Education, Research, and Service Committee Charter

Purpose

The Education, Research, and Service Committee shall assist the Board in overseeing the University’s educational mission of teaching, research, and service, including matters related to academic programs, the faculty, student success, student conduct, research, service, and outreach. The Committee shall have the specific responsibilities included in this committee charter approved by the Board.

Responsibilities

Responsibility for Recommendations to the Board

The Education, Research, and Service Committee shall recommend to the Board of Trustees, or to the Executive Committee when necessary between meetings of the Board, the following and similar matters within the scope of the committee’s purpose¹:

1. Mission statement for the University of Tennessee System and each campus and institute;
2. Scope of the educational opportunities to be offered by the University, including: (i) approval of new academic degrees or degree programs, subject to final approval by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (“THEC”) as may be required and (ii) if Board approval is required by THEC, approval of the modification of existing programs; provided that the planning and development of curricula shall be the function of the faculties;
3. Establishment of a new campus, institute, college, school, or academic unit;
4. Termination of academic programs when termination of tenured or tenure-track faculty members is involved;
5. Annual ratification of administrative action to terminate academic programs when termination of tenured or tenure-track faculty members is not involved;
6. General admission, retention, and graduation requirements for each campus;
7. Policies and procedures, including campus faculty handbook provisions, governing (1) academic freedom; (2) appointment, retention, promotion, tenure, evaluation, and termination of faculty members; (3) faculty workload; (4) intellectual property rights; and (5) compensated outside services by faculty members;
8. Granting tenure as specified by the Board’s Policies Governing Academic Freedom, Responsibility, and Tenure, as may be amended from time to time;
9. Granting honorary degrees as specified by the Board’s Policy on Awarding of Degrees and Certificates in Memoriam, as may be amended from time to time;
10. Policies and procedures governing student conduct and disciplinary actions;
11. Policies or actions relating to the coordination of research, outreach, and economic development functions and activities among the campuses, institutes, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee Research Foundation, and other entities affiliated with the University;
12. Policies or actions to enhance the quality and national prominence of the campuses through the promotion of academic programs of distinction, increasing University research and research opportunities for students, faculty, and staff and through the development of world class faculty and scholars;
13. Policies or actions related to non-academic programs other than athletics, including programs related to diversity, and compliance of non-academic programs with federal and state laws, rules, and regulations; and
14. Policies concerning the general welfare and success of students, and the adoption of rules, procedures, rights, and responsibilities governing the academic relationships between the University and its students.

Other Responsibilities

The Committee shall assist the Board in carrying out its fiduciary duty to oversee educational quality by reviewing at least annually the following information for each campus and, as applicable, comparable information for peer and aspirational institutions:

1. Enrollment, retention, graduation (completion), and career attainment;
2. Academic program reviews; and
3. Institutional and program accreditation, including student learning goals, how learning is assessed, and learning outcomes data.

The Committee shall receive reports at least annually on how the University is fulfilling its education, research, and service missions.

The Committee Chair, in consultation with Committee staff, shall review the committee charter prior to each Annual Meeting of the Board to determine whether the Committee is carrying out its responsibilities effectively and whether any revisions to the charter should be submitted to the Committee for recommendation to the Board.

Membership

The Education, Research, and Service Committee shall consist of the following members:

1. At least three (3) voting members of the Board;
2. Chair of the Board as an ex officio, voting member of the Committee;
3. Non-voting student member of the Board, who shall be a voting member of the Committee; and
4. One (1) full-time faculty member appointed from the five campuses on an annually rotating basis, who shall be a voting member of the Committee.

The President shall not serve as a member but shall attend meetings if requested by the Committee Chair.

Committee members (other than the student and faculty members) and the Committee Chair shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees at the Annual Meeting on the recommendation of the Chair of the Board. The term of appointment shall be two years, beginning July 1 of the first year and ending June 30 of the second year. If a vacancy occurs prior to expiration of the two-year term, the Chair of the Board shall appoint a voting member of the Board to fill the remainder of the term. If appointments or reappointments to the Board of Trustees are pending at the end of the two-year term, the committee and committee chair appointments shall continue beyond the end of the term until all vacancies on the Board have been filled and the Board has made new standing committee and committee chair appointments. The Committee Chair may not serve more than three (3) consecutive two-year terms as chair except upon an affirmative roll-call vote of a majority of the total voting membership of the Board.

The non-voting student member of the Board shall serve as a voting member of the Committee during his or her one-year term on the Board from July 1 through June 30. The Board shall select and appoint the student member of the Board no later than May 31 of each year. The appointment shall rotate among the campuses in the following sequence: University of Tennessee Health Science Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, University of Tennessee at Martin, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and University of Tennessee Southern.

The faculty member of the Committee shall be selected and appointed by the Board no later than May 31 of each year; shall rotate among the campuses in the following sequence: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, University of Tennessee at Martin, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, University of Tennessee Southern, and University of Tennessee Health Science Center; and shall serve a one-year term beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30.

The Chair of the Board, in consultation with the President, shall designate one or more members of the senior administrative staff to provide staff support to the Committee.

Meetings

Required Number, Call, and Location

The Committee shall meet as often as necessary to carry out its responsibilities but at least once annually. The Committee may meet in conjunction with regular meetings of the Board of Trustees, at stated times approved in advance by the Committee, or at any other time upon a call by the Chair of the Board, the President, the Committee Chair, or by the Secretary of the Board upon the written request of two members of the Committee. Committee meetings may be held at any location in the State of Tennessee.

Notice

At least five (5) days’ notice shall be given to all Committee members when feasible, but less notice may be given when there is a need for urgent action. Notice may be delivered by postal mail, courier, electronic mail, or facsimile transmission. If written notice is not feasible, by reason of urgency or other exigent circumstance, notice may be given by telephone.

As required by Tennessee Code Annotated § 8-44-103(a) and (b), adequate public notice shall be given of Committee meetings. All meetings of the Committee shall be open to the public unless otherwise provided by the Tennessee Open Meetings Act or a judicially-recognized exception to the Act.

Agenda

An agenda shall accompany the notice of every meeting of the Committee when feasible; but when not feasible, the notice shall state the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called.

Development of the Committee agenda shall be the responsibility of the Committee Chair, in consultation with the President and Committee staff. The agenda shall list in outline form each matter to be considered at the meeting. The Committee may use a consent agenda in the manner provided by the Bylaws of the Board. Items not set forth on the agenda or in the meeting notice may be considered only upon an affirmative roll-call vote of a majority of the total voting membership of the Committee.

Quorum

A quorum shall be a majority (more than one-half) of the voting members of the Committee. The Chair of the Board, who is an ex officio, voting member of the Committee, shall be counted for quorum purposes only when present. In the absence of a quorum, those attending may adjourn the meeting until a quorum is present.

Action of the Committee

The action of a majority of the quorum of voting Committee members present at any meeting shall be the action of the Committee, except as otherwise provided in the Bylaws of the Board of Trustees, Board policy, or statute.

Minutes

The Secretary shall be responsible for ensuring that minutes are prepared and maintained for all Committee meetings, and the minutes shall be provided to all members of the Committee before the next meeting of the Committee.