Article I - Authority of the Manual of Operations and Procedures
This manual of operations and procedures is the operating manual for faculty governance in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. The Department shall follow the operating rules of the University of Iowa and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and shall follow the manual of operations and procedures in this document as a supplement thereto. Once approved by the Department and the College, this manual of operations and procedures becomes effective immediately.
Article II - Faculty responsibility and eligibility to vote
A. Responsibility
Both individually and as a body the faculty are responsible for carrying out the Department’s mission in accordance with the policies and procedures of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Graduate College, and the University of Iowa. Individual faculty members fulfill these responsibilities in accordance with the University’s policy on professional ethics and academic responsibility.
The Department distributes teaching and service assignments to faculty and provides guidance through periodic reviews to ensure that all faculty are participating appropriately and equitably in the teaching, research, and services missions of the department, College, and University.
B. Eligibility to vote
The following faculty members of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science are eligible to vote on all Department business: tenured or tenure-track faculty who either currently have a positive salary appointment in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science or are currently on paid or unpaid leave from such an appointment.
Instructional-track faculty who have a 50% or larger salary appointment in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science are eligible to vote on all Department business except decisions relating to the appointment of tenure-track faculty, or tenured faculty.
The following faculty members of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science are not eligible to vote on Department business:
Tenured or tenure-track faculty who hold a joint appointment at zero percent in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.
Visiting, adjunct, and emeritus faculty members of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science.
The phrase, “voting faculty” is used in the sequel. When the vote concerns the appointment of a tenured or tenure-track faculty members, “voting faculty” refers to all tenured or tenure-track faculty who have a positive salary appointment in the Department. When the vote concerns any issue other than the appointment of tenured or tenure-track faculty, “voting faculty” refers to all tenured and tenure-track faculty who have positive salary appointments in the Department, and all instructional-track faculty who have a 50% or larger salary appointment in the Department.
Certain individual faculty, who are eligible to vote, may, at their discretion, exclude themselves from the voting faculty on an issue-by-issue basis.
Faculty who may exercise this option are:
those faculty who are on phased retirement,
those faculty who are on leave, and
those faculty whose primary appointment is in another department.
Faculty who remove themselves from the voting faculty on a particular issue would be excluded from the count of voting faculty or from a count to determine a quorum.
C. Absentee vote
Eligible voters who are unable to be present at a departmental meeting when the vote is taken on an agenda item may leave a written absentee vote with the chair of the meeting before the vote is taken. Eligible voters may begin voting on the date that their official appointment begins.
Table of Contents
Article I - Authority of the Manual of Operations and Procedures
Article II - Faculty responsibility and eligibility to vote
Article III - Officers and standing committees
Article IV - Departmental meetings
Article V - Procedures for Amendment of the Manual of Operations and Procedures
Updated by the Faculty of Statistics and Actuarial Science on October 15, 2024
Approved by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on November 13, 2024
Article III - Officers and standing committees
A. Officers
The officers of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science shall be the Department Executive Officer (DEO), the Director of Graduate Studies and the Director(s) of Undergraduate Studies.
B. The DEO
The DEO is appointed by the Dean of the College in consultation with the faculty of the Department and with approval of the Provost.
C. DEO
The duties of the DEO shall be as follows:
The DEO shall have primary administrative responsibilities for recommending faculty appointments, promotions and salary raises, implementing the department’s curriculum, monitoring the work of its undergraduate and graduate students, evaluating its faculty, procuring and regulating equipment, and managing its budget and office staff. The DEO shall also be responsible for scheduling and conducting departmental meetings, for insuring that the annual departmental newsletter and solicitation letter are written and distributed, for working with the Foundation on fundraising efforts, and for managing departmental Foundation accounts. The DEO shall be the representative of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science to the administration of the College and University. The DEO shall have the task of explaining departmental needs to the collegiate and University administration and communicating collegiate and University policies to the students and faculty in the Department. In carrying out these responsibilities, the DEO shall consult with appropriate faculty. If the DEO is unavailable, the Director of Graduate Studies or another faculty member designated by the DEO, and approved by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, will assume responsibility for making decisions.
