Department Bylaws | Computer Science

Bylaws of the Department of Computer Science
College of Arts & Sciences
Florida State University

Record of Substantive Revisions and Amendments to these Bylaws

Approved and adopted by the faculty by unanimous vote in October 1984. Revised and re-adopted by vote of the faculty in April 2006. Amended by vote of the faculty in November 2007, September 2008, December 2008, January 2009, and September 2009, and October 2014. Approved December, 2014 by a two-thirds majority of the faculty via a secret ballot. Amended by vote of the faculty in October 2015. Amended by vote of the faculty via a secret ballot in November 2019. Amended by vote of the faculty via a secret ballot in February 2020. Amended by vote of the faculty via a secret ballot in March 2023.

Sunset/Renewal Provision

In order for this document to remain in force, if a period of five (5) years elapses without approval of any amendment the document shall be reaffirmed by written secret ballot of a majority of the Voting Membership. Before such a reaffirmation ballot, an opportunity shall be provided for members of the faculty to propose amendments and have them considered for inclusion in the ballot.

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2023 FSU Dept of Computer Science

These are the bylaws for the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences at Florida State University. These bylaws were last approved in March 2023 by a majority of the applicable voting members of the department and on July 2023 by the College and the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement.

Preamble

The faculty of the Florida State University Department of Computer Science has drafted and adopted these Bylaws in order to define a set of principles, organizational structures, and procedures that will enable the smooth and effective operation of the department in furtherance of its mission.

Each faculty member has an equal responsibility in furthering the academic goals and in maintaining the academic excellence of our department. This will be achieved in an atmosphere of collegiality and constructive cooperation.

I. Bylaws

I.A. Adherence with Other Governing Documents.

At all times, department policy shall adhere to and be consistent with all university policies found in the FSU Constitution, the BOT-UFF Collective Bargaining Agreement (if applicable to the college), the Faculty Handbook, and the Annual Memorandum on the Promotion and Tenure Process issued by the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement.

I.B. Bylaws Revision.

This document can be amended by a two-thirds majority of the Voting Membership. Ballots for modification to this document shall be by written secret ballot with at least two weeks allowed for response. The ballots shall be conducted in such a manner so as to indicate whether or not a person has voted. The ballots shall be tallied independently by at least two people. Consideration of motions for revisions of the bylaws shall be placed on the agenda of the first faculty meeting of the year.

I.C. Substantive Change Statement.

Faculty and staff members are expected to be familiar with and follow the Florida State University Substantive Change Policy as found on the university web site https://sacs.fsu.edu/substantive-change-policy/

II Membership and Voting Rights

II.A. Faculty Membership.

The faculty of the Department of Computer Science shall consist of those persons holding full-time or part-time tenure-track or specialized faculty appointments at the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Faculty III, Teaching Faculty II, Teaching Faculty I, Computer Research Specialist. Each of these faculty must be appointed as employees of the department or are employees of the FSU Panama City Campus primarily teaching Computer Science courses.

II.B. Department Membership.

In addition to the faculty defined in Section II.A (Faculty Membership) above, the following are members of the Department of Computer Science: staff personnel or postdoctoral researchers that work full-time in the Computer Science Department that include the Business Manager, Administrative Assistant, Administrative Associate, Graduate Coordinator, Academic Program Specialist, Grants Compliance Analyst, and System Administrator.

II.C. Faculty Voting Rights.

The Voting Membership of the department is defined as the Department Chair and all the members of the Computer Science Faculty for whom the Department Chair provides the annual Assignment of Responsibilities (AoR) and Annual Evaluation. FSU Panama City Campus faculty who primarily teach Computer Science courses are entitled to vote on Computer Science undergraduate curriculum issues affecting the degree options that they offer at the FSU Panama City Campus. In addition, any other members of the Computer Science Faculty who hold tenure in the department are entitled to vote on matters related to promotion and tenure, including tenure criteria and recommendations to grant promotion and tenure, and on amendments to the Bylaws.

II.D. Non-faculty Voting Rights.

