Department of Interdisciplinary Studies

Program Governance

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GWS Governance Structure: Passed on April 2019 by GWS faculty vote.

A. Multiple tiers of GWS involvement: affiliate faculty, standing faculty, shared/joint faculty, GWS Director.
B. Statement on searches
C. GWS committee restructuring: GWS Steering Committee; GWS Curriculum Committee
D. Statement on shared/jointly appointed faculty regarding SCH
E. Statement on voting privileges for 50/50 jointly appointed faculty

A. Multiple tiers of GWS Involvement: affiliate faculty, standing faculty, shared/joint faculty, GWS Director.

1. Affiliate faculty are university faculty who, regardless of home department, college, school or rank, are officially affiliated with the GWS community through recognition of qualified scholarship, teaching, training and/or other GWS-related university involvement. GWS faculty affiliates may teach cross-listed courses in their own department that "count" for GWS programs of study; and/or may teach GWS-prefixed courses in their academic subspecialty. GWS affiliates may also attend GWS meetings, serve on GWS committees, work with students and/or organize programming, etc. Affiliate faculty status is approved by the GWS Steering Committee and GWS Director.

Affiliate faculty possess the following qualifications:

  1. Recent scholarly achievement (at least one product, published or forthcoming, within the past five years) related to feminist, gender, and/or sexuality studies demonstrated by peer reviewed publication and/or juried creative activity; AND
  2. At least ONE of the following:
    1. Significant experience teaching courses with content and methods consistent with gender, women's and/or sexuality studies; OR
    2. A graduate degree in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (or, especially for those with terminal degrees granted prior to 2008, significant coursework in gender, women and/or sexuality studies); OR
    3. Significant participation in seminars and institutes (such as those sponsored by an entity like NEH) designed to promote feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies scholarship and/or pedagogy; or significant participation in disciplinary-specific and/or interdisciplinary feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies professional organizations or caucuses; OR
    4. Significant community engagement (activism, educational initiatives, volunteer service, etc.) that forefronts issues/practices relevant to feminism, women, LGBT persons, etc.

2.a. Standing GWS faculty status for faculty who are already GWS affiliates. Standing GWS faculty are a subset of GWS affiliated faculty who teach more frequently in the GWS program and share a larger responsibility for service to GWS, including expectations for regular attendance at GWS meetings. Because of their greater involvement in GWS matters, standing faculty can vote on GWS policy and other changes and can elect members of committees, where applicable. Standing faculty are eligible to apply for shared/joint appointments and, if tenured, are eligible to apply for the position of GWS Director. Standing faculty status is approved by the GWS Steering Committee and GWS Director.

Standing faculty possess the following qualifications:

  • GWS affiliate status; AND
  • Ongoing scholarly achievement (more than one product, published or forthcoming, in the past five years) related to feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies demonstrated by peer-reviewed publication and/or juried creative activity; AND
  • Recent, ongoing experience teaching courses with content and methods consistent with gender, women's and/or sexuality studies, demonstrated by having taught GWS or cross-listed classes in the past 3 years or will teach in the current year; AND
  • A graduate degree or graduate certificate in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (or, for those with terminal degrees granted prior to 2008, significant graduate coursework in gender, women and/or sexuality studies, or, for those with terminal degrees granted prior to 2003, other significant evidence of training in content and methods consistent with gender, women's and/or sexuality studies.)

2. b. Standing GWS faculty status for faculty hired from outside Appalachian into the IDS department (either part or full time, with a full or shared appointment) with an expectation of teaching GWS-prefixed courses. (See 2a for description of duties and privileges)

Faculty hired from outside Appalachian to serve as standing faculty possess the following qualifications:

  • Recent, ongoing scholarly achievement (on average, one product every three years) related to feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies demonstrated by peer-reviewed publication and/or juried creative activity; AND
  • Recent, ongoing experience teaching courses with content and methods consistent with gender, women's and/or sexuality studies; AND
  • A graduate degree or graduate certificate in Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies (or, for those with terminal degrees granted prior to 2008, significant graduate coursework in gender, women and/or sexuality studies, or, for those with terminal degrees granted prior to 2003, other significant evidence of training in content and methods consistent with gender, women's and/or sexuality studies.)

