Biology Department Bylaws:
Approved 3.20.17
Amended April, 2021 (red text)
BYLAWS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
Faculty Voting Rights
All full-time members of the Biology Department faculty, including the Department Chair
and all tenure-track faculty and lecturers of all ranks, with the exception of pre-tenure and
pre-continuous appointment faculty, may vote on all matters before the Department faculty.
A pre-tenure and pre-continuous appointment DPC members can vote on all DPC matters
except for the reappointment, tenure, and promotion of tenure track and or continuous
appointment faculty. A faculty member who is on leave is not required or expected to take
part in departmental governance, but may nonetheless vote if they wish on matters before
the department. (A faculty member on 100% sick leave is legally prohibited from working
and may not vote.)
A quorum is required for all decisions voted on by the Department. A quorum is defined as
fifty percent plus one of the full-time members of the Biology department faculty excluding
those faculty members on leave or holding a major administrative position that has relieved
them of department responsibilities.
Role of the Biology Department Personnel Committee (DPC)
The DPC is a committee established according to the Redbook of the University of
Massachusetts – Amherst. Following the Redbook, the primary purposes of the committee
are “to assure that departmental faculty participate . . . in the discharge of their primary
responsibility” and to “ensure documentation of these faculty decisions.” All questions related
to policy regarding faculty in the Department will be presented initially to the DPC.
The responsibilities of the DPC, as further prescribed by the Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA), include reviews of annual faculty reports and salary anomalies,
assignment of merit, and recommendations on reappointment, promotion, periodic multiyear
review (PMYR), and tenure.
All members of the DPC are eligible to vote in all matters before the DPC, with the exception
of pre-tenure and pre-continuous appointment faculty, who may not vote on the
reappointment, tenure, and promotion of TT or continuous appointment faculty. Any
member with a conflict of interest regarding a matter before the DCP must declare the
existence of the conflict to the DPC and must not participate in any discussion of or action
on the matter.
The DPC formally recommends personnel actions to the Department Chair. The DPC may
consult with the Chair on logistics of personnel cases, such as recommendations for referees
and the setting of deadlines for each stage of such c ases, and may request records and
information from the Chair. However, the Chair may not deliberate with, vote with, or
otherwise attempt to influence the DPC on the substance or merits of personnel actions for
which the CBA prescribes an independent role for the Chair, namely reappointment,
promotion, and tenure cases. The Chair may meet with the DPC to discuss other personnel
matters, such as hiring, Annual Faculty Reports, and Periodic Multi-Year Review. The Chair
will forward the recommendations of the DPC to the Dean of the College and will comment
on the recommendations in separate memoranda. In certain cases, such as by invitation, the
DPC may communicate directly with the Dean, the College Personnel Committee (CPC), or
other administrative levels.
Designation of the DPC members and of the departmental representative to the CPC
The DPC will consist of eleven faculty members. Subject to willingness and availability to
serve, at least three members will be full professors and two will be non-tenure track (NTT)
faculty. One member of the DPC may be pre-tenure tenure track (TT) faculty member and
one member of the DPC may be a pre-continuous appointment faculty member. Pre-tenure
and pre-continuous appointment DPC members will be elected to a term of one year. Other
members will be elected to a term of three years. Re-election to the DPC is allowed, but no
member shall serve more than two consecutive three-year terms. If a DPC member is
scheduled to go on sabbatical or is being evaluated for a promotion, a replacement may be
elected for a special term of one semester or one year. Neither the Chair of the Department
nor the CPC representative may serve on the DPC.
Pre-tenure TT and pre-continuous appointment NTT DPC members will vote on all DPC
matters except for NTT and TT reappointments and tenure and promotion of TT faculty.
The Department Chair will appoint the departmental representative to the College
personnel committee (CPC). Only tenured professors are eligible to serve as the
departmental representative to the CPC. The representative will serve a three-year term.
To enable and encourage participation of everyone in the Department in the election of the
members of the DPC, an annual election of new members of the DPC for the following
academic year will be held in the second half of the spring semester, no later than the first
week of May. All and only departmental faculty members are eligible to vote in the election.
The current chair of the DPC will call and run the election.
Terms of newly elected members of the DPC and of the newly designated CPC
representative will begin, and terms of the departing members of the DPC and of the
departing CPC representative will end, on the next September 1. The first task of the new
DPC will be the election of a new chair.