Non-faculty members of the Computer Science Department are not part of the voting membership.

III Department Organization and Governance

III.A. Faculty Meetings.

Faculty meetings are typically called by the department chair, but may also be called by petition to the department chair of four voting members. In the latter case, the meeting is to be held within one month. Minutes will be kept and shall be made available to members. At the request of any voting member, Robert’s Rules of Order shall be invoked.

III.B. Department Chair Selection.

A new committee is elected either early in the final year of a term of a sitting department chair, or when the department chair position becomes vacant before the end of a term.

Four members of the Department Chair Selection Committee shall be elected from the Computer Science faculty. The election procedure is specified in Appendix II (Committee Election Procedure). The committee will comprise these four members together with the outside member appointed by the Dean.

This committee will recommend a slate of candidates to the faculty for ratification. The minimum number of candidates will be as requested by the Dean. It is permitted that this slate include the incumbent. A two-thirds majority of the Voting Membership is required for ratification of the slate. When a recommendation is ratified, it will be forwarded to the Dean of the College.

III.C. Department Leadership and Committees.

This section first describes the department leadership positions and then describes department committees.

These Bylaws establish and define the responsibilities of certain committees. Some of these committees are elected by the faculty; the others are appointed by the department chair. In addition to these committees, the department chair may create and appoint additional administrative committees for specific purposes. Except as specified otherwise in these Bylaws, committee members will come from the Voting Membership of the department. The chair of an elected committee is elected by the committee members. The chair of an appointed committee is appointed by the department chair.

Each standing committee appointed by the department chair is required to have a charter that is available online to the department. The original charter and subsequent amendments to the charter shall be approved by the faculty. It is the responsibility of each committee chair to call meetings and to meet as frequently as necessary for the committee to fulfill its responsibilities. The standing committees include the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Graduate Curriculum Committee, the PhD Portfolio Review Committee, the Graduate Financial Aid & Admissions Committee, and the Faculty Recruiting Committee.

The department chair shall appoint the standing committees, subject to the restriction that membership in committees charged with matters limited to the graduate program be limited to members of the graduate faculty.

III.C.1. Department Chair

The department chair is the chief administrator of the department. The department chair shall be appointed by the Dean of the College. All other department administrative positions and committees will be appointed by the department chair, with the exception of the Faculty Evaluation Committee, the Promotion and Tenure Committee, and the Department Chair Selection Committee, which are formed in accordance with the provisions as described in Section III.B (Department Chair Selection). The department chair will ensure that all department members are informed on matters of policy.

The chair is responsible for annually making and signing Assignments of Responsibilities, and writing Annual Evaluation letters. The Annual Evaluation by the chair will take into account the results of the peer evaluation performed by the Faculty Evaluation Committee and the contents of the FEC binder. Each year, the chair shall write a progress towards promotion letter for each faculty member who is not promoted to his/her highest rank when such a letter is not provided by the P & T committee. The progress towards promotion letters may be combined with the Annual Evaluation letters.

The term of the department chair is three years. In the third year of a department chair’s term a Department Chair Selection Committee will be elected and will recommend to the Dean a slate of department chair candidates for the next term, as described in Section III.B (Department Chair Selection). If the department chair position becomes vacant before the end of a term, the same process will be invoked as needed to fill the vacancy.

The department faculty may recommend to the Dean that the department chair be removed from office. Such action must be taken according to the following procedure. (a) A petition calling for removal must be signed by a majority of the tenured faculty members and submitted to the Dean. (b) The Dean or his/her representative shall preside at a meeting of the faculty to consider the petition. The department chair will not attend. Two weeks notice shall be given for this meeting. (c) To be adopted, a motion for removal must be supported by 2/3 of the members eligible to vote for the department chair in a secret ballot. This process shall be conducted by the department executive committee (without the department chair), which shall report the vote to the faculty and to the Dean.

III.C.2. Other Administrative Officers

Other faculty may be appointed by the department chair to assist the department chair in administration of the department, and given responsibilities delegated by the department chair. In performance of such delegated responsibilities, these faculty members shall act with the administrative authority of the department chair.