D. Director of Graduate Studies
The duties of the Director of Graduate Studies shall be as follows:
The Director of Graduate Studies will be responsible for recruiting and admitting of graduate students; hiring, orientation, training, assigning, and evaluation of teaching assistants (including graders) and research assistants supported by the Department; advising graduate students (until they select an advisor) and conducting outcomes assessment for the graduate studies. The recruiting aspect includes correspondence with potential graduate students, organizing faculty recruiting trips to four-year institutions, and arranging visits by potential teaching assistants. The Director of Graduate Studies will chair the Curriculum Committee. In carrying out these responsibilities, the Director of Graduate Studies will consult with the DEO and other appropriate faculty, including the actuarial science graduate advisor.
E. Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS)
The DEO appoints a Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) per each of our three areas: actuarial science, data science and statistics, with the option that a DUS may oversee more than one area. The Director of Undergraduate Studies will be responsible for recruiting and admitting of undergraduate students; advising undergraduate students; conducting outcomes assessment for the undergraduate studies; scholarship administration. The recruiting aspect includes meeting/correspondence with potential students and parents. In carrying out these responsibilities, the Director(s) of Undergraduate Studies will consult with the DEO and other appropriate faculty.
F. Standing Committees
The Department shall have the following Standing Committees: Executive Committee, Curriculum Committee, Colloquium Committee, Computer Committee, Library Committee, Student Awards Committee, Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination Committee, and M.S. Final Examination Committee.
The Executive Committee is to consist of the DEO and three other tenured or tenure-track faculty with positive salary appointments in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. Duties consist of evaluation of faculty and P&S staff for merit salary increases and, generally, advising the DEO when requested.
Membership on the committee will rotate among the tenured and interested untenured faculty. The committee may have at most one untenured member. Untenured faculty may serve on the committee for at most one year prior to receiving tenure.
Each year two faculty will rotate onto the Executive Committee. The third faculty member will be a hold-over from the previous year’s committee and will chair the new committee. A rotation list will be constructed so that faculty who have gone the longest since service are at the top of the list. A faculty member’s position on the list is determined by the smaller of (i) the number of years since last service on the committee, and (ii) the number of years since being appointed to the faculty plus three years.
Each year the highest tenured faculty member will rotate onto the committee. Among the remaining faculty, a second member, who may be tenured or untenured, will rotate onto the committee according to the rotation list. If a tenured faculty is next in line, he/she automatically rotates onto the committee. If an untenured faculty is next in line, an invitation to serve is extended. If such an invitation is declined, we proceed to the next faculty member on the list. Faculty who miss their turn due to a developmental assignment or the like will rotate onto the committee at the earliest opportunity.
If two tenured faculty rotate onto the committee in one year, one of those two will be selected by a coin flip to serve a two-year term and will chair the committee during his/her second year on the committee. If only one tenured faculty member rotates onto the committee in a year, that faculty member will serve a two-year term and chair the committee during his/her second year on the committee. Ties are broken by considering the length of time from the most recent service.
- The Curriculum Committee is chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies. Further membership includes the DEO and three members appointed by the DEO. Their duties consist of advising the Department on all matters of the curriculum both graduate and undergraduate.
- The Colloquium Committee is appointed by the DEO. Duties include soliciting ideas for colloquium speakers, inviting such speakers, and arranging speaker visits. In addition, the Colloquium Committee solicits nominations for the annual Robert V. Hogg and Allen T. Craig Lecturer, supervises the voting, invitation, and arranges the visit of the speaker.
The Computer Committee is appointed by the DEO. Duties include supervision of the UNIX Computing Laboratory, the Myers Computing Laboratory, being a liaison to CLAS IT, and advising the Department and DEO on computing matters.
The Library Committee is appointed by the DEO. The committee serves as liaison to the University of Iowa Libraries.
Responsibility for oversight of the Statistics Tutorial Lab will usually fall to the faculty member teaching STAT:1030. Specific appointment will be made by the DEO.
