Faculty Recognition Committee

Mission and Scope

Alignment with Strategic Plan

  • 4A. Foster a high performing organization driven by a culture of engagement, respect, and accountability (Employees)

Alignment with NWCCU 2020 Accreditation Standards

  • 2.B.1 Within the context of its mission and values, the institution adheres to the principles of academic freedom and independence that protect its constituencies from inappropriate internal and external influences, pressures, and harassment.
  • 2.B.2 Within the context of its mission and values, the institution defines and actively promotes an environment that supports independent thought in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge. It affirms the freedom of faculty, staff, administrators, and students to share their scholarship and reasoned conclusions with others. While the institution and individuals within the institution may hold to a particular personal, social, or religious philosophy, its constituencies are intellectually free to test and examine all knowledge and theories, thought, reason, and perspectives of truth. Individuals within the institution allow others the freedom to do the same.

Mission

The Faculty Recognition Committee functions to officially recognize faculty who, through teaching excellence, carry out the vision of the College of Western Idaho to “be a best-in-class community college that provides quality, affordable, and accessible education by delivering innovative and cost-effective programming that empowers students, leads to economic and social mobility, and meets evolving community needs.”

Charge and Objectives

The functions of the faculty recognition committee are the following:

  • Solicit Faculty of Distinction nominations and vote on monthly Faculty of Distinction Recipients
  • Recruit a committee for choosing Faculty of the Year each April

Membership and Representation

A. Leadership

  • Chair
    • The Faculty Recognition Committee Chair will preside over the Recognition Committee meetings. In the Chair's absence, the Vice Chair will preside. The Chair will call, organize meetings and report to Faculty Senate. The Chair will coordinate with other areas of the college as needed. The Chair will NOT vote on Faculty of Distinction unless there is a tie. The Chair will then vote to break the tie.
  • Vice Chair
    • Vice Chair of Faculty Recognition Committee will assist the chair in the completion of their responsibilities.

B. Selection of leadership

The Committee will nominate and elect a Chair and Vice Chair through the voting procedures of the committee. Election of leadership positions will occur at the April meeting prior to the position being vacated.  All regular, full-time faculty are eligible.

C. Terms

  • Term Limits
    • Leadership positions will be held for three-year terms.
  • Limit
    • A person may serve up to two consecutive terms in a single position (six years total). Faculty Senate may vote to extend a person’s terms in a single position beyond two terms for substantial need.
  • Vacancies
    • Should any leader resign from duties an interim will be chosen and voted on by the committee members to complete the term.

Members

A. Regular/representative members

The Faculty Recognition Committee will have 5-7 members. 

B. Selection of members

Members will volunteer to serve on the Faculty Recognition Committee. If there are more volunteers than open positions, the existing committee members will elect members from the volunteers, and the elected will be approved by the Faculty Senate President.

C. Terms

  • Term Periods
    • Members serve for three-year terms.
  • Limits
    • Members may serve up to two consecutive terms (six years).
  • Rotations
    • The committee may vote to extend the terms of members for the period of a year to avoid more than 50% of the committee rotating off at a time.
  • Members being nominated for award
    • Members may step down from the committee to accept a nomination. See “eligibility” section below
  • Participation Expectations
    • Members of the Faculty Recognition Committee will meet as needed. Monthly voting will happen by email asynchronously vote on the monthly Faculty of Distinction (see “Selection Process for Faculty of Distinction”)
    • Members will vote within one week or will notify the Chair if they are unable to vote

Formation of Subcommittees or Workgroups

A. Faculty of the Year Subcommittee

There will be a Faculty of the Year subcommittee different than the committee selecting Faculty of Distinction. The Faculty of the Year committee will be decided by the members listed below via rank choice voting from the nine Faculty of Distinction recipients. The Committee for choosing faculty of the year will consist of:

  • Instructional Deans
  • Faculty Senate Representative
  • Student Government Representative
  • Staff Senate Representative
  • CWI Board of Trustees Representative

The Chair of the Faculty Recognition Committee will provide the Faculty of the Year Committee with the descriptions of the year’s nine recipients of Faculty of Distinction.  If there is a tie, the Faculty Recognition Committee will vote between the nominees. The name of the Faculty of the Year will be sent to the Faculty Senate President by the end of June. The Faculty Senate President will inform the Provost and Marketing as appropriate. The Faculty of the Year recipient will receive a stipend as approved by the Senate.

B. Workgroups

Workgroups will be formed as needed and will consist of Recognition Committee members.

Reporting

A. Reporting body

Faculty of Distinction is a subcommittee of and reports to Faculty Senate.

B. Method of reporting

The chair will send a brief monthly update to the Faculty Senate President one week prior to each meeting. The update will be added to the Senate minutes. If the committee has business to be discussed by the Senate, the chair will send as a separate request one week prior to the meeting.

C. Required report content

Monthly reports will contain information on current projects, upcoming issues, and recent decisions on Faculty of Distinction.

Operating Procedures

A. Frequency of meetings

The Faculty of Distinction Committee will meet as needed in accordance with the committee members' academic year contracts. Voting will take place monthly by email.

B. Methods of meeting

Meetings will be in person or via video conference

C. Voting procedures/Selection Process for Faculty of Distinction

The primary decision made by the committee is regarding Faculty of Distinction, which will be decided using the following terms.

Eligibility:

  • Nominees shall consist of all full-time and adjunct faculty members at CWI, regardless of rank.
  • Previous recipients of Faculty of Distinction and Faculty of the Year are ineligible for 3 years from the previous award's anniversary.
  • Department Chairs are faculty, and therefore eligible for the Faculty of Distinction award.
  • Members of the Faculty Senate are eligible for nomination.
  • Adjunct faculty are eligible for nomination
  • Faculty of Distinction Committee voting members are not eligible for nomination.
    • Faculty Recognition Committee members who are nominated for Faculty of Distinction will have the opportunity to step down from the committee (recuse themselves) for the rest of the academic year to accept the nomination BEFORE the votes are cast. They are eligible to re-join the committee for the next academic year.
    • Faculty of Distinction Chair is a non-voting member of the committee and is therefore eligible for nomination. In the event the Chair is nominated and would like to accept the nomination, they will step down from the committee for the month in which they are nominated and the Vice Chair will tabulate votes that month. The Vice Chair will also act as a tie breaker.

Storage of Nominations

The nomination form will be housed on the CWI intranet, the CWI learning management system, or the committee teamsite.

Distribution and selection of nominations

  • The Chair will email the committee members the nominations each month.
  • Each member will rank order their top 3 choices and reply to the Chair within one week. First choice will receive 3 points, Second will receive 2 points and third will receive 1 point. Points will be tabulated and the winner will be awarded Faculty of Distinction for that Month.
  • In the event of a tie, the Chair will select from top two nominations.
  • All nominees will remain on the selection list until the end of the academic year.
  • At the end of the academic year, all nominees who did not receive Faculty of Distinction will be sent a card on behalf of Senate letting them know they were nominated for the award.
  • Faculty of Distinction will receive a small stipend as a part of their award.

General Voting Procedures

Decisions of the committee, other than Faculty of Distinction or Faculty of the Year, will be made by simple majority vote of the members present. In order to make a decision, a quorum—at least half of the committee members—must be in attendance. In instances of a tie, the chair will abstain from voting. 

Maintenance of Committee Documents and Records

Committee documents and records will be maintained on the committee’s Faculty Senate teamsite page.