III.C.3. Promotion and Tenure Committee

Recommendations for faculty promotion and tenure are made by the Promotion and Tenure (P&T) Committee. The Promotion and Tenure (P&T) committee consists of all faculty members who are voting members in the department and who are eligible to vote in some promotion and/or tenure cases as described in the following. For tenure cases, only tenured faculty vote. For tenure-track faculty promotion to a given rank, only the faculty at that rank or above vote. For specialized faculty promotion to a given rank, only tenured faculty and the specialized faculty at that rank or above vote. Some common cases are the following. For promotion to Associate Professor, only Associate Professors and Full Professors shall vote; for promotion to Full Professor, only Full Professors shall vote; for promotion to Teaching Faculty II, only tenured faculty, Teaching Faculty II, and Teaching Faculty III shall vote; for promotion to Teaching Faculty III, only tenured faculty and Teaching Faculty III shall vote.

Each year, eligible voting members of the P&T committee will consider all faculty who are eligible for promotion, or tenure, or both, if applicable. A faculty member is encouraged to ask the P&T Committee at the beginning of the Spring semester to provide advice regarding whether or not he/she should go forward for promotion and/or tenure. The P&T Committee will use the FEC Binders (see Section III.C.4 (Faculty Evaluation Committee)) for purposes of providing this advice. The preparation of the nomination binder is initiated as per FSU University policies and procedures. This binder is reviewed by the P&T Committee who will vote on a recommendation decision before the binder leaves the department.

The P&T Committee will elect a chair from their members who must be a tenured full professor. The P&T Committee will also elect a full professor to serve as the Computer Science Department representative on the science area committee. The P&T committee is responsible for the required pre-tenure reviews. The P&T chair will be responsible for soliciting letters if required for pretenure reviews of assistant professors and for writing the actual review that will be submitted for approval by a majority of P&T Committee members.

III.C.4. Faculty Evaluation Committee

The Faculty Evaluation Committee (FEC) is responsible for annual peer evaluations of faculty, which shall be used as input to the annual evaluation performed by the department chair. In addition, the FEC is responsible for working with the department chair as specified in the FEC procedures regarding salary increases. The department chair, in consultation with the FEC, is responsible for departmental recommendations for awards and other opportunities for special recognition of merit and achievement within the university.

This committee has four members from the Voting Membership, elected by the faculty according to the procedures in Appendix II (Committee Election Procedure). All of the Voting Members that are subject to evaluation by this committee are eligible to vote on the committee membership. At most one non-tenured faculty members shall serve in any year.

The document “Procedures and Criteria for Evaluation and Promotion, Tenure, and Salary Increase Recommendations” (FEC Procedures) shall detail the FEC procedures and the FEC Binder contents and format, and shall be approved by the faculty and be posted with the Bylaws on the Department’s Web site as they are referenced in the Bylaws and hence considered part of them. Evaluations are based on the FEC binders, the criteria defined in the FEC procedures, and evidence as to degree of satisfaction of these criteria, relative to the mission of the University and the Department and the duties assigned to the person being evaluated.

An augmented Specialized Faculty Evaluation committee will evaluate the performance of specialized faculty. This committee shall consist of the FEC and two members elected from the ranks of specialized faculty in the department by the voting membership of the Computer Science department.

III.C.5. Executive Committee

The Executive Committee shall advise the chair on general matters and have approval authority for decisions made by the department chair that are listed below. In conjunction with the department chair, the committee shall seek to promote the stature, image, and support of the department, both within the university and on state, regional, and national levels.

The committee shall be comprised of three tenured faculty members. The department chair shall select one of the committee members and the other two shall be elected each year by the voting membership of the department.

The Executive Committee is responsible for granting approval for department chair decisions that can significantly impact the department. This includes approving:

appointed standing committee assignments.
general space allocation policies.
focus areas for faculty hiring.

If the Executive Committee and the department chair cannot reach a resolution, then the decision can be approved by a majority of the Voting Membership when such a vote is solicited by the department chair. Without approval of the Executive Committee or the Voting Membership the department’s chair decision will not be sanctioned.

