Executive Committee Guidelines

Executive Committee Guidelines

A companion to the Staff Senate Bylaws 

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is comprised of 2 co-chairs, 2 advocacy directors, 2 communications directors, 2 membership directors, and 2 university partnership directors, and 1 past co-chair.

Elections

Please view the Election Guidelines for election-related information, including eligibility to run for the Executive Committee.

Expectations for all EC members

  1. Embody the values of collaboration, inclusion, and tolerance. 
  2. Treat fellow Senate members and members of the University community and the greater community with respect. 
  3. Hold regular meetings: 
  • Co-Chairs: Hold monthly Staff Senate meetings to effectively accomplish the work of the Senate. 
  • Directors: Hold regular meetings, at least one per month, in order to effectively accomplish the work of their roles as outlined under “Director Roles” below. 
  1. Understand and adhere to the Senate's mission when representing the Senate 
  2. Be transparent in the work done on behalf of the Staff Senate. 
  • Co-chairs: This means that co-chairs are responsible for keeping the Executive Committee and the Senate apprised of their work. 
  • Directors: This means that directors are responsible for keeping the Executive Committee and the Senate apprised of their work. See “Reporting Responsibility” at the end of this document. 
  1. For Directors specifically, seek executive committee approval when considering taking on a new project on behalf of the Staff Senate 
  2. Regularly attend Executive Committee meetings and Staff Senate meetings. This means executive committee members should not miss more than two consecutive executive committee and/or Staff Senate meetings or three meetings in a 10-month period. If absences exceed the number allowed, as stated in this policy, a member of the Staff Senate Executive Committee will contact the EC member to discuss the next course of action. 
     

Resignation

If an executive committee member is unable to fulfill the responsibilities on the Executive Committee, that executive committee member should resign from the committee. This resignation should be communicated to the co-chairs or appropriate executive committee member.

Impeachment

As stated in the bylaws, an Executive Committee member may be impeached and removed from the Executive Committee. An Executive Committee member can be impeached for failing to adhere to the responsibilities and expectations outlined in this document.

Co-Chairs

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the Staff Senate voice to the University community. 
  • Meet with University leadership and Staff Senate partners to further strengthen the Senate relationship with the University community and ensure staff voice is well represented across grounds. 
  • Serve as the communication connection between the University community, University leadership, the Executive Committee and the Staff Senate. 
  • Oversee the work of the directors and the Senate as a whole. This includes establishing goals for the Senate, ensuring that Senate work adheres to our goals and mission, and is completed in a timely manner and in the spirit of collaboration, inclusion and transparency. 
  • Identify and cultivate future Senate leaders 
  • Plan and lead the Staff Senate monthly meetings and the Executive Committee monthly meetings. Co-chairs can share this responsibility with other executive committee members. 

Past Co-Chair

The past co-chair role may have additional opportunities to serve, including: 

  • Ex-officio liaison to the Faculty Senate 
  • Ex-officio member of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee 
  • Ex-officio representative to the Board of Visitors 
  • Member of Staff Senate Executive Committee 

Emeritus Co-Chair

Emeritus co-chairs may have additional opportunities to serve, including: 

  • Ex-officio representative to the Board of Visitors 

Ex-officio Representative to the Board of Visitors

(note: procedure for future use when needed)

Representative Term

The Primary and Alternate Representatives are elected to serve a one-year term that runs concurrently with the annual calendar of the UVA Board of Visitors. The Primary Representative shall not serve two terms unless necessitated by a lack of eligible and able candidates.

Candidate Eligibility

To ensure Board Representatives possess the requisite experience and institutional knowledge of the Staff Senate, the pool of eligible candidates for the Primary and Alternate positions is limited. To be eligible for nomination, an individual must have successfully completed a full two-year term as Staff Senate Co-Chair, not previously served as the Primary Representative (with the exception noted below in Section D), and currently hold one of the following statuses:

  • Past Chair: Serving in the one-year advisory term immediately following their Co-Chair term. 
  • Emeritus Chair: Having completed both their Co-Chair and Past Chair terms.  
Reserve Representatives

In the event that the pool of eligible Past Chairs and Emeritus Chairs is insufficient, unavailable, or unable to fill a vacancy within the Board Representative roles, the Staff Senate may draw from a reserve pool. This reserve pool shall consist exclusively of individuals who have previously served a full term as a the Primary Representative. If this pool is not sufficient, the Executive Committee will put forth additional names of individuals to serve. Election will be by a simple majority of the Senators present at the time of the vote.

Directors

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the communication connection between Staff Senate work, the co-chairs, and the Executive Committee 
  • Assist the co-chairs in completing the work of the Senate 
  • May sponsor a working group as described in the Staff Senate Working Group Guidelines. 
  • Plan and lead Staff Senate meetings, or segments of meetings, at the request of the co-chairs 

Director Roles

Directors are responsible for ensuring that assigned Senate work is completed according to established timelines and expectations.

