Department Services
The department is governed by a collegial, collaborative system in which all tenured and probationary faculty members are expected to participate. Every faculty member is expected to be a member of at least one committee and not normally more than two. At the beginning of each academic year, the department chair conducts a survey, asking all faculty members to express their preference for committee assignments.
All officers of the department and committee members are appointed by the Executive Committee unless otherwise stated in this document. All elected or appointed offices are for 3-year terms unless otherwise specified
Assisted by the Vice Chair, the Department Chair represents the interests of the History faculty to the university, provides leadership to the faculty in academic and personnel areas, ensures that the department is in conformity with university policy set by the President and the Dean of Arts and Letters, and the Chair is responsible for communication and coordination with university authorities outside the department.
The Undergraduate Studies Coordinator is elected by the department faculty and receives six units of assigned time per year, preferably in the Fall. Duties Include:
-- Assist the Department Chair in department business; attend meetings, etc.
-- Lead person on the Scheduling Committee to build the annual class schedule.
-- Supervise the department’s undergraduate curriculum. Bring curriculum change proposals to the Curriculum Committee. In collaboration with the Department chair, supervise multi-section courses (17s, 50, 51, 100, 192, etc.). Coordinate General Education reviews.
-- Serve as Vice Chair of the Department (main function would be to stand in for the department chair when he/she is absent, not able to attend meetings, etc.).
-- Supervise the department’s undergraduate advising program, including mandatory advising for transfer students, conduct group advising sessions each semester, and assignment of majors to faculty advisers.
The World and U.S. Divisions are retained as electoral bodies: e.g., for election of faculty members to Search Committees; for election of faculty members to the Curriculum Committee.
The Executive Committee consists of: the Department Chair, the Undergraduate Studies Coordinator, the Graduate Coordinator, the Public History Coordinator, and the Chair of the Lecturer Coordinating Committee. The Executive Committee facilitates and supports the work of the Department Chair and Vice Chair; oversees all the administrative operations of the department in partnership with the Department Chair; decides with the Department Chair about the expenditure of department funds; appoints members to department committees; recommends policy changes to the department faculty.
The department course schedule is prepared by a Scheduling Committee consisting of the Undergraduate Studies Coordinator, the Department Chair, the Graduate Coordinator, and the Public History Coordinator.
The Graduate Coordinator is elected by the department faculty, and will receive three units of assigned time per year. The Graduate Coordinator conducts the graduate admissions process with the help of the Graduate Committee, provides first contact and program advising to incoming graduate students, builds the department’s schedule of graduate classes, proposes to the Curriculum Committee policy changes in the graduate program, facilitates the progress of History graduate students toward their degrees, and monitors theses and attends oral examinations for examination students in the Standard and Humanities Programs.
The Graduate Committee functions as a graduate admissions and advisory committee. It consists of the Graduate Coordinator, who is a voting member, and four faculty members appointed by the Executive Committee, two from each division. The Graduate Coordinator will submit proposals approved by the Graduate Committee to the Curriculum Committee for consideration; they will then be forwarded to the department for final action.
The Public History Coordinator is appointed by the Executive Committee. He/she will coordinate admissions, serve as the primary adviser for Public History students, and perform other functions appropriate to the Public History Program. The Coordinator receives 3-units of Assigned Time for coordinating the joint Ph.D. program with UCSB.
The Public History Committee functions primarily as an admissions and planning committee for the Public History Program. It consists of the Public History Coordinator and three faculty members appointed by the Executive Committee upon the recommendation of the Public History Coordinator.
The History Precredential Committee is composed of three members appointed for two year terms by the Executive Committee. The Precredential Coordinator receives three units of assigned time per year. He/she oversees the Department’s precredential programs (Social Science and History’s participation in Liberal Studies); facilitates relations with other credential-oriented bodies in the university; coordinates precredential advising to History students; seeks grants dealing with teacher preparation; and proposes changes in the department’s precredential courses and programs.
The Assessment Committee consists of two members appointed by the Executive Committee for staggered terms of two years. It is responsible for evaluating the department’s undergraduate academic program as defined in the History Assessment Policy.
The Curriculum Committee consists of the Department Chair, the Undergraduate Studies Coordinator, the Graduate Coordinator, the Precredential Coordinator; and two appointed tenured or probationary faculty members, one from each division. All course proposals and program change proposals are examined by the Curriculum Committee, and then forwarded to the department faculty for final action. The Curriculum Committee proposes full-time hiring priorities to the department faculty.
The Lecturer Coordinating Committee (LCC) consists of three tenured faculty members (including FERPers) appointed by the Executive Committee; it selects a chair from its members. The committee supervises the performance of part-time instructors in the Department. It conducts classroom visitations of lecturers, and in the Spring Semester analyzes student evaluations and writes evaluation letters.
After the lecturer evaluation process is complete, the LCC becomes the Lecturer Ranking Committee (same composition as the LCC), and it ranks lecturers for part-time assignments according to department policy.
Search Committees are elected according to department policy to evaluate applications for tenure track and temporary full-time positions. Decisions on hiring are determined by the Committee of the Whole, i.e., all tenure-track and tenured faculty.
The RTP Committee is elected according to department policy for evaluation of tenure track faculty and making personnel recommendations to the College of Arts and Letters. History faculty are also expected to render periodic service on the Arts and Letters ARTP Committee.
History Faculty Senators (two are currently authorized for our department) are elected by a vote of all full-time faculty members. Their responsibility is to attend Faculty Senate meetings, represent the interests of the History Department in the Senate, and keep the Department Chair and the department faculty informed of important campus-wide issues.
The History Scholarship and Prize Coordinator is appointed by the Executive Committee. He/she is responsible for supervising the scholarship decision schedule, the composition of the scholarship committees, communications with scholarship applicants and recipients, awarding of the scholarships and prizes, etc.
The Library Coordinator serves at the will of the Executive Committee; he/she serves as the liaison between the University Library and the department faculty.
Ad hoc faculty committees are created from time to time to deal with issues such as: social activities for graduate and undergraduate students; communications between the department and the students (newsletter, webpage, etc.); organization of the annual department picnic; the Research Forum in which members of the department may share their research interests.