The Executive Committee is also responsible for advising the chair on other important matters, such as staff hiring and any large departmental budgetary expenditures, which includes equipment purchases, renovations, and general strategies for OPS, Expense, and Foundation expenditures, etc.

The Executive Committee is also responsible for developing the general computing infrastructure policies (along with the systems group manager and the department chair) subject to ratification of the Voting Membership. Computing infrastructure includes the computing network, servers and workstations (in offices, classrooms, teaching laboratories and research laboratories), and the supporting staff and budget resources. Appropriate areas of policy include reliability, privacy, security, licensing, accessibility, usage, allocation of existing resources, and priority-setting for acquisition of new resources. The committee will solicit input from all appropriate sources, including the faculty, the staff, the curriculum committees, and student groups recognized by the department. The department’s system and network administration support staff (Systems Group) is responsible for implementing department policies related to the computing infrastructure. The manager of the Systems Group will be called upon to advise and inform the Executive Committee on matters related to computing infrastructure.

III.C.6. Undergraduate Curriculum Committee

This committee is responsible for oversight of the undergraduate curriculum, including approval of new course proposals, modifications to existing courses, and textbook choices for all undergraduate courses. The committee is also responsible for proposing degree program requirements and new undergraduate degree and certificate programs to be approved by the faculty.

III.C.7. Graduate Curriculum Committee

This committee is responsible for oversight of the graduate curriculum, including approval of new course proposals and modifications to existing courses. The committee is also responsible for proposing degree program requirements and new graduate degree and certificate programs to be approved by the faculty.

III.C.8. PhD Portfolio Review Committee

This committee is responsible for oversight of the progress of all Ph.D. students. The committee consists of a core that is appointed by the department chair, together with any other Department faculty with graduate faculty status who elect to participate. Meetings of the committee should be announced to all the CS faculty. The Portfolio Evaluation Committee determines whether or not students should continue in the program. The duties and procedures are further described in the FSU Graduate Bulletin.

III.C.9. Graduate Financial Aid & Admissions Committee

This committee is responsible for evaluating applications for graduate admission and financial aid, determining which students are admitted and which are offered financial aid. The committee maintains a ranked list of students who have applied for financial aid. When an E&G funded assistantship becomes available, the rank order list is used to help decide which student should receive the appointment. The committee may be called upon by the department chair to resolve disputes about the hiring and firing of E&G funded assistants.

This committee is also responsible for recruiting graduate students, and generally working to continually improve the caliber and numbers of our graduate student population. The committee is expected to take initiative and exercise creativity in accomplishing its mission.

Departmental procedures on the hiring and firing of E&G assistants must adhere to and be consistent with the Graduate Assistant United – Collective Bargaining Agreement and HR policies.

III.C.10. Faculty Recruiting Committee

This committee is responsible for recruiting faculty in years during which positions will be filled. Responsibilities include actively seeking strong faculty candidates, reviewing and ranking applications, selecting candidates for interviews, and arranging for hosts for the visits of candidates.

III.D. Faculty Senators.

Departmental representatives and alternates for the University’s Faculty Senate shall be elected by a majority of the voting members of the department. The Department Chair shall solicit nominations for senate positions whenever a departmental senator reaches the end of his or her term or a position otherwise becomes open. The ballot may be conducted by letter or at a department meeting.

III.E. Faculty Recruitment

Faculty recruiting is the responsibility of the Faculty Recruitment Committee, as described in Section III.C.10.

Prior to sending the Dean of the College a recommendation for an offer of new employment in a faculty position, the department chair will conduct a poll of the Voting Membership. For tenure track positions, only members of the tenure-track faculty are eligible to vote in the poll.

In addition, recommendations regarding offers of new employment with tenure, and offers of new employment at the ranks of Associate Professor or Professor, shall be subject to the same balloting processes specified in Section III.C.3. (Promotion and Tenure Committee). for internal candidates for tenure and promotion to the respective ranks.

