School of Public Health Self-Study Report > 1.0 The School of Public Health > 1.5 Governance > 1.5.a.

1.5.a.

1.5.a. Description of the School’s governance and committee structure and processes

School governance and administration are in accordance with its Constitution and University guidelines.

Responsibility for the creation, review and approval of policies is shared by the Dean and several bodies, including the Executive Team, Policy Council, faculty committees and, in some cases, staff and students. Ultimately, the Dean is responsible for the School, its policies and direction.

Figure 3: School of Public Health Leadership and Governance

• Executive Team: The Dean, Associate Deans, Division Heads, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Dean for External Affairs comprise the School’s Executive Team, which meets twice monthly to address administrative and financial matters, strategic and operational planning, policies and procedures, resource requests and allocations, performance in relation to mission and goals and coordination of the School’s education, research and service programs.
• Dean: As the “chief executive officer,” the Dean has general administrative responsibility over School affairs in the following areas: educational policy, budgets, human resources and space. Accountable to the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences and the President of the Board of Regents, the Dean is responsible for development and implementation of the School’s mission, goals and objectives. The Dean, in consultation with the Policy Council, develops and implements the School’s organizational structure to further the School’s mission. The Dean and Associate Deans meet weekly to discuss policy and management matters.
• Associate Deans (appointed by the Dean upon recommendation of an internal search committee.)
• The Senior Associate Dean for Research and Academic Affairs oversees research, faculty affairs and educational policy and operations affecting professional and graduate programs across the School.
• The Associate Dean for Public Health Practice Education is responsible for lifelong learning opportunities for the public health practice community, workforce development, distance education and interprofessional and interinstitutional education.
• The Associate Dean for Student Affairs manages student services, student development, recruitment and multicultural student affairs.
• Assistant Dean for External Affairs oversees development, communications and external relations.
• The Chief Financial Officer oversees financial management, payroll accounting compliance and the allocation of resources, as well as coordination of the annual budgeting and planning process that leads to a written agreement between the Dean and the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences (the School’s “Compact”).
• Division Heads: The School’s four divisions are led by individuals responsible for implementing the School’s mission and goals and assuring the financial stability of their units. They also play a critical role in facilitating collaboration among the divisions and determining School progress and direction. The Dean appoints Division Heads after faculty consultation, including a secret ballot of division faculty. In addition to serving on the Executive Team, Division Heads serve as the Advisory and Review Management Subcommittee of the Policy Council, providing recommendations on management and administrative matters.
• Policy Council: The Policy Council consults with and advises the Dean regarding policies governing the School, including the mission, vision and goals, programming priorities, strategic plan, organizational structure, and strategies for funding and resource allocation. The School’s Constitution requires that the Dean consult with the Policy Council on a wide range of policy matters, including allocation of resources and changes to the School’s organizational structure. Chaired by the Dean, the Policy Council comprises voting members made up of the Division Heads, elected representatives from the faculty, civil service/bargaining unit staff, professional and academic staff and student body. Non-voting members include the Associate Deans and one of the School’s elected representatives to the University Senate. Major administrative policies are brought before the Policy Council for discussion. Administrative matters brought before the Policy Council usually originate as proposals from the Dean. The School’s Constitution stipulates that issues that must be discussed by the Policy Council include the creation or elimination of Divisions or Major programs, the allocation of resources, strategic planning and other major policy issues affecting School structure and functions.
• Faculty Consultative Committee (see Chapter 1.5.c.) represents faculty interests and concerns to School administration, the AHC and the University. Faculty members elected to the Policy Council – Division and at-large – comprise the Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC). The Dean, on an ad hoc basis, requests the FCC to address specific faculty-related matters (i.e., formulation of a School-wide workload policy and development of metrics for distribution of salary increases across the Divisions.) The faculty sets and monitors the promotion and tenure standards in accordance with University regulations.
• Standing Committees: Please see Section 1.5.c. for additional information on the Standing Committees and their roles in governance.
• Academic Professional and Administrative (P&A) Senate: The P&A Senate represents School employees in professional positions that require either academic or administrative expertise. The Chair of the P&A Senate is a voting member of the Policy Council.
• Staff Association: The Staff Association addresses issues pertinent to all of the School’s civil service and bargaining unit employees. The Association conducts staff development seminars during the year and is called upon to develop recommendations or responses regarding employment issues. In addition, staff are also involved with School, AHC and University committees. The president of the Staff Association is a voting member of the Policy Council.
• Student Senate: The Student Senate represents each educational major and addresses student interests within the School, the AHC and the University. Its president is a voting member of the Policy Council. The group elects its own president and selects student representatives to serve on other School committees.

Policy development

The process is interactive, with the Dean and the Executive Team often offering draft policies or priorities to the faculty for discussion. The Policy Council consults and advises the Dean regarding policies governing the School, including the mission, vision and goals; programmatic priorities; the strategic plan; the organizational structure; and strategies of funding and resource allocation.

Planning

Planning is generally a broad, interactive process involving all relevant committees, faculty retreats and appropriate community engagement, as well as significant direction from the Executive Team. The Policy Council is charged with advising the Dean on strategic planning and approval of programmatic structure. The School’s planning and evaluation process is discussed in Chapter 1.2.

