School of Education and Human Sciences, Code for Department of Special Education

PRINT DISCLAIMER: Official version of this document is accessible in the online policy library at https://policyoffice.ku.edu/. Printed copies may not reflect the most recent updates.

DOCUMENT TYPE:

Policy

PURPOSE:

To define the rules and regulations for the affairs of the Department of Special Education.

APPLIES TO:

All faculty and staff in the Department of Special Education.

CAMPUS:

Edwards, Lawrence

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Constituencies
Administration
Governance and Policy-making within the Department
Organization of Department
Procedures

POLICY STATEMENT:

Constituencies

A. Tenured or Tenure-Track Faculty. Tenured or tenure-track faculty are those persons who are tenured or are in a tenure-track line and hold the rank of assistant professor, associate professor, or professor in the School of Education and Human Sciences.

B. Teaching Professor. Teaching assistant professors, teaching associate professors, or teaching professors are faculty who are not in a tenure-track position but teach full-time in the Department of Special Education.  https://policy.ku.edu/provost/teaching-professor-job-title

C. Professor of Practice. Professors of Practice (assistant, associate, and full) are non-tenure track faculty with a full-time appointment in both teaching and service. https://policy.ku.edu/provost/professor-of-practice

D. Lecturer or Adjunct Lecturer. Lecturers or adjunct lecturers are instructors who are hired on a semester-to-semester basis.

E. Staff. Staff of the Department are those University support staff and unclassified staff who are not identified as faculty.

F. Students. A student is any person enrolled in a Department program, including the undergraduate, certificate, masters, specialist, and doctoral programs.

Administration

A. Department Chair. The Department faculty as defined below in the “Membership in Faculty and Voting Rights” section will recommend to Dean of the School of Education and Human Sciences and other appropriate University officers individuals whom the faculty judge to be qualified to be the Department's Chairperson. That person or persons will be the Department's chief executive officer for a period designated by the Dean. The Department Chair is hereafter referred to as Chair.

The Chair shall, without limitation:

• Commit to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Strive to meet the University of Kansas’ vision to be an exceptional learning community that lifts each other and advances society.
• Guide and represent the Department to the University, state, national, and professional communities.
• Administer a nationally recognized comprehensive doctoral leadership program.
• Administer nationally recognized personnel preparation programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels that prepare professionals who serve individuals who require special education and their families across the life span.
• Ensure that undergraduate and graduate teacher education licensure/endorsement meet state and CAEP professional standards.
• Lead faculty development activities, including mentoring and evaluation, and facilitate faculty efforts to secure internal and external support for research, teaching, and demonstration activities.
• Recruit new faculty to maintain and further develop the Department and its personnel preparation and research activities.
• Sustain and advance the Department’s collaborative relationships among students and faculty in research and scholarship, teacher education, and outreach activities.
• Seek out and respond to personnel preparation needs including those in direct service, research, and leadership through partnerships with the field.
• Influence special education policy and practice through involvement nationally and in professional associations.
• Develop and oversee the Department budget. 
• Oversee the development, review, and management of curriculum and scheduling.
• Prepare documents and reports required by University and the School.
• Supervise Department staff.
• Support faculty governance of the Department’s graduate and undergraduate programs.

B. Other Administrative Officers. The Chair may appoint and remove other administrative officers such as associate chairperson, assistant chairpersons, directors, and administrative assistants as the Chair deems appropriate and may delegate to them such responsibilities and authority as the Chair deems appropriate.

Governance and Policy-Making within the Department

A. Grant of Authority for Policy Making to Faculty. Subject to the School of Education and Human Sciences Code and any limitations it places on the Faculty, the Faculty is the primary policy-making body for the Department and shall have authority to determine the Department’s mission and to establish curricula, academic standards, and degree requirements, subject to regulations that apply to all schools in the University.