III.F. Unit Reorganization

The organization of the CS Department is described in the CS Bylaws. CS faculty vote on CS Bylaws changes. Thus, CS faculty have to approve reorganization of the CS Department.

IV. Curriculum

Curricular changes involve creation, deletion, and modifications of requirements for majors, certificate programs, and degree programs. The entire Voting Membership is eligible to vote on these issues, except that for graduate curriculum issues only members with graduate teaching status are eligible to vote. Creation and termination of degree programs and their majors require approval by a two-thirds supermajority of the eligible Voting Membership.

V. Annual Evaluation of Faculty on Performance and Merit

V.A. Peer Involvement in Annual Performance and Merit Evaluation.

Each faculty member’s performance will be evaluated relative to his or her assigned duties. Each faculty member’s performance will be rated annually using the following university rating scale:

Substantially Exceeds FSU’s High Expectations
Exceeds FSU’s High Expectations
Meets FSU’s High Expectations
Official Concern
Does Not Meet FSU’s High Expectations

CS faculty elect the Faculty Evaluation Committee (FEC), who evaluate each CS faculty each year. More details about the responsibilities of the FEC are described in Section III.C.4 (Faculty Evaluation Committee).).

CS faculty vote on the FEC Procedures, which include detailed criteria for the evaluation of CS faculty. The FEC Procedures are referenced in Section III.C.4 (Faculty Evaluation Committee).).

V.B. Criteria for Evaluation of Tenure-track Faculty.

V.B.1. Teaching

The basic objectives in teaching at the basic studies level include: (a) to help students prepare for their inevitable encounters with computing devices and the influence of these devices on their lives; (b) to provide background for basic science teachers in primary and secondary schools; (c) to promote awareness of computers and computer science as they affect other professions and careers; and (d) to provide understanding of basic computing principles and methodologies. The faculty member assigned to teach a course at the basic studies level is expected to make every reasonable effort to present basic and relevant material appropriate for non-science majors in such a way as to stimulate student interest and understanding.

The objectives of undergraduate teaching of science majors are: (a) to educate professional computer scientists to fill B.S. level government and private sector positions; (b) to prepare interested students for graduate work in computer science or related fields; and (c) to provide students from related disciplines with necessary background in computing. Faculty members assigned to teach courses at this level are expected to present organized and current material consistent with related courses and the departmental curriculum. Effective classroom teaching must be combined with a willingness to assist students who require special attention. Classroom presentations should challenge students to critically examine and question the issues before them.

The objectives of graduate teaching at the M.S. level include: (a) to educate M.S.-level professional computer scientists for careers in the public and private sectors; (b) to prepare interested students for advanced graduate work in computer science and related fields; and (c) to provide appropriate background in computer science for students from related fields of science. At this level, classroom teaching of the type described under 3 is expected but with more emphasis on the quality and timeliness of course content. What is taught one year may be superseded the next year by newer research results. The successful teacher must at least keep abreast of developments and preferably participate in them. Also at this level, the emphasis on working with students individually becomes greater. The good teacher works with M.S. students in preparing papers, projects, seminars, and theses, either as a member of the student’s committee or as a helpful advisor when appropriate.

There is one principal objective for teaching at the Ph.D. level: to educate future national and international leaders in computer science and related disciplines. The successful teacher at the doctoral level must understand intimately and critically the latest developments in a chosen specialized field and encourage and assist doctoral students to do the same. Doctoral students are to be taught means of establishing new ideas and concepts, as well as established ones, through active supervision of their study and dissertation research.

V.B.2. Scholarship/Research

The advancement of knowledge through research and creative activity is a primary mission of the Department and the University. The faculty member is expected to maintain a current knowledge and understanding of scientific advances, to contribute to these advances, and to disseminate results in reports, meetings, conferences, and publications.

V.B.3. Service

Service activity most often falls into the category of helping others (or organizations of others that may include the contributor as a member) in ways that do not directly benefit the contributor. Examples include committee work at all levels, counseling undergraduate students, administrative assignments, and certain types of editing and reviewing. Each faculty member is expected to spend some time and resources on service activity.