Tenure, Promotion, and Reappointment
Tenure
The Department must conduct a tenure review in the first semester of the candidate’s sixth
year of service unless a delay has been requested by the faculty member and approved by
the Provost, the candidate was hired with credit toward tenure, or the candidate requested
early tenure review. The Department Chair and DPC chair will meet with the candidate
prior to the review to discuss the process. The Department Chair will solicit a list of external
and internal reviewers from the candidate, and prepare a list of additional external and
internal reviewers, as specified in the Redbook. The goal is to solicit sufficient reviewers in
order to receive a minimum of eight external reviews that are judged to be ‘at arm’s length.’
Potential reviewers will be contacted through the online Academic Personnel Workflow
System (APWS) and review materials will be available online for individuals who agreed to
provide letters of review. The Chair will also solicit letters from undergraduate and
graduate students. The DPC will review the tenure case and submit a written letter of
evaluation and recommendation to the candidate via the APWS system. The Department
Chair, will review the case and write a second, independent letter of evaluation and
recommendation. The faculty member will receive copies of these letters via the APWS,
redacted as necessary to preserve the agreed anonymity of reviewers, and may add
additional material or comments. The entire file will then be made available to the Dean via
APWS. The criteria used in evaluation and recommendation will conform to the
requirements for tenure stated in the Redbook and the CBA.
Review for promotion to the rank of associate professor will generally occur concurrently
with review for tenure and will conform to the Redbook and the CBA.
Promotion to Full Professor
Review for promotion to the rank of professor is not required at any specific time. A faculty
member with the rank of Associate Professor may request consideration for promotion to
professor. The DPC and Department Chair may identify faculty members whose
accomplishments appear to warrant promotion to professor and suggest that they request
promotion, but such endorsement will not guarantee a successful request. The steps in the
process of evaluating a promotion case are essentially the same as those for the process of
evaluating a tenure case.
Reappointment through the tenure decision year
Reappointments of tenure-track faculty for the period through the tenure decision year (i.e.,
“4.2 reappointments”) are typically conducted in the third year of service for a new faculty
member whose tenure decision will be in the sixth year of service and who received an
initial, four-year appointment. The purposes of this review are to provide the candidate
with an evaluation of strengths and weaknesses useful for eventual application for tenure,
and to provide to the University an evaluation and recommendation for reappointment
through the tenure decision year. The Chair will meet with the faculty member in the fall
semester to describe the process and to indicate what the faculty member needs to provide
for review via the APWS, including a current CV, relevant publications, lists of faculty and
students who can serve as reviewers, and statements of research, teaching, and service; the
CBA lists items required for reappointment and promotion files. The faculty member will
also choose whether the to sign the APWS form stating whether the faculty member waives
right of access to individually solicited internal or external letters.
All materials for review for reappointment and promotion must be submitted via APWS.
The evaluations by the DPC and by the Chair will be independent and use criteria that
conform to the Redbook and the CBA. The evaluations and recommendations of the DPC
and the Chair will be sent to the Dean via the APWS.
Reappointment of Lecturers
The reappointment notice for Lecturers will occur by August 15th at the end of the 3rd year
of FTE service. If that reappointment carries the lecturer beyond the 4th year, it will be for a
continuing appointment (Article 21.9.2, Continuing Appointments, of the MSP contract in
AY15-16). According to the CBA, a lecturer with a continuing appointment may be
terminated only for just cause, or if the work done by the lecturer is no longer required, or
will be done instead by a tenure track faculty member. Once on a continuing appointment,
the lecturer is never again reviewed for reappointment.
For the reappointment that leads to a continuing appointment, the DPC and the Chair will
independently conduct an evaluation of the lecturer’s teaching performance and promise for
continuing professional development and achievement. This review is advisory only to the
Dean; the Dean “shall consider such factors as performance, need for the individual’s services,
and availability of funding.” to decide whether to reappoint. This usually takes place during
the third year of full-time service. The Chair will meet with the faculty member to describe
the process and to indicate what the faculty member needs to provide for review, including a
current CV, a teaching statement, and a list of faculty, staff, administrators, and students
within the university who can serve as reviewers. The Chair will ask the faculty member to
sign a form stating whether the faculty member waives right of access to letters from
reviewers. In their evaluation, the DPC and the Chair will also consider formal teaching
evaluations (SRTI), invited comments from students, and annual faculty reports.