B. Membership in Faculty and Voting Rights

1. Department Faculty. Each person who qualifies as a member of the Department Faculty shall have full voting rights**, and no voting rights of any Faculty member shall be reduced or apportioned because the Faculty member is appointed in part to another unit of the University (whether a research or teaching unit). This includes the constituencies defined above of tenured or tenure-line faculty and teaching professors.  **By University policy, individuals in Teaching Professor positions may vote on all matters, except for personnel issues involving tenure-track faculty (e.g., hiring, promotion and tenure, progress toward tenure review, post tenure review).
2. Other Voting Members. The Department's Faculty annually (at the first meeting of the Faculty in each Fall semester) shall determine who has voting status in addition to Department Faculty identified in B.1. Any person who has at least a half-time instructional appointment in the Department as lecturer, courtesy professor, or professor of practice is eligible for voting status and, if voted upon by the Faculty as having such, may vote on all items except for those pertaining to promotion and tenure. If the Faculty favors voting status, voting privileges shall be valid for the remainder of the academic year and may be renewed annually.
3. Privilege to Attend Faculty and Committee Meetings. The Department's Faculty and Committee meetings shall be open to all individuals who have an interest in the Department's business but the Faculty or any of its committees may declare a Faculty meeting or Committee meeting to be closed and held in executive session whenever the nature of the business before the Faculty or Committee shall involve personnel discussions or determinations or whenever the Faculty or Committee determine that the meetings require the exclusion of those individuals so that the Faculty or Committee members may candidly discuss the matters before it. The Faculty or Committee members may grant to those attending who are not Faculty members the privilege of addressing the Faculty or Committee on matters pertinent to the Faculty or Committee. Unless the Faculty has granted Faculty voting privileges to a person, any person attending Faculty or Committee meetings may not vote at those meetings, with the exception of Department search committees.
4. Membership Determination. The Chair, in consultation with the Dean and Department Faculty and staff, shall prepare a list of personnel who are eligible for voting privileges as defined above in section B.1.,and those who request voting privileges, and shall distribute this list to the Faculty no later than five academic calendar days before the first meeting of the Faculty in the fall semester of every year. If any Faculty member objects to the enrollment by the Chairof any listed person, that member shall voice the objection at that Faculty meeting and the Faculty, after appropriate discussion of the person's eligibility, shall vote to confirm or reject that person's listing. Unless a person is so listed after the members of the Faculty have an opportunity to object and vote, that person is ineligible for the grant of Department voting or other privileges. The determination of listed individuals shall be made before the conduct of any other business at that meeting.

C. Meetings; Quorum

1. Mandatory Meetings. The Faculty shall meet at least two times in each of the Fall and Spring semesters of each academic year. Normally, no meetings shall be held or documents acted upon outside the fall and spring academic calendars. However, in an emergency, a summer meeting may be convened as set out in C.2., below.
2. Other Meetings. The Faculty shall meet (a) upon the call of the Chair or (b) within fifteen working days after a Department or ad hoc committee, a majority of its members having voted in the affirmative, or a group of not less than one-quarter of the Faculty, deliver a petition requesting a meeting to the Chair.
3. Quorum. A quorum for the transaction of any business, including the adoption of any motions or resolutions, shall be one half of the entire Faculty and any other individuals who have voting rights who are in attendance either in person or virtually.
4. The Chair shall prepare and distribute the agenda for each meeting of the Faculty at least five (5) academic calendar days before the meeting, along with copies of any documents to be acted upon during the meeting.

D. Voting

1. Methods

• Proxy Voting Disallowed..No member may vote by proxy.

2. Voting. Members of the Faculty may vote in person, via teleconference, or digitally. Any member of the Department Faculty as defined above in the “Membership in Faculty and voting rights” section may vote. The Chair or their designee shall distribute ballots to all Faculty members within five (5) working days of the meeting.

3. Required number of votes for action

• Ordinary Majority. An ordinary majority shall be any number of votes over 50% of the votes cast.

4. Extraordinary Majority. A two-thirds vote of the Department Faculty as defined above in the “Membership in Faculty and Voting Rights” section shall be required to amend this Code or the Department’s Mission Statement, provided that the call for the meeting of the Faculty at which a vote on amendment shall include a copy of the proposed amendment and explanatory materials and that these materials are made available along with the call for the meeting to each Faculty member at least ten (10) academic calendar days before the meeting.

5. Consent Agenda. Any item that affects the Department's requirements or regulations shall be presented individually to the Faculty and individuals with voting rights ("the electorate") for final action. To facilitate timely action, all other actions taken by standing committees may be included in a Consent Agenda submitted to the electorate. The Consent Agenda will be submitted to the electorate at least five academic calendar days before a scheduled meeting. The electorate shall consider a motion to approve all items contained in the Consent Agenda. If a majority of the electorate approve the Consent Agenda, all items within the agenda shall be deemed to have been approved by the electorate. Before voting on the Consent Agenda, the electorate may remove by an ordinary majority vote particular items from the Consent Agenda and place them on the regular agenda. These items shall then be treated like any other items on the regular agenda.

E. Officers, Parliamentary Rules of Procedures

1. Presiding Officer. The Presiding Officer of the Faculty meetings shall be the Chair or in their absence, another Administrative Officer or a Faculty member delegated by the Chair.
2. Secretary. The Chair may appoint a secretary from among the Faculty or Staff for such period of time as the Chair may determine and assign to the secretary the duties to keep written minutes of the discussions and votes of the Faculty.
3. Parliamentarian. The Chair may appoint a Parliamentarian from among the Faculty or Staff for such period of time as the Chair may determine as needed.
4. Rules of Parliamentary Procedure. The Faculty shall be governed in its business by the then-current edition of Robert's Rules of Order.

