committee if the Department Head is unavailable. Ordinarily a meeting will be called within two weeks of the submission of the petition. For all meetings a quorum will consist of a majority of the faculty as defined in paragraph 1.

4. COMMITTEES
The standing committees of the department are the Executive Committee, the Curriculum Committee, the Graduate Program Committee, the Personnel Committee, and the Facilities Committee. The Department Head may appoint, with the advice of the Executive Committee, such ad hoc committees as may be needed. The standing committees report to the faculty at each regular faculty meeting. Any member of a standing committee may serve consecutive terms. Each standing committee may call a special meeting of the faculty with one week of advance notice; such a meeting will be chaired by the Chair of the standing committee or the Chair’s designee. All meetings of all committees are open except to the extent that the meeting concerns confidential personnel materials. Summaries of actions taken at each committee meeting will be recorded and kept on file in the secretaries’ office. A faculty member who so requests will receive copies of the summaries and announcements of meeting.

Elections of the vacated committee positions will be held in the Spring term of each year and the newly elected committees will assume duties July 1. Once the committee positions are filled, the faculty will then elect the committee chairs and the vice chair of the executive committee.

5. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
The Executive Committee advises the Department Head of policy, budget, salary raises, planning, student relations, space allocation, faculty and staff grievances, and coordination of the standing committees. The Executive Committee reviews all faculty for possible nomination for such awards as Creative Research medals, the Michael Awards, Beaver Teaching Awards, the Meigs Award, etc. The Department Head will chair the Executive Committee. The agenda of each meeting of the Executive Committee will be distributed in advance to all faculty and consideration should be given to any agenda item proposed by any faculty member. A summary of each such meeting will be distributed to all faculty.
The Executive Committee will consist of the Department Head and five faculty members elected by the faculty. Elected committee members will serve staggered two-year terms and elections will be held in the Spring term of each year. The Executive Committee will meet at least once each month during the academic year and, generally, reports from each of the other standing committees will be received monthly.

6. CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
The Curriculum Committee advises the Department Head on all undergraduate curriculum matters and it annually recommends to the Department Head a schedule of undergraduate course offerings and teaching assignments prepared by the Associate Department Head. The Curriculum Committee regularly reviews the content and bulletin description of the Mathematics Department’s undergraduate course offerings as well as any such changes proposed by the faculty. The Curriculum Committee may request that the Department Head appoint specific ad hoc committees for particular curriculum related tasks such as the review and selection of textbooks. The Curriculum Committee reports its activities to the Executive Committee and the faculty on a regular basis. The Curriculum Committee consists of the Associate Department Head and four people elected by the faculty. Elected members will serve staggered terms of two years.

7. GRADUATE PROGRAM COMMITTEE
The Graduate Program Committee advises the Department Head on all matters involving graduate instruction, including the recruitment and admission of new graduate students and the evaluation of current graduate students. The Graduate Progr4am Committee also regularly reviews all graduate degree programs and all graduate course offerings of the Department of Mathematics, as well as any changes in such proposed by the faculty; it communicates the results of these reviews to the Curriculum Committee. The Graduate Program Committee reports its activities to the Executive Committee and the faculty on a regular basis and serves as a grievance committee for matters concerning graduate students.
The Graduate Program Committee consists of the Graduate Coordinator and four people elected by the faculty. Elected members will serve staggered terms of two years. The Graduate Coordinator shall be the Chair of the Graduate Program Committee.

8. PERSONNEL COMMITTEE
The Personnel Committee advises the Department Head on all matters involving hiring and promotions. The Personnel Committee provides advice to the Department and Head about all faculty job applications received by the Department; it also advises the Department and Head regarding the progress of untenured faculty for promotion to tenure and the progress of all faculty toward the next relevant promotion. The Personnel Committee reports its activities to the Executive Committee and the faculty on a regular basis. The Personnel Committee consists of five faculty members, four elected by the faculty and one appointed by the Department Head. Elected members will serve staggered two-year terms. The appointed member will serve a one-year term and may be reappointed.

9. FACILITIES COMMITTEE
The Facilities Committee advises the Department Head on the building space occupied by the Department, supplies and equipment including computers used by the Department, and any other relevant facilities matters. The Facilities Committee regularly reviews the physical environment allocated to the Department to conduct its business, and proposes to the Department Head any improvements that the Committee deems appropriate. The Facilities Committee may request that the Department Head appoint specific ad hoc committees for particular tasks related to facilities. The Facilities Committee reports its activities to the Executive Committee and the faculty on a regular basis.
The Facilities Committee consists of three people elected by the faculty. The members will serve staggered two-year terms.

