Faculty Senate

The Columbia College Chicago Faculty Senate is an officially sanctioned body within the governance structure of the College. The Senate embodies the principles of shared governance and is driven by the collective will, expertise, and creative energy of its full-time faculty. The Senate empowers the faculty to provide authoritative communication and collaboration with the president of the College, chief academic officers, and others regarding policies and practices pertaining to academic excellence, creative and scholarly endeavors, and professional responsibility and conditions of employment. The Senate is the principle body responsible for deliberations, formulations and recommendations concerning academic policy at the College.

• Senators

  Faculty Senate currently has 34 seats. Senators represent either their department or their school and are elected each spring. Each senator is assigned to serve on a standing committee of the Senate. All full-time faculty are eligible for membership on the Faculty Senate.
  
  There is a minimum of one senator from each of 16 academic units, with a second departmental senator representing those units with more than 19 full time faculty. There are also four school-wide, at-large senators from each of the three schools -- Fine and Performing Arts, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Media Arts.

  Department Senators (2020-2021)

  School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Art and Art History, Niki Nolin (Academic Affairs, Vice Chair)
  Business and Entrepreneurship, Jennifer Sadler (Executive Committee), Elizabeth Ryan (Faculty Affairs, Secretary)
  Dance, Jessica Young (Faculty Affairs, Vice Chair)
  Design, Richard Zeid (Faculty Affairs)
  Fashion Studies, Lauren Peters (Academic Affairs)
  Music, Ilya Levinson (Academic Affairs, Chair)
  Photography, Paul D'Amato (Faculty Affairs)
  Theatre, Paul Amandes (Faculty Affairs, Chair), Heather Gilbert (Academic Affairs)

  School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  American Sign Language, Angela Malcomson (Faculty Affairs)
  English and Creative Writing, Tom Nawrocki (Academic Affairs), Patricia McNair (Financial Affairs, Vice Chair)
  History, Humanities and Social Sciences, Stephanie Frank (Academic Affairs, Secretary); Sean Andrews (Executive Committee, President)
  Science and Mathematics, Beatrix Bűdy (Academic Affairs)

  School of Media Arts
  Audio Arts and Acoustics, David Worrall (Financial Affairs)
  Cinema and Television Arts, David Krause (Faculty Affairs), Sharon Ross (Executive Committee, Vice President)
  Communication, Laurence Minsky (Executive Committee), Shannelle Armstrong Fowler (Academic Affairs)
  Interactive Arts and Media, Lauren Liss (Financial Affairs)

  School-wide At-Large Senators (2020-2022)

  School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Business and Entrepreneurship, Cara Dehnert Huffman (Academic Affairs)
  Dance, Ellen Chenoweth (Financial Affairs, Secretary)
  Theatre, Michael Brown, Frances Maggio (Executive Committee, Parliamentarian)

  School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  English and Creative Writing, Madhurima Chakraborty (Academic Affairs)
  History, Humanities and Social Sciences, Rojhat Avsar (Financial Affairs, Chair)
  Science and Mathematics, Christopher Shaw (Executive Committee, Secretary), Luis Nasser (Faculty Affairs)

  School of Media Arts
  Cinema and Television Arts, Bruce Sheridan (Faculty Affairs)
  Communication, Elio Leturia (Faculty Affairs)
  Interactive Arts and Media, Alex Damarjian (Financial Affairs), Ron Fleischer (Academic Affairs)

  Chairs’ Council Representative (2019-2020)
  Lisa Gonzales, Acting Chair of Dance

  Graduate Council Representative (2019-2020)
  John Green

• Standing Committees

  Executive

  The Executive Committee sets the agenda for each senate meeting, manages senate business, communicates with internal and external stakeholders, and actively pursues the implementation of senate recommendations.​​

  Academic Affairs

  The Academic Affairs Committee considers issues relevant to graduate and undergraduate, in-person, hybrid, and online teaching and learning at Columbia College Chicago.​

  Faculty Affairs

  The Faculty Affairs Committee considers issues that impact workplace conditions for faculty at Columbia College Chicago.

  Financial Affairs

  The Financial Affairs Committee collaborates with the administration on fiscal matters that impact teaching, learning, and faculty affairs.

• Bylaws and Responsibilities

  The Senate Bylaws were written and approved by the faculty Spring 2011. They were approved by the Columbia College Board of Trustees on October 6, 2012.

  Faculty Senate Bylaws

  Senator Responsibilities​

  The Columbia College Faculty Senate empowers “the faculty to exercise leadership and apply their expertise towards” the overall health and effectiveness of the institution (Bylaws 2.3.3). Rather than wielding power as individual members of the Senate, Senators work collectively as a representative body to leverage the expertise of faculty for purposes of shared decision-making and leadership.

  To this end, consulting regularly with faculty constituents and representing the collective will of these stakeholders—at standing committee and full Senate meetings—is critical to maintaining the Senate’s position as “a mechanism by which the faculty can authoritatively communicate with the administration and constituencies both within and beyond Columbia College Chicago” (2.3.2).

  The following summaries of Department/School Senator responsibilities are meant to provide general guidelines for the expectations associated with the Senator role:

  Department Senator Responsibilities

  • Represent the collective will, expertise and authority of the faculty within your department regarding matters pertaining to teaching, learning and faculty life.*
  • Include a summary of Senate business at regular departmental meetings
  • Solicit input from faculty about Senate matters, especially those requiring an upcoming vote, in an effort to truly represent the voice of your department
  • Remind faculty of upcoming Senate meetings and invite them to attend
  • The above can be conducted via e-mail and in standing faculty meetings
  • Attend all Senate meetings
  • Attend all standing committee meetings

  School Senator Responsibilities

  • Represent the collective will, expertise and authority of the faculty within your school regarding matters pertaining to school-wide concerns.*
  • Attend all Senate meetings
  • Attend all standing committee meetings
  • Introduce themselves as School-wide representatives at school-wide faculty and briefly update their colleagues on College or School-wide issues under review by the Faculty Senate

  Standing Committee Chairperson Responsibilities

  • Schedule, create agenda, and document minutes for monthly meetings. Submit minutes via email to the Secretary of the Executive Committee
  • Meet with the Executive Committee on an as-needed basis to receive charges and discuss progress
  • Prepare a report of committee, subcommittee, and workgroup business and orally present at all scheduled Faculty Senate meetings
  • Prepare an annual written report summarizing work completed, outstanding actionable items, and future business, including the work of any subcommittees and workgroups, to be submitted via email to the Secretary of the Executive Committee by the final Faculty Senate meeting of the academic year
  • Establish sub committees or workgroups after a majority vote of those senators in attendance at the meeting such is proposed
  • Issue the subcommittee or workgroup a specific charge, a membership roster, and a project timeline

  *Adapted from Faculty Senate Bylaws, 2.1, emphasis added

• Calendar

  Add Senate meeting dates to your calendar using these links: XML  ICAL  HTML For help syncing the Senate calendar to your calendar, click here.