Budget and resource allocation

The budget is developed by the Dean and CFO, extensively discussed with the Executive Team and presented to the faculty for review. The School’s budgeting process is discussed in Chapter 1.6.

Student recruitment, admission and award of degrees as well as academic standards and policies

The Educational Policy Committee (EPC) is responsible for studying and making recommendations to the Dean regarding modification of or additions to the School’s Educational Policies, as well as educational issues of School-wide importance. These may include periodic review of core area education requirements, review and monitoring of existing courses, approval of proposed courses, review of proposed degree programs and course requirement issues.

The EPC, composed of faculty serving as Major program chairs and a student representative, regularly discusses and reviews recruitment issues, advising the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Student Services Center on policy, plans and resource allocation.

Student recruitment, admission to professional programs and award of professional degrees are organized under the office of the Associate Dean for Student Affairs. It is assisted in these functions by a School-wide Student Services Center, faculty chairs of each educational program and program coordinators. Student recruitment, admission to academic programs and award of academic degrees are organized under the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School, assisted by program coordinators and Directors of Graduate Studies. The School’s Office of Recruitment Services aims to recruit intellectually vibrant candidates who are racially, ethnically and geographically diverse, by working with student affairs, academic programs, the advancement staff and alumni. Student recruitment and admissions are discussed in Chapter 4.4.

Faculty recruitment, retention, promotion and tenure

The parameters for newly tenured/tenure-track hires are agreed upon by the Dean and the Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences. Parameters for contract faculty are determined by academic priority and reviewed by the Dean and Division Heads.

The responsibility for delineating faculty recruitment priorities falls to the Division Heads following discussions with their respective faculties. The Policy Council is also involved in advising the Dean on general School-wide directions and priorities. Strategic investment and priorities for hire of new faculty were most recently reviewed in 2005 through the “Futures Committee and Stakeholders’ Retreat” (see Chapter 1.2.a).

Faculty recruitment is initiated at the Division level. The Division Head, with the approval of the Dean, appoints a search committee. The hiring authority and search committee prepare the job description and recruitment/advertisement plan, which must be approved by the School’s Equal Opportunity Officer and the Dean. Tenured and tenure-track positions must be publicized nationally. The search committee must prepare a summary of the applicant pool in terms of protected classes. Approval of the pool is required prior to candidate selection. A guidance for diversity in hiring, issued by the Dean in November 2004, reinforced a commitment to, and expectations regarding, diversity in national searches.

The School’s Academic Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Committee (APT) reviews the recommended candidate’s credentials for appropriateness to the proposed rank and forwards the documentation to School faculty eligible to vote. Subsequent to a positive vote from the eligible faculty and compliance with affirmative action guidelines, the Dean may extend an offer of employment.

Between July1, 2004, and July 1, 2006, the School hired 12 new regular (tenured/tenure-track) faculty and 15 contract faculty.

Retention decisions are initiated at the Division level and include discussions between the Division Head and relevant faculty. If the Dean agrees with a retention recommendation for tenured or tenure-track faculty, appropriate information, including the external letter of offer, is forwarded for action to the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences. A Provost pool for “preventive retention” is available to encourage retention of highly productive faculty. All requests by the School to reward nationally competitive faculty have been funded.

The School follows University guidelines regarding faculty tenure and promotion spelled out in the Academic Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Policy. It includes information on types of appointments, terms of employment, personnel decisions regarding probationary faculty and appeal procedures. The APT Committee is responsible for implementing the policy. (A copy is available online at http://www.sph.umn.edu/about/policies/apt/home.html.) The APT policy statement is reviewed every two years by the faculty and modified as needed. An ad hoc committee is charged with reviewing the document and preparing recommendations for School-wide faculty vote.

Probationary faculty are reviewed annually – first at the Division level, then by the APT Committee, which formulates a recommendation to School-wide faculty eligible to vote. The choices are to continue the faculty member on probationary status, to promote with tenure or terminate the appointment after the next academic year. The Dean forwards the faculty vote to the Senior Vice President for Health Sciences along with the Dean’s own recommendation regarding continuation, promotion or tenure.

Contract faculty have the same opportunity for promotion as tenured and tenure-track faculty, although they are not eligible for tenure. These faculty members may compete along with other candidates for available tenured/tenure-track positions.

Academic standards and policies

Academic standards and policies are set and enforced in three categories:

• The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the Student Services staff monitor the maintenance of a 3.0 GPA for continued enrollment and graduation of M.P.H. students, while the Graduate School performs the same functions for M.S. and Ph.D. students.
• The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, in conjunction with the Educational Policy Committee, advises the Dean on the means of satisfying and completing core area requirements.
• Faculty of the majors – both School and Graduate School – develop and review all standards and policies such as curricular requirements and course content used to ensure integrity.

Research and service expectations and policies

All faculty members are required to participate directly in research activities that relate to the generation or interpretation of knowledge and application through service that will enhance the well-being of the public. The School’s Academic Appointment Promotion and Tenure document (http://www.sph.umn.edu/about/policies/apt/home.html) describes the expectations for scholarly activity.

Research and service expectations are also part of the School’s stated mission, goals and objectives. They are rewarded through the University system of merit, promotion and tenure.

Policies governing research can be found in Section 3.1. and those governing service in Section 3.2.