In addition, a tenure-track faculty member is expected to provide service to the profession. Examples include reviewing journal papers, serving on program committees, serving on funding agency panels, etc.

V.C. Criteria for Evaluation of Specialized Faculty.

V.C.1. Teaching

The criteria for evaluation of teaching by specialized faculty is similar to the criteria for evaluation of teaching by tenure-track faculty. However, many specialized faculty will only teach at the basic studies and undergraduate science majors levels. Occasionally specialized faculty members may teach a graduate class, but are not expected to advise students on research.

V.C.2. Scholarship/Research

At this time no specialized faculty member has a research assignment.

V.C.3. Service

The criteria for evaluation of service by specialized faculty is similar to the criteria for evaluation of service by tenure-track faculty. However, specialized faculty are not expected to provide service to the profession.

VI. Promotion and Tenure

VI.A. Progress Toward Promotion Letter.

Each year, every faculty member who is not yet at the highest rank for their position will receive a letter that outlines progress toward promotion and/or tenure.

VI.B. Third Year Review for Tenure-track Faculty.

Tenure-track faculty in their third year of service will receive an evaluation of their progress in meeting the department’s expectations for promotion and tenure.

VI.C. Peer Involvement in Evaluation of Promotion and Tenure of Faculty.

The CS Department Promotion and Tenure (P&T) Committee is comprised of CS faculty members as described in Section III.C.3 (Promotion and Tenure Committee)). This section specifies which faculty members vote on promotion and/or tenure for any CS faculty member.

VI.D. Criteria for Promotion and Tenure of Tenure-track Faculty.
VI.D.1 Criteria for Promotion to Associate Professor.

A candidate must normally have taught satisfactorily at both the undergraduate and graduate level. He or she must have maintained an up-to-date knowledge of his or her field and be able to communicate this knowledge. The Department will particularly value the candidate who has not merely carried out assigned duties effectively but who has made innovative contributions where appropriate, including work done on his or her own initiative. He or she should have worked successfully with graduate students on research topics in his or her field. The FEC will look for evidence that the candidate is capable of generating student interest in his or her research specialty. Research work of high quality is essential. It should have already received some recognition at the national level, as evidenced by citations, invited presentations, grant support and/or letters of evaluation from distinguished experts outside the University. There must be concrete evidence that the candidate will eventually achieve distinction in his or her field.

VI.D.2 Criteria for Promotion to Professor.

Promotion to Full Professor is warranted when the promise implicit in the promotion or appointment to Associate Professor has been fulfilled. The candidate must have made substantial contributions to the teaching program of the department. He or she should have worked successfully with graduate students on research topics in his or her field, through completion of the Ph.D. degree. The candidate’s research work should have achieved international recognition by objective standards, have breadth of interest, and be judged of considerable importance to his or her field. The candidate’s scholarly work should also have contributed to the graduate programs of the department.

VI.D.3 Criteria for Awarding Tenure.

The technical criteria for awarding of tenure for an assistant professor are the same as those for promotion to Associate Professor. The awarding of tenure for a faculty member who comes to FSU with an initial rank of associate or full professor requires that the faculty member has met the Department’s criteria for promotion to his/her current rank at the time tenure becomes effective. In addition, except for cases of tenure upon appointment, the awarding of tenure also requires that the faculty member has satisfactorily performed his/her assigned duties while employed at FSU. The awarding of tenure must be considered more than a reward for excellent performance, however. The goals and mission of the department, and the degree with which the candidate contributes to these, are an important consideration. The awarding of tenure is the means by which the department controls its long-term growth and direction.

VI.E. Criteria for Promotion of Specialized Faculty.
VI.E.1 Promotion to Teaching Faculty II

In order to be considered for promotion to Teaching Faculty II, the candidate must meet or exceed all of the following criteria.

