Bylaws, Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders (IPCD)

NAME:  The name of this organization is The University of Kansas Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders (IPCD).

PURPOSE:  The purpose of the Intercampus Program in Communicative Disorders is to coordinate the graduate degree programs in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology offered by the University through the Department of Hearing and Speech (at KUMC) and the Department of Speech-Language-Hearing:  Sciences and Disorders (in Lawrence).

ORGANIZATION:  The IPCD will be co-directed by the chairpersons of the two departments. The business of the IPCD will be conducted by an Intercampus Executive Committee (IEC) and standing sub-committees.  The IEC is the governing body of the IPCD. All changes in procedures and policies must be approved by the IEC by majority vote.  Voting may be done in person or online as deemed appropriate by the co-Directors. Typically changes in procedures and policies will first be discussed and approved by the relevant subcommittee before presentation to the IEC.

FACULTY MEMBERSHIP:  All faculty members with a 50% appointment or greater in either of the two departments will be voting members of the IEC and will be expected to serve on IEC subcommittees.

STUDENT MEMBERSHIP: Students shall have representation in IEC meetings. This will entail representation by at least one student drawn from any of the graduate programs (PhD, AuD, SLPD, MA SLP). Faculty will be asked to nominate, typically at the start of the fall semester, appropriate representatives to the co-Directors, who will appoint an appropriate student or students to the IEC. Each student representative has one vote in general matters of the IEC.  The student representatives will not have voting privileges with regard to any decision involving personnel matters, such as the hiring of new faculty. Likewise, student representatives will not have voting privileges or be eligible to participate in discussions of confidential matters involving other identified students (e.g., nomination of students for awards or scholarships). This stipulation is not relevant to topics involving de-identified students or student data (e.g., aggregate student learning outcomes).

MEETINGS:  Meetings of the IEC will be chaired by one of the two co-directors. Meetings of the IEC will be called by the co-directors.  The agenda for the meeting will be set by the co-directors.  The time and place of the meetings will be published at the beginning of each semester.  The agenda for each meeting will be published at least two days in advance of the meeting.  The minutes of the IEC will be recorded and distributed to the members.  The IEC may adopt such policies and requirements as are necessary for the proper conduct of the graduate programs under its jurisdiction.

SUB-COMMITTEES: The co-directors will appoint the members of the sub-committees and the chairs of those committees.  Sub-committees may meet at any time prior to the IEC meeting, at the discretion of the sub-committee chair, and will be expected to report their activities at IEC meetings.  The standing sub-committees will be:  1) Admissions, 2) Advising, 3) Clinic, and 4) Curriculum.  When necessary the co-directors may appoint ad-hoc committees to serve specified functions for a given period of time. The responsibilities of each standing sub-committee are as follows:

Admissions (May be subdivided into separate committees for each degree program at the discretion of the co-directors.)

1. Process, evaluate, and make recommendations for all applications for admission to the graduate programs.
2. Work with staff to maintain comprehensive records of application and admission activities.
3. Consult with faculty with respect to program capacity (i.e. the number of students to be admitted).
4. Nominate high priority applicants for college and university scholarships.

Advising         

1. Process graduate student petitions for program changes, advisor changes, and/or waiver of requirements.
2. Process graduate student grade appeals and grievances.
3. Identify graduate students falling below academic performance standards and determine appropriate action.
4. Establish and maintain lists of graduate student funding sources and of students supported by such funds.

Clinical             

1. Establish, monitor, and periodically assess policies related to clinical training activities (e.g., practicum, field study) for all clinical degrees.
2. Review petitions for exceptions regarding clinical requirements.
3. Review and approve new field study sites.
4. Periodically review program conformity with respect to accreditation requirements for clinical standards, and assist in the preparation of clinical sections for accreditation documents.

Curriculum (May be subdivided into separate committees for each degree program at the discretion of the co-directors.)

1. Establish, monitor, and periodically assess the curriculum for all degree programs.
2. Review and recommend to the IEC new graduate course proposals and file descriptions of graduate seminar offerings.
3. Review graduate catalog listings and recommend updates or revisions as needed.
4. Review the program requirements and recommend the necessary changes to the executive committee.
5. Create, implement, and report on degree assessment plans.
6. Periodically review program conformity with respect to accreditation requirements for  curricula standards, and assist in the preparation of curriculum sections for accreditation documents
7. Provide guidance to staff in assigning admitted students to program advisors.
8. Apply for college and university funding for current students.
9. Identify and nominate current student for college and university awards.

FACULTY: Faculty policies, procedures, and processes (e.g., searches, annual evaluation, progress toward tenure review, promotion and tenure, post-tenure review) are governed by the home department where the faculty member is appointed or intended to be appointed (in the case of searches). However, since faculty make a significant contribution to the graduate programs administered by the IEC, it is important to have intercampus input in certain faculty-related issues: (1) searches; and, (2) promotion and tenure. For faculty searches, search committees should have at least one member from each campus, and faculty from both campuses should be involved in the interview and feedback process. For promotion and tenure, relevant feedback should be solicited from both campuses to assemble the dossier for review. For example, both campuses could be involved in conducting peer review of teaching or peer review of service. The exact mechanism of intercampus involvement should be appropriate to the candidate under review and should be in accordance with the home department and home campuses policies.

GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES:  Faculty and staff grievances will follow their home department’s grievance procedures. Student grievances will follow the procedures of the administrative home of their degree program (i.e., degrees administratively housed in Lawrence will follow the Speech-Language-Hearing grievance procedures and those housed in KUMC will follow the Hearing and Speech grievance procedures). See Grievance Procedure, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders for Lawrence grievance procedures. See the KUMC Handbook for Faculty and Other Unclassified Staff for KUMC grievance procedures.

AMENDMENTS:  These bylaws will take effect upon adoption by a two-thirds majority of those eligible to vote, by written or e-mail ballot.  Amendments to these bylaws may be made by a two-thirds vote, by written or e-mail ballot, of the eligible voters.