3. "Shared" and "Joint" appointments. The shared and joint appointment pool of faculty will enable the GWS director/program to count on a subset of qualified faculty for regular teaching and service. The shared faculty model will permit a wide variety of commitments to teaching GWS-prefixed classes, ranging from teaching once every 4 years to multiple classes per semester, and/or working with GWS student clubs. Shared and jointly appointed faculty will have MOUs that outline teaching and service expectations and compensation for a fixed period of time, along with formal recognition that GWS work "counts" toward tenure and promotion

Any Appalachian faculty member who is already GWS Standing faculty (i.e., possesses the qualifications in 2.a.) may request to negotiate an MOU for a shared or joint appointment. The MOU will be negotiated between the faculty member, GWS Director, IDS Chair, faculty member's home department chair, and the dean.

Any individual who is hired from outside Appalachian into a shared or joint appointment with the GWS program will possess the qualifications for Standing Faculty as described in 2.b.

4. The GWS Director

  • Any tenured Standing GWS Faculty is eligible to be considered for GWS director (full, interim or acting).
  • In the event that the GWS director is hired from outside Appalachian, they must possess the qualifications for Standing GWS Faculty (see 2.b., above)
  • The GWS Director will be compensated by both an administrative stipend AND reassigned time in addition to their reassigned time for research.
  • The duties, compensation, etc. of the GWS Director will be specified in an MOU between the Director, the IDS Chair and, where applicable, the chair of their home department, and the Dean. See GWS Director document for a list of duties.
  • The GWS Director will have a dual reporting structure. For matters related to students, GWS-prefixed courses including co-curricular programming, GWS program assessment, and faculty whose home is in IDS, the GWS Director will report to the IDS Chair. For matters related to GWS and programming on campus and in the profession and community more broadly, the GWS Director will report to the CAS Dean or Associate Dean.

B. Statement on searches

In order to ensure that all faculty who teach GWS-prefixed possess the qualifications that are currently expected in the discipline, all faculty hired into the IDS Department to teach in GWS must minimally meet the qualifications for GWS standing faculty status as described in 2.b. Accordingly, search committees for GWS faculty must use qualifications for GWS standing faculty in developing job ads and search committee rubrics.

Sometimes, faculty may be hired by another department with the understanding that some of their duties will be to teach GWS-prefixed classes. In these cases the qualifications for GWS standing faculty status as described in 2.b. will be applied during the search, and search committees will use qualifications for GWS standing faculty in developing job ads and search committee rubrics.

C. GWS Committees: GWS Steering Committee and GWS Curriculum Committee

a. GWS Steering Committee. Consists of Director + 2 elected Standing GWS faculty + 2 faculty appointed by GWS Director from the entire GWS affiliate pool.

  • Responsible for vetting GWS faculty affiliates according to the qualifications listed in above.
  • Will advise on all GWS-related searches at all levels.
  • Responsible for supporting faculty scholarship through organizing a preprint/imprint speaker series and/or other events and celebrations.
  • Responsible for Women's History Month programming and other external speakers
  • Advises and supports GWS Director on all other initiatives (student mentoring, fundraising, community outreach, national profile, etc.) by helping the GWS Director think through issues and setting up ad hoc committees where needed.

b. Curriculum Committee. Consists of Director and up to 4 volunteers from Standing GWS faculty and up to 2 faculty appointed by GWS Director from the entire GWS affiliate pool.

  • Responsible for revisions to GWS Curriculum, including advising GWS director, where needed, on substitutions.
  • Responsible for program assessment
  • Organize co-curricular GWS lecture series
  • Other student-oriented support as needed

D. Statement on SCH for shared/jointly appointed faculty. 

Supporting interdisciplinarity and collaboration across departments requires a more flexible method of counting SCH than is currently the practice at Appalachian. There is nothing in UNC system policy that prevents variations in counting SCH where borrowed, shared or jointly appointed faculty are concerned; in fact NC State, among other schools, already implement such a practice.

Thus, the Taskforce recommends that SCH for GWS-prefixed classes be counted for IDS as well as the instructor's home department. (Note, some UNC institutions split the SCH between GWS and the instructor's home department, others double count it.) We ask that Academic Affairs study how this is done at NC-State, etc., and change Appalachian's approach to counting SCH for borrowed, shared and/or jointly appointed faculty in GWS (and preferably all programs) before the next academic calendar year.