The candidate should normally have served at least 5 years as Teaching Faculty I or equivalent grade at another institution. Only a candidate with extraordinarily strong justification will be considered for promotion to Teaching Faculty II prior to the fifth year.
Promotion to Teaching Faculty II requires a consistent record of outstanding teaching including Student Feedback surveys from each class. A review of the data from the previous five years must show high ratings and/or continuous improvements.
The candidate must demonstrate the ability to teach a range of courses in different areas of Computer Science.
The candidate must demonstrate the ability to create new courses or develop new course materials for existing courses.
The candidate must demonstrate a continuous effort to improve and keep oneself up-to-date professionally.
Promotion to Teaching Faculty II requires a strong record of service to the Department, College, and/or University. Actively participating in departmental activities is a part of service to the department.

VI.E.2 Promotion to Teaching Faculty III

Faculty in the rank of Teaching Faculty III are expected to be leaders in the department. In addition to having a strong record of excellence in teaching and service, candidates are expected to demonstrate leadership in teaching and service. A successful candidate is expected to meet or exceed all of the following.

The candidate should normally have served at least 5 years as Teaching Faculty II or equivalent grade at another institution. Only a candidate with extraordinarily strong justification will be considered for promotion to Teaching Faculty III prior to the fifth year. Promotion to Teaching Faculty III requires the consistent demonstration of teaching excellence in the past five years. A review of the data from the previous five years must show high ratings and/or continuous improvements. Winning a university teaching award or other significant recognition is a strong indication of teaching excellence.
The candidate must show the ability to teach a wide range of courses beyond reaching the rank of Teaching Faculty II (at least two new course-preparations in the evaluation period).
The candidate must create at least one new course in the evaluation period.
The candidate must demonstrate a continuous effort to improve and keep oneself up-to-date professionally.
During the evaluation period, the candidate must demonstrate leadership in teaching. Examples of leadership in teaching include but not limited to the following:
- Introducing innovative teaching practices in classes.
- Introducing innovative technology uses in teaching.
- Leading the efforts in major curriculum changes.
During the evaluation period, the candidate must demonstrate leadership in service to the Department, College, and the University in addition to maintaining an excellent service record including actively participating in department activities. Examples of leadership in service include but not limited to:
- Serving as the chair of a major committee such as the undergraduate curriculum committee.
- Leading an effort to create and provide new service/educational opportunities that significantly benefit students, the department, the college, or the University.

Appendix I: Voting Issues

Except where these Bylaws specify a different procedure, decisions made by the faculty will be by a vote conducted at a faculty meeting, by letter ballot, or by e-mail ballot. For a faculty meeting, one half of the Voting Membership that are eligible to vote on the measure under consideration constitutes a quorum, and passage of a measure requires a majority of the Voting Membership that is present and eligible to vote on the measure. Passage of a letter or e-mail ballot requires a majority of the Voting Membership that is eligible to vote on the measure. Except where these Bylaws specify differently, all the Voting Membership is eligible to vote.

Appendix II: Committee Election Procedure

Election of committee members for the Department Chair Selection Committee, the Executive Committee, and the Faculty Evaluation Committee shall be conducted at a meeting of the faculty. All the voting members of the department are entitled to vote in the election of these committees, unless specified otherwise in these Bylaws. Elections shall be conducted by a faculty member chosen to serve as Secretary for the occasion by the department chair. Voting shall be done by secret ballot in a meeting of the faculty called by the department chair and announced to the faculty at least two weeks in advance.

Election of members of the committee shall be one at a time in the following manner: The Secretary calls for nominations from the faculty. Once nominations are made, a vote is taken to elect one member of the committee from those nominated. A member of the committee must be elected by a majority vote of the faculty present at the meeting. This process is repeated sequentially for each of the membership slots. In case no nominee obtains a majority, a runoff is held between the nominees with the highest two vote counts (not necessarily distinct) on the previous ballot. If, after repeated ballots, the tie still holds, the tie is resolved as follows: The person who has served most recently on the committee loses (i.e., is not elected for membership); secondarily, the person of lower academic rank loses; tertiarily, the person with fewer years of employment at FSU loses. In cases where these rules do not resolve a tie, the Secretary may attempt to elect committee members by unanimous agreement among himself or herself and the faculty members involved in the tie.