10. FACULTY AND STAFF GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE
A faculty or staff member of the Department of Mathematics who has a grievance related to a departmental decision affecting him or her may submit a written description of the grievance together with a statement of the redress desired to the Executive Committee. Upon receipt of the grievance, the Executive Committee will communicate the substance of the grievance to all involved parties. Then, proceeding in a timely manner, the Executive Committee may:
1. Dismiss or return the grievance for cause (for example, for insufficient supporting evidence, or if redress involves violation of University Statutes),
2. Itself attempt to resolve the grievance by suggesting an approach agreeable to all involved parties, or
3. Appoint an appropriate mediator (full professor or senior staff member from the University community) to help the involved parties reach a mutually agreeable resolution of the grievance.
4. Recommend that the grievance be taken directly to the Faculty Senate of Franklin College because the circumstances surrounding the grievance mandate a formal hearing by a disinterested group.
The Executive Committee shall report any action that it takes on grievances promptly to all involved parties. Any resolutions achieved by this process shall be considered as good-faith agreements among members of the University community. The goal of this process is to obtain expedient mutually satisfactory resolution of grievances in lieu of invoking the formal grievance procedures of the Faculty Senate of the College of Arts and Sciences and the University Council or the Consolidated Grievance Procedures of the University of Georgia.

11. GRADE APPEALS
(See also Article V, Grade Appeals, of the Bylaws of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences).
I. Grounds for Appeal
The responsibility to assign a grade to each student in a course rests with the instructor of the course. It is expected that in assigning grades, the instructor will uniformly apply objective academic standards.
If a student feels that academic standards were not applied fairly in his or her case, or that the information used by the instructor to determine the grade was erroneous, then the student may seek to have the grade changed, in accordance with the procedure outline below.

A student’s grade in a course must reflect his or her performance in the course. The grading standards in a course are the responsibility of the instructor; the standards set by the instructor are not proper grounds for a grade appeal. Moreover, it is the responsibility of the instructor to decide whether to allow a student to make up exams or homework that were missed or affected by the student’s personal circumstances; such decisions are not proper grounds for a grade appeal.

II. The Responsibility of the Student
1) The student must first discuss the grade with the instructor.
2) If the instructor determines that the grade should not be changed, but the student believes that he or she has a grievance, then the student may file a written appeal with the Head of the Mathematics Department. The letter of appeal must be filed within one year from the end of the course. The letter must clearly state the grounds for the appeal.

III. The Appeals Process
1) Upon receiving the letter of appeal, the Department Head will appoint a three-member committee of faculty of the Mathematics Department, excluding the instructor, to investigate the appeal. This committee must be acceptable both to the student filing the appeal and to the instructor.
(If the student and the instructor cannot agree on the membership of the committee, then the committee will be chosen as follows. The student will select the first member of the committee, the instructor will select the second member, and the first two committee members will select the third member.)

2) The committee will give the instructor ample opportunity to explain the original grade. The committee may also interview the student and review the grade records of the course. If the committee finds that there is sufficient evidence to support the appeal, then the student’s grade will remain unchanged.

If the committee finds that there is sufficient evidence to support the appeal, then the committee will determine whether the student’s grade should be changed. The committee will recommend a grade change only in such a change increases the accuracy of the assessment of the student’s performance in the course.

3) The committee will write a report explaining its decision. If the committee rules that a grade change is warranted, the report must explain in what way the original grade was arrived at inappropriately, and explain why the new grade more accurately reflects the student’s performance. Copies of the report will be provided to the student, the instructor, and the Department Head. The committee’s report will be submitted no later than one month after the appointment of the committee.

4) If the committee decides that a change of grade is warranted, the Department Head will submit the appropriate form to the Dean’s office, signed by the Department Head and countersigned by at least two of the members of the committee.

IV. Right of the Further Appeal
If either the instructor or the student disagrees with the decision of the committee, he or she has the right to appeal the decision to the Committee on Academic Standards of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

12. AMENDMENTS
The faculty of the Mathematics Department may alter, amend or abolish these Bylaws by a 3/5 majority vote of the faculty, as defined in paragraph 1, on a written ballot at any regular or special faculty meeting for which the topic of the proposed amendment is on the agenda.