The Student Awards Committee selects students for departmental recognition. Membership on this committee is by appointment by the DEO. The committee also nominates worthy candidates for University and collegiate teaching assistant awards.
The PhD Comprehensive Examination Committee is appointed by the DEO. This committee supervises the construction and evaluation of the PhD comprehensive Examination as governed by the Graduate College and departmental policies.
The MS Final Examination Committees are appointed by the DEO. These committees supervise the construction and evaluation of the various MS examinations as governed by the Graduate College and departmental policies.
Article IV - Departmental meetings
A. Called meetings
Meetings of the Department shall be called by the DEO as needed to conduct departmental business. There will be at least one Department meeting during each of the fall and spring semesters. There will be at least one Department meeting during each of the fall and spring semesters.
Meetings shall be announced via email in a timely manner. The announcement will usually contain agenda items; however, agenda items may be added after the initial announcement is distributed. Faculty who wish to have certain items placed on the agenda, should communicate this to the DEO as soon as possible before the meeting occurs.
A meeting shall be called by the DEO in a timely manner upon receipt of a petition requesting a meeting, which bears the signatures of at least three voting members of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science. If a specific issue is involved, no action will be taken on that issue before the scheduled departmental meeting to discuss it.
B. Chair of a departmental meeting
The DEO or the person designated by the DEO shall be the chair of a departmental meeting. The duties of the chair of a departmental meeting include the following:
Opening the meeting at the required time and calling the meeting to order
Announcing business in the appropriate order
Stating and putting to a vote any proper motions that are made
Announcing the results of the votes
Enforcing the rules of order on all occasions
Deciding all questions of order
Adjourning the meeting after all agenda items have been discussed or the meeting time expires
C. Attendance and voting eligibility
All faculty members (voting and non-voting) and student representatives may attend Department meetings; however, voting is restricted to eligible faculty members as specified in II.B. Student representatives are selected by GSSAS (Graduate Students in Statistics and Actuarial Science). Some meeting attendees may be excused from the discussion of certain items. For example, any student representatives would be excused when discussing whether certain students should be recommended for the PhD program.
D. Voting
Voting is normally done by a show of hands; however, decisions may be made by acclamation, a mail ballot, or a secret ballot. Any request made by a voting faculty member for a secret ballot will be honored.
E. Quorum
Although a quorum is not specified, if fewer than 3/4ths of the voting faculty members are present, the Chair of the Department meeting may rule that there is an insufficient number of faculty members to vote.
F. Exemptions to simple majority voting results
Issues are usually decided by a simple majority of votes cast. There are two exceptions:
The first is regarding hiring instructional-track or tenure-track faculty, where a 2/3rds majority of all voting faculty members is required before an offer may be recommended to the Dean. Voting faculty are specified in item II.B. Although the DEO may bring the selection of visiting faculty to the Department for discussion or decision, the DEO may exercise his or her discretion in hiring visiting and adjunct faculty.
The second is regarding amending this Manual of Operations and Procedures where a simple majority of all voting faculty members is required. (Refer to V.C.)
G. Secretary
The chair of a Department meeting may appoint a secretary to record minutes of Department meetings.
Article V - Procedures for Amendment of the Manual of Operations and Procedures
A. Amendment consideration
The Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science shall consider amendments to the Manual of Operations and Procedures proposed by either the DEO or in a petition, signed by at least three voting members of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science and submitted to the DEO. The proposed amendment shall state the precise Article, Section, and Sentences to be amended. The proposed amendments shall specify the words to be added, deleted, or replaced. Moreover, the proposal shall give a complete statement of the wording of the sections in the amended form.
B. Notice of proposed amendment
The proposed amendments shall appear as an agenda item in the announcement of the next departmental meeting.
C. Amendment adoption
Adoption of an amendment to this Manual of Operations and Procedures can be achieved either at a departmental meeting or by means of a mail ballot. In either event, to pass, a motion to amend shall require a majority vote of the entire voting membership of the department including those on leave or not in residence, unless they excuse themselves from voting according to II.B. An amendment to this Manual of Operations and Procedures takes effect immediately after adoption by the Department and approval by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.