Promotion of Lecturers
Lecturers with at least six years of full-time equivalent service at their current rank
(Lecturer or Senior Lecturer) are eligible for promotion, per the CBA. The process is similar
to that for reappointment leading to continuing appointment, as outlined above. All
materials for review for promotion must be submitted to the Chair. The reviews by the DPC
and by the Chair will be independent and use criteria that conform to the CBA. The Chair
will send the evaluations and recommendations of the DPC and of the Chair to the CNS
Senior Lecturer Promotion Review Committee.
Merit Process
The criteria for merit will consist of evidence of achievement in the areas of research,
teaching, and service, weighted in accordance with the job description of each individual.
General expectations for faculty productivity are given in Appendix A, Cultural Standards
for Promotion of TT Faculty in the Biology Department. All non-tenure-track faculty will
have a written job description provided by the Department Chair. If tenure-track faculty
adjust their formal responsibilities through a periodic multi-year review, their
responsibilities in the year in which they performed the work will be used as the criteria for
merit.
Appointment of Department Chair
When a vacancy of the position of Chair is anticipated in the coming academic year, the DPC
will be responsible for developing a process consistent with Sen Doc 90-029 to select one or
more candidates to recommend to the CNS Dean to serve as new Chair for a three-year
term.
Review of the Department Chair
If requested and if the Chair is willing and eligible to be reappointed, the Department will
conduct a review of the Chair during the fall semester of the third year of the Chair’s term.
The DPC, or a subcommittee appointed by the DPC, will lead the review in conformance
with Sen Doc 82-021. At its discretion, the DPC may solicit the views of faculty and staff
regarding the reappointment. The DPC will vote on whether to recommend reappointment,
and will provide a memo explaining its recommendation.
Faculty Search Procedures
Each faculty search will be initiated by the Department Chair in consultation with the Dean.
The Chair and the Dean will be responsible for securing the necessary salary, space and
startup resources for hiring each new tenure-system faculty member.
The Department Chair will appoint a faculty search committee consisting of departmental
faculty members whose expertise is relevant to the research area of the position. The Chair
may also include faculty members with relevant expertise from other departments on the
committee. The Department Chair will designate a tenured professor from the Department
to serve as Chair of the faculty Search Committee. The open faculty position will be
advertised broadly to ensure diversity of applicants. All faculty will be encouraged to
identify suitable candidates and invite them to apply for the position. All steps of the
faculty search include consultation with the CNS D ean’s office and the University Office of
Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
The Search Committee will evaluate all applicants in closed meetings according to
University regulations. The Search Committee may first develop a long list for preliminary
video or phone interviews before narrowing to a proposed campus interview list. The
committee will develop a short list of the most qualified applicants, and will recommend
that they be invited for campus interviews. All faculty members will be encouraged to
participate in the interviews and will have access to the applicants’ materials after signing a
confidentiality declaration. The search committee will request comments on the candidates
from faculty, staff and students in the Department.
Following the interview process, the search committee will evaluate the candidates and
vote on which to recommend as the best candidate to the faculty as a whole. The Search
Committee will also determine which remaining candidates are acceptable for appointment
should the primary candidate decline the position, and rank these remaining candidates.
The recommendation of the Search Committee will be discussed and voted on by all eligible
faculty members at a faculty meeting. Guided by the vote of the faculty and with the
approval of the Dean and Provost, the Department Chair will make the offers. The
Department Chair will periodically inform the faculty on the status of the hiring process.
Other Committees
The Department of Biology has a number of other standing and ad hoc committees that play
vital roles in the Department. These committees are advisory to the Chair and their
members are appointed by the Chair. New committees may be created by the Chair as
needed to further the mission of the Department.
Faculty Meetings
The Department Chair will meet with the faculty at least three times per semester to
conduct departmental business. The schedule of these meetings will be set by the first
week of the semester. The agenda and minutes for each meeting will be sent to members of
the Department by email.
Service Obligations
Department faculty will rotate through major service obligations including principal
committees. The Department Chair may consult with the DPC on appointments to such
committees, with an eye to balancing service obligations equitably across the faculty.
Conflict with Contract Clause
In the event of conflict between these bylaws and the CBA, Redbook, or Massachusetts Stateor Federal law, the CBA, Redbook, or law will prevail.
Date of Ratification and Periodic Review
Bylaws and changes to bylaws must be approved by a majority of those eligible to vote once
a quorum has been met. Review of the bylaws will take place every three years, generally at
an annual faculty retreat.