VOTING PROCEDURES

The Handbook defines the voting members of the faculty and states the requirements for an effective vote, which vary as a function of the type of action to be taken.

Voting eligibility. This is determined in several steps, listed below.

First, the person must be a voting member of the UW faculty. The Handbook states that persons holding the following titles are eligible voting members of the faculty:

• Professor (50% appointment or greater)
• Research Professor* (50% appointment or greater)
• Associate Professor (50% appointment or greater)
• Research Associate Professor* (50% appointment or greater)
• Assistant Professor (50% appointment or greater)
• Research Assistant Professor* (50% appointment or greater)
• full-time Instructor
• full-time Principal Lecturer
• full-time Senior Lecturer
• full-time Senior Artist in Residence
• full-time Lecturer
• full-time Artist in Residence
• retired Assistant Professor, Research Assistant Professor*, Associate Professor, Research Associate Professor*, Professor, or Research Professor* during the quarter he/she is serving on a part-time basis

*Note the restriction below regarding research faculty votes.

Faculty are not eligible to vote during the time they are on leave of absence.

Second, as an eligible voter, the person may vote in his/her primary (home) department.

Third, if the person has a joint appointment, the joint (secondary) department and the person must determine at the time of appointment whether voting rights will be given in the joint department. This is not dependent upon the percentage of appointment or funding in the joint department, i.e., a person may have from 0% to 100% funding in the secondary unit and still be an eligible voter if it was arranged at the time of appointment. (See the Handbook, Vol. II, Section 24-34 B.6 for the rules regarding a joint appointment.)

Requirements for an effective vote on personnel actions. Following are the requirements for voting on faculty personnel actions, which include new appointments, promotions, tenure, reappointments, renewals, and salary increases. (See the Handbook for rules regarding other types of governance or voting actions.)

If a department does not have at least three eligible faculty members to vote on a personnel recommendation, a standing committee should be appointed by the Dean for this purpose (see Standing committees).

Any personnel action that requires a departmental vote is effective only if passed by a majority vote of all eligible voting members of the unit.

A recommendation for a new appointment--at any rank, including new emeritus appointments--is voted on by all voting members of the department faculty. (NOTE that for new short-term appointments, the department faculty may delegate to the chair the authority to make short-term appointments without a full faculty vote.)

A recommendation for reappointment, renewal, tenure, promotion, or salary increase is voted on by those voting members who are superior in academic rank to the person under consideration, with the following exception for research faculty. See the chart below. (For reappointments of short-term faculty members, the department faculty may delegate to the chair the authority to make such reappointments without a full faculty vote.)

*Research faculty may vote on all personnel matters as described in the Faculty Code except those matters relating to the promotion and/or tenure of faculty to the ranks of Principal Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Senior Artist in Residence, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Associate Professor WOT, Professor WOT.