Membership

Eligibility

Membership is open to full-time engineering faculty from all the departments and centers of the WSE including faculty in the Department of Biomedical Engineering who are appointed in the School of Medicine and faculty in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering who are appointed in the Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The full-time engineering faculty that may serve hold one of the following titles: 

  • Tenure-track: assistant professor, associate professor, professor.
  • Teaching-track: lecturer, senior lecturer, associate teaching professor, teaching professor, associate professor of practice, professor of practice.
  • Research-track: assistant research professor, associate research professor, research professor as well as assistant, associate, and full research engineer/scientist/scholar.

The WSE Faculty Senate will have 25 members—all of whom are full-time faculty—as follows: 

  • One (full) professor and one assistant or associate professor from each of the nine academic departments.
  • One senior and one junior teaching-track faculty member from the Center for Leadership Education (CLE).
  • Two additional teaching-track faculty members elected at large from the WSE teaching faculty.
  • Three research-track faculty members elected at large from the WSE research faculty.
  • Promotion during a Senator’s term does not affect their ability to represent their department. 

Membership on the WSE Faculty Senate is for three-year terms running from July 1 to June 30. Selection of members takes place during the spring semester. The terms are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats on the WSE Faculty Senate are up for renewal/replacement each year. Members are limited to two consecutive terms (maximum of six years). A two-year break between maximum terms is required before a member is eligible for re-election.  

Each of the nine academic departments and the CLE nominate their members by processes of their own choosing; prior to appointment, departmental senate members should be approved by a vote of the department’s faculty. Generally, department chairs/heads/directors and faculty members serving in the Dean’s office are not to serve on the WSE Faculty Senate except in unusual circumstances. The department may review their Senate representation each year and make changes, as necessary.  po

The two teaching-track and three research-track members are elected at large by their constituents, the WSE teaching and research faculty, respectively. At least two nominations are required to be placed on the ballot for an at-large seat on the WSE Faculty Senate. The Senate Steering Committee will reach out to nominees to confirm they would like to be considered. There will be no more than 1 teaching and 1 research representative from a department, center, or institute. The nomination and election process will be managed by the WSE Senate Steering Committee.  

Faculty Senate Representatives

Steering Committee (Michael Shields, Chair)

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Department of Biomedical Engineering

Center for Leadership Education

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Department of Civil and Systems Engineering

Department of Computer Science

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Department of Environmental Health and Engineering

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

At Large Representatives: Teaching

At Large Representatives: Research

Meetings

The WSE Faculty Senate will meet every second Tuesday of the month from September through June. The WSE Dean will be invited during the September meeting to discuss the Dean’s priorities in terms of opportunities and challenges for WSE. 

As needed, the WSE Faculty Senate may hold additional meetings as determined by its Steering Committee. 

A quorum shall consist of a simple majority of the full Senate membership. Senate meetings shall be closed except to the elected Senators and invited speakers/visitors.  

The minutes of Senate meetings shall be taken and prepared by an Administrative Assistant, presented to the steering committee for review within 7 days of the meeting, and distributed to the Senate members by electronic mail within 14 days of the meeting. Approved minutes may be available for inspection by WSE faculty upon request. 

Duties

The WSE Faculty Senate is responsible for creating recommendations based on matters brought to the Senate’s attention by the WSE Dean, Senators, or WSE Faculty at large.  

The recommendations to the Dean are generally in the form of a report generated by a subcommittee charged with studying a particular issue. While consensus opinions are desirable, these reports may include a spectrum of opinions and recommendations when appropriate. 

Reports are generated by subcommittees of the WSE Faculty Senate [as assigned by the Steering Committee, described below]. The full membership of the WSE Faculty Senate will have an opportunity to comment on the draft reports and request changes. The Steering Committee is responsible for finalizing reports. 

Members who are unwilling or unable to contribute to their duties may be excused from the WSE Faculty Senate by a majority vote to remove brought by the Steering Committee.  

Steering Committee

The WSE Faculty Senate will have a three-person steering committee composed of a chairperson and two vice chairpersons. One member of the steering committee must be a full professor.  

The steering committee chairperson and vice chairpersons are elected every year to one-year terms. No steering committee member may serve more than two consecutive terms on the committee. The steering committee chairperson may serve two consecutive terms as chairperson, if duly elected. To ensure continuity, the former chairperson serves as a non-voting, ex-officio member of the steering committee for one year even if they are no longer a Senator.  A one-term chairperson may be elected as a vice chairperson following their term as chairperson provided this would be only their second consecutive term on the steering committee.  

Selection of the new chairperson and vice chairpersons will be done by a ballot organized by the chairperson after the conclusion of all Senator elections. All members of the WSE Faculty Senate may be nominated (including self-nominations) and the vote is by the incoming membership.  

In September of the new academic year, the previous chairperson will oversee the new Steering Committee election. Once the vote is complete, the meeting will be turned over to the new chairperson and vice chairperson.  

The Steering Committee’s responsibilities are: 

  • Meet once per year with the WSE Dean, prior to the first Senate meeting of the academic year, to discuss potential priorities in terms of opportunities and challenges for WSE.
  • Decide what issues will be examined by the WSE Faculty Senate and assign members to a subcommittee for its consideration.
  • Invite speakers/guests to present or discuss topics of interest to the WSE Faculty Senate.
  • Organize meetings of the WSE Faculty Senate including setting the dates and agenda for the meetings.
  • Ensuring that reports of subcommittees are available to all members for comment before finalizing.
  • Finalizing reports and presenting those findings to the Dean.
  • Provide Johns Hopkins University Council (JHUC) representation to keep the Steering Committee updated. The Steering Committee will provide quarterly updates to the members. 

Amendments

Changes to these procedures must be approved by two-thirds of the Senators. After any amendments are made, the changes must be communicated to the Dean’s office.