Leadership Team

• Establish strategic priorities and benchmarks 
• Facilitate coordination among the programs
• Serve as communication liaison between the College and Program faculty 
• Generate recommendations for departmental policy 

Budget Council

Responsible for preparing recommendations about faculty hiring, renewal/non-renewal of tenure track faculty appointments, promotion and tenure, and reviewing the annual budget. A quorum of more than ½ of budget council members is required for voting on budget council matters. 

Graduate Studies Committee (GSC)

Makes decisions about the coursework graduate students must complete. The GSC also approves the qualifying examinations that graduate students must pass and determines general academic policy pertaining to earning a graduate degree.  

Officers of the GSC include the GSC Chair, GSC Vice Chair, and GSC Secretary (Graduate Adviser). The Chair and Vice Chair serve two-year terms and are elected by GSC members during a vote held before the last meeting of the academic long semester. The GSC Chair works with the GSC Executive Committee to establish an agenda for each GSC meeting, leads GSC meetings, and approves all documentation required by the Graduate School. The GSC Vice Chair is available to fill in for the GSC Chair when needed during meetings and participates in GSC Executive Meetings. The GSC Secretary makes sure that documentation of GSC meetings, discussions, and votes are maintained. 

The GSC Executive Committee (EC) approves graduate student petitions that are time sensitive and confidential graduate student matters. 

Faculty Review Committees

Faculty reviews are conducted in the Fall semester, by committees appointed by the Department Chair for each rank: Non-tenure Track, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor. Members of the review committee are typically at a higher rank than those they are reviewing. Each committee will have a chair, who is responsible for organizing the work of their committee, and working with the  Department Chair to review and revise ratings. Each committee should contain one member from each program if possible. Each faculty review committee is charged with establishing merit ratings in accordance with the Departments’ merit policy. Each faculty record should first be reviewed by two members of the committee: a primary reviewer who completes a comprehensive review, and a secondary reviewer to assure each review is comprehensive and accurate. After these initial reviews, each merit committee is expected to work together to calibrate ratings across the members reviewed. More information about Faculty Annual Review: https://utexas.app.box.com/v/annual-review-of-faculty

Peer Teaching Committees

Peer teaching reviews of the faculty are required for promotion, tenure, and post-tenure review. The Department Chair will establish a peer teaching review committee. Faculty at the Assistant and Associate ranks (including TT and Professional Track faculty) should be reviewed in their second and fifth years in rank. At the full professor rank, a peer teaching observation should occur during the fifth year of each six year post tenure cycle. More information about Peer Teaching >

Fellowship Committee

Determines eligibility for, and distribution of, financial support from the Graduate School, COE, and Departmental endowments. The Graduate Advisor is responsible for working with the Graduate Coordinator to identify available funds in a given year, and to work with the committee to prioritize both incoming and continuing fellowship awards.