Bylaws
Section 1: Overall Structure
The Leadership Team will be comprised of a President and Vice President, who will coordinate the activities of the Leadership Team; the two representatives from each of the various committees of which students have guaranteed representation which are the Faculty Meetings, Professional Development Seminars, DECADE, and Associated Graduate Students; and a cohort representative each for years 1 through 4 and 5+. Additional representation can be requested by the DECADE student council (one vote) and international students (one vote). If any concentration is not represented by a student in the aforementioned positions then a request will be made to the concentration(s) to elect said representative.
In cases where a vote is needed (e.g. sanctioned announcements and/or activities; a change in responsibility; budget approval) only the Vice President, the senior representative from the Faculty Meetings, Professional Development Seminars, and Associated Graduate Students; and the five cohort representatives will have a vote. In the case that the DECADE student council, international students, and concentration representative (if applicable) request a seat then they too will have a vote. For administrative motions a 50%+1 majority will carry the motion. For any changes to this document to happen a ⅔ majority is required.
Any documents sent out on behalf of all students and approved by AGSE shall include “Endorsed by Associated Doctoral Students in Education” in a prominent place on the document. This will allow for sanctioned and unsanctioned communication to occur within the School.
In terms of who fills these roles, elections will be held on or before October 31st of each year to fill vacant spots. Some positions will have one person and others will have two people fulfilling a role. In the case where there are two people, our model is based off of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) model of having a junior and senior representative. In these cases, a person’s term is spread over two years, one at a junior level and the other at the senior level. Senior representatives mentor the relevant junior representative into the responsibilities of the position and will act as a consultant after their tenure is complete. The roles and duties for each person are detailed below.
All positions are on a voluntary basis; however, some positions will require an official election process. The positions that will require an election are the President (founding year only), Vice President, Senior Faculty Meeting Representative (founding year only), Junior Faculty Meeting Representative, and Cohort representation. The Professional Development Seminars and Associated Graduate Student positions will be on a voluntary basis; a runoff will