Shared Governance

The iSchool plan of organization and additional information on faculty governance and committees is available at INFO College Plan of Organization – INFO Faculty & Staff Resources . Full-time faculty members are appointed to serve on committees by the Dean. Adjunct faculty members may attend College Assembly and the program committees for which they teach; in these committees, adjunct faculty have voice but no vote. There is one voting member elected by the adjunct pool to vote on matters at College Assembly. The 2021-2022 representative is Jennifer Sturge (jsturge@umd.edu).

Key Governance Committees

With the exception of the Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure Committee, all of the following committees hold publicly accessible meetings. If you wish to attend and need information on their meeting dates and times, please submit a request to the iSchool Academic Programs Portal.

Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure (APT)

The committee on Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure (APT) is responsible for establishing policies for the appointment, review, promotion, and tenure of faculty; conducting reviews of faculty per the APT Policies and Procedures; coordinating faculty mentoring; and making recommendations to the Dean regarding the appointment, contract renewal, promotion, and tenure of faculty. APT is made up of all full-time faculty. Procedures and criteria for Tenure-Track Faculty (TTK) and Professional Track Faculty (PTK) are available at https://internal.ischool.umd.edu/governance-planning/umd-ischool-committees/committee-on-appointments-promotion-and-tenure/ . Please note that this committee is not publicly accessible.

College Assembly

This is an all-faculty and -staff governing body that also includes student representatives from each program. It is held on the first Friday of each month in September, December, February, March, April, and May.

Program Committees

Each degree program has a standing committee responsible for overseeing maintenance, development, and support of the program. This includes, but is not limited to, reviewing and approving any substantive change to courses and curriculum and making recommendations to PCC (see below) regarding policies (new or changing) that affect the program. The Committee also sets admissions criteria, oversees the admissions process, reviews and approves/denies student petitions, recommends appropriate actions for students having academic difficulty, etc.

Programs, Courses, and Curriculum (PCC)

The Programs, Courses, and Curriculum (PCC) committee is responsible for overseeing maintenance, development, and support of academic programs within the College. This includes, but is not limited to, reviewing and approving any substantive changes to courses and curriculum in the programs. PCC also makes recommendations to the College Assembly regarding policies (new or changing) that affect the iSchool’s academic programs. PCC also houses the Students in Academic Distress (SAD) Committee, which is responsible for reviewing the status of students with academic difficulties in a timely fashion so that appropriate action can be taken. PCC is chaired by the Senior Associate Dean and is made up of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, the Directors of Operations, and the faculty Directors of each program.