Director responsibilities for each role are as follows:

  • Advocacy – The Advocacy Directors work with the Senate to identify objectives that will improve the work-lives and well-being of university and classified staff, set measurable targets for progress, carefully research related policy, and collaborate with appropriate groups and offices on grounds to implement positive change in university culture. The Advocacy Directors may propose working groups, as needed, based on information received from these efforts. 
  • Communications –  The Communications Directors are responsible for taking, preparing, and disseminating, after Co-Chair approval, Staff Senate meeting notes. Directors will work with Co-chairs to ensure Staff Senate meeting notes are posted on the Staff Senate Website and emailed to Staff Senate at least one week prior to the next Staff Senate meeting. Additionally, the Communications Directors will maintain and update the Staff Senate website to accurately reflect current events, Staff Senate member pictures and contact information, and any significant findings from Staff Senate surveys or working groups. 
  • Membership – The Membership Directors create and maintain best practices for membership, attendance, and the transition of seats (onboarding and offboarding) for senators; provide support and resources for new senators; maintenance of the email distribution lists for the Staff Senate and Executive Committee, and the Membership database, and ensures accurate representation of each organizational unit. In addition, the directors are responsible for the new member on-boarding event and July luncheon for Senate members. 
  • University Partnerships – The University Partnerships (UP) Directors build collaborative partnerships with key committees and groups on Grounds to better engage staff in the University community. The purpose of UP's work is to ensure staff are fully and equitably represented in University-wide initiatives and shared governance. The Co-Directors are responsible for facilitating the Chair's Summit, a monthly meeting where representatives of Employee Resource Groups and elective bodies discuss topics relevant to one or multiple groups. This helps to ensure that the Staff Senate maintains a strong connection to other leadership groups on grounds to help facilitate communication. The Co-Directors maintain a current list of representatives from all groups, set up the monthly Chairs Summit meetings, invite guest speakers, take notes and distribute minutes, facilitate the meeting, and report back to the Senate as needed. 

Working Groups

  1. Working groups are required to be sponsored by a member of the executive committee. Refer to workgroup guidelines. 
  2. Directors are responsible for overseeing the work and conduct of any working group they agree to sponsor. 
  3. Directors should consider their existing work load and should not agree to sponsor more working groups than they can reasonably handle. 
  4. Directors cannot step down from sponsoring a working group unless they can find another director to take over sponsorship of that working group. 
  5. Directors are responsible for ensuring that any working group that they agree to sponsor is conducting work within the mission and scope of the Staff Senate.  Directors are not required to attend working group meetings so long as they are in regular communication with the working group lead on planned efforts and progress. 
  6. Directors will work with the working group lead, if someone other than themselves, to set working group goals, expectations, and a general timeframe for completing the work and dissolving the working group. 

Official Director Communication with the University (on behalf of the Staff Senate)

Communication from Staff Senate to the University community should be infrequent, meaningful, and brief and should be carefully edited to ensure a consistent voice and a clear, well-written message.

If a working group is interested in sending communication (letter, survey, etc…) to any University entity regarding Staff Senate business, the committee must first present their proposed communication to the Director who will determine if it needs to be reviewed by the Executive Committee.  Executive Committee review is required if the director or working group wishes to conduct a survey or provide any communication in which they represent themselves as speaking on behalf of Staff Senate.  This review is not required if director or working group is sending communication for the purposes of gathering information as long as the communication is clear that the director or working group is not speaking for or on behalf of Staff Senate.

Reporting Responsibility

  1. Directors are expected to provide updates on the work of the coordinators, liaisons, or working groups that they oversee to the Staff Senate Executive Committee. 
  2. In the event that a director cannot attend a Staff Senate Executive Committee meeting to provide an update, the director is expected to communicate directly to the co-chairs via email or telephone. 
  3. In the event two directors are overseeing the same work, only one director is required to provide an update on that work. 
  4. Directors are expected to ensure that updates on the work of the coordinators, liaisons, or working groups that they oversee are provided to Staff Senate members at monthly staff senate meetings.  Directors may delegate the role of providing the update to a senator directly involved in the work. 
  5. Updates shall be provided to the Staff Senate even if no work has occurred between the previous and current Staff Senate meeting. 
  6. Updates are required at Staff Senate meetings to remind the Senate that the work is being completed and provide senators the opportunity to engage on the subject. 
  7. Microsoft Teams is the official repository for all Staff Senate and Staff Senate documents. Directors should ensure any work generated under their purview is documented on Microsoft Teams as needed. 

Other Staff Senate Guidelines