E. Statement on voting privileges for faculty who are jointly appointed (50/50) 

Supporting interdisciplinarity and collaboration across departments requires flexibility where jointly appointed faculty are concerned. Currently, faculty are unable to inhabit true joint (50/50) appointments; they must reside more within one department than another and can only vote on department and PTC matters in the department that holds the majority of their percentage. This creates a disincentive for faculty with tenure homes outside of an interdisciplinary program when they consider short-term or permanent joint appointments, whether for teaching or administrative reasons. Faculty who are reluctant to give up voting rights in their tenure home are not going to be eager to temporarily enter into a joint appointment to teach or to be a program director.

However, there is nothing in UNC system policy that prevents faculty with voting privileges from voting in more than one department if they are jointly appointed; in fact UNC-Greensboro, among other schools, already implement such a practice. Such faculty would not be casting two votes on the same matter; rather, they would be voting in both of the departments that they serve, and on both PTCs for which they have expertise.

Thus, the Taskforce recommends that Academic Affairs permit true joint appointments in which faculty serve each department 50/50 and, vote in both departments as appropriate to their rank.

 Since the offering of Appalachian State University's first Women's Studies course over twenty-five years ago, Women's Studies has grown as an academic discipline. Many programs have since changed their name to better reflect the state of the field. In February 2015, the name of the program was changed to Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. A majority of colleges and universities in the U.S. have programs in Gender, Women's and/or Sexuality Studies and offer undergraduate majors and minors, and the number of graduate programs in Gender, Women's and/or Sexuality Studies continues to increase. Feminist scholarship has made and continues to make groundbreaking contributions to methodologies and knowledge in literary studies, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology, political science, art, history, the sciences, economics, among others, and there are numerous scholarly journals devoted to interdisciplinary and disciplinary-specific feminist research.

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies is an interdisciplinary field that develops and promotes feminist analyses of gender, women and/or sexuality as it is shaped by race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, age and ability. Given the fact that curriculum and methodologies in traditional academic disciplines continue to marginalize and/or ignore the experiences and contributions of women and members of other underrepresented populations, Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies' focus on intersectional approaches to gendered experiences as grounds for feminist theorizing continues to be its unique and necessary contribution to scholarship in all disciplines and to liberal education. Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at Appalachian State University aims to reflect developments in feminist scholarship its programming and curriculum.

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Program Director

  • Each constituent program in the Department is led by a Director who is responsible for coordinating internal matters of the program and for representing the needs of the program to the Department Chair. A program director may not simultaneously serve as Chair of the Department.
  • An externally hired Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies program director will typically have a faculty position in the department unless other arrangements are made with the Dean of the College. An internally-hired Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies program director, that is, a program director selected from the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies affiliate faculty, will be assigned at least 50% of their contract to the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies program with the remainder in their home department. When their term as program director ends, an internally hired program director will typically return to their home department unless other arrangements are made with the Dean.
  • Program Directors also fill the role of Graduate Director if their programs have a graduate certificate or degree programs.
  • Program Directors participate in the development of Departmental policies and take responsibility for their communication and implementation at the program level.
  • Program Directors communicate the needs of the program (personnel, space, fiscal, curricular) to the Department.
  • Program Directors serve as advocates for their respective programs and represent their programs and the affiliated faculty in their programs in the Department and in the University.
  • Program Directors prepare an annual report to the Department Chair in consultation with the faculty of the program.
  • Program Directors provide leadership in the recruitment and appointment of affiliated program faculty members.
  • Program Directors arrange the class schedule for the program as the program's contribution to the class schedule for the Department, and advise the Chair concerning the comprehensive schedule for the Department.
  • Program Directors consult with the Department Chair concerning program faculty and the performance of their duties.
  • Program Directors encourage and support good teaching, scholarly activity and professional development within the program.
  • Program Directors provide for appropriate advising of students majoring in the program.
  • Program Directors organize and coordinate the program faculty in developing, implementing and evaluating short and long-range program goals, objectives, standards and programs, and in carrying out regular, ongoing assessment of the program.
  • Program Directors work with the program faculty to develop program standards and curricula and procedures that provide adequate preparation of graduates for professional or further academic endeavors.
  • Program Directors work with program faculty in organizing co-curricular activities for students.
  • Program Directors consult with the Department Chair with respect to program resources.

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Faculty (Affiliated and/or Core)

Faculty who wish to become members of the Women's Studies Faculty must send a copy of their curriculum vitae (updated every five years) to the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Director, along with a cover letter that explains how the CV demonstrates that the faculty member possesses the following qualifications for initial appointment (as evidenced on the CV):

  • activity in feminist, gender, and/or sexuality studies scholarship through peer reviewed publishing (including dissertations), 
  • presentation of papers at peer-reviewed conferences, and/or activity in critiqued performance arts and juried exhibitions; and 
  • at least one of the following: 
    • significant teaching experience teaching courses with Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies content, 
    • significant participation in disciplinary-specific and/or interdisciplinary feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies professional organizations or caucuses, including publication in local and regional periodicals, 
    • a graduate degree in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, significant graduate coursework in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies or a related field, and
    • participation in seminars and institutes designed to promote feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies scholarship and/or pedagogy or feminist, gender and/or sexuality studies contribution to community service, volunteer work with local organizations, workshop planning and implementation.

In almost all cases, GWS courses are taught by members of the GWS faculty. However, in exceptional cases individuals (such as visiting instructors and adjuncts) who meet the criteria for GWS faculty status can be approved by the GWS Director to offer a GWS course(s) for a maximum of one academic year. Subsequently, in order to continue teaching courses that count for the GWS major, minor and/or graduate certificate, these individuals must apply formally for GWS faculty status and, if approved, their courses would be eligible for consideration for GWS credit.

In order to maintain active Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty status, every five years (in the year of post-tenure review) faculty should send an uploaded CV and cover letter addressing the above points to the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Director.

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Executive Committee

The GWS Faculty will elect three to five GWS Faculty members to serve on the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Executive Committee, which will advise the Director of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, vet applications for Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Faculty, and help articulate the mission of the Program in various institutional contexts. Members of this committee shall serve a two-year term, with one or two members being elected each year. Members can serve a maximum of two terms.

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Programming Committee

GWS Faculty will elect three to five GWS Faculty to serve on the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Programming Committee. This committee will be active in decisions regarding programming (films, conferences, speakers, Women's History month activities, etc.). Members serve a one-year term.

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Curriculum Committee

Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty will elect three to five Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty to serve on the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Curriculum Committee. This committee will review and make decisions about proposals for courses in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies. Members will serve a one-year term. Faculty proposing courses in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies should address in their course proposals at least two of the following:

  1. substantial knowledge and integration of relevant feminist scholarship,
  2. awareness and integration of feminist pedagogy, and
  3. consideration of the interrelatedness of gender, race, class, ability and sexuality.

In almost all cases, Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies courses are taught by members of the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty. However, in exceptional cases individuals (such as visiting instructors, adjuncts or graduate students in the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate or Graduate Minor Program) who meet the criteria for Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty status can be approved by the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Director to offer a Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies course(s) for a maximum of one academic year. Subsequently, in order to continue teaching courses that count for the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies major, minor, graduate certificate and/or graduate minor, these individuals must apply formally for Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty status and, if approved, their courses would be eligible for consideration for Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies credit.

Graduate Curriculum

Graduate courses on gender, women's, and/or sexuality issues taught by members of the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty will be listed by the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Program for graduate students seeking elective credit toward the Graduate Certificate or Graduate Minor in Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies, so long as there is no objection from the faculty member's home department. The Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Curriculum Committee will vote on the inclusion of the graduate course for the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Graduate Certificate or Graduate Minor based on the course description, syllabus, and any other relevant information.

Role of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Director and Core Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Faculty on Committees

Core Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty (those whose tenure lines are in the Department) and the Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies Director will be ex-officio members of all standing Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies committees.

Minutes

Minutes of all Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies committee and faculty meetings shall be made available to all Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies faculty within two weeks after the meeting.

Electronic Voting

The Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies program allows electronic voting for matters of Program business, excluding Search committees and/or Executive Committee actions involving confidential personnel matters. Electronic voting is not intended to replace meetings of the faculty. Rather, it is intended to allow for wider participation of faculty members in the business of the Program. In cases in which matters of Program policy, governance, or curriculum reform (new programs or significant revisions to existing programs) are being considered, there will be a meeting of the Program faculty prior to any voting, to allow for a full discussion of the issue. Following such a meeting, minutes will be provided to members before the electronic voting begins. Voting will continue for a period of 5 days. Quorum for electronic voting will consist of those members who cast ballots. In most votes, a simple majority of votes cast is required for the motion to pass. For elections, a plurality is required for a member to be deemed elected. In the case of elections, run-off elections may be held in the case of a tie vote.

Adopted Spring 2001; Amended Spring 2005; Amended Fall 2007; Amended Fall 2009; Amended Spring 2011; Amended Fall 2013; Amended Spring 2019
Appalachian State University Boone, N.C.