F. Records

1. Maintenance. The Chair or their designee shall maintain up-to-date copies of the Code, minutes and other records of Faculty proceedings and of all standing committees and other committees, task forces, work groups, similar sub-units, and any Advisory Groups, and shall designate the place for storing those records.
2. Open Records and Exceptions. With the exception of confidential materials, minutes and records shall be open to faculty staff, and students.
3. Confidential Materials. The Chair shall maintain confidential materials on a secure storage system approved by the university. The Chair may grant access to such materials for appropriate individuals.
4. Duration for Record-Keeping. The Chair shall maintain all such records for at least five (5) years after the date of the action or meeting to which they relate and thereafter shall deposit them in the University archives.
5. Dissemination. The Chair shall make available to Faculty, Department and School administrators, and students copies of the Code and Mission Statement.

Organization of Department

A. Committees

1. The Department shall constitute the following standing committees and the Chair shall appoint Faculty to these committees for terms of not more than three consecutive years unless approved by the Chair. The Chair  shall designate the term of the Faculty members so that there will be staggered terms of office, and may appoint Graduate Research Assistants, Graduate Teaching Assistants, staff, and students to committees for such terms of office and for staggered or non-staggered terms as the Chair deems appropriate. The Chair designates the chair of each committee, with input from committee members as appropriate.The committee structure should represent faculty pertinent to the purpose of the committee.

• Personnel
• Leadership Studies
• Recognition and Dissemination
• Personnel Preparation
• Chairs Advisory

The Personnel Committee shall perform the functions, as designated by the Chair and Faculty, of a promotion and tenure committee and to that end voting privileges shall be such that no assistant professor or individual with lesser academic rank may act on any promotion or tenure matter involving an individual of higher academic rank; no associate professor may act on any personnel matter involving an individual with the rank of full professor but may act on any personnel matter of any associate professor or individual of lesser academic rank; and any full professor may act on any personnel matter of any individual with any academic rank whatsoever.

2. Chairs Advisory Committee. The Chair may appoint a Chairs Advisory committee; the committee shall consist of the chairs of the Department’s standing committees, representatives of each program area as needed, and such other individuals as deemed appropriate by the Chair; and shall carry out those responsibilities that the Chair assigns them.

3. Standing Committee Authority. The standing committees shall have, within the Department and with respect to the Department’s governance and administration, the authority and responsibility that the Standing Committees of the School of Education and Human Sciences possess.

4. Ad Hoc Committees. The Chair may appoint ad hoc committees as appropriate, subject to the approval of the Faculty if necessary. When appointing ad hoc committees, the Chair may appoint faculty and other individuals to them, and may limit the duration of each ad hoc committee.

5. Ad Hoc Committee Authority. The ad hoc committees shall have only the authority and responsibility that the Chair assigns to them, and such authority and responsibility may not be inconsistent with the authority and responsibility of any standing committee.

6. Reports. Each standing and ad hoc committee shall make reports as needed to meetings of the Faculty. The report shall be by email at least two working days before a meeting of the Faculty

7. Meeting Notes. Meeting notes from all the standing and ad hoc committees shall be saved in a centralized location available to all faculty and staff.  Notes should be posted no later than one week prior to the next meeting. 

B. Affiliated Research and Training Centers and Institutes. Centers and institutes affiliated with the Department shall be those whose directors petition the Department for affiliation and that are directed by members of the Department's Faculty, approved by the Department's Chairs Advisory Committee, and engaged in research, teaching, or other activities related to and not inconsistent with the Department's Mission.

C. Advisory and Other Groups

1. Membership, Charge, and General Duties. Advisory and other groups shall consist of Faculty, Graduate Research Assistants, Graduate Teaching Assistants, Staff, students, and other individuals appointed by the Chair with the prior consent of the Faculty; shall receive a written charge from the Chair, and report to the Faculty at least once during the fall and once during the spring semesters; and may recommend, but take no other action, with respect to the Department's Code, Mission, governance, or business.

Procedures

A. Incorporation of University Policies. All policies of the University that apply to the School of Education and Human Sciences and all policies of the School of Education and Human Sciences itself that apply to the Department are incorporated herein.

B. Conflict of Policies. If there is a conflict between the policies of the University or School and the Department's policies set out in this Code, the policies of the University or School shall govern and prevail.

CONTACT:

Department of Special Education
Joseph R. Pearson Hall, Rm. 521
1122 West Campus Rd.
Lawrence, KS  66045-3101
785-864-4954
specialedu@ku.edu

APPROVED BY:

Department Faculty and Staff

APPROVED ON:

2016-10-21 

EFFECTIVE ON:

2016-10-21 

REVIEW CYCLE:

Biennial (Every Two Years)

RELATED STATUTES, REGULATIONS, AND/OR POLICIES:

Teaching Professor Job Title Series Guidelines

Professor of the Practice

CHANGE HISTORY:

04/03/2025: Migration to TeamDynamix from Drupal.
12/21/2023: Updated in Policy Library.
09/15/2023: Approved.
04/18/2022: Converted from PDF to live text page.
10/01/2021: Updated school name
06/23/2021: Updated title.
01/15/2019: Updated to Policy Library
12/07/2017: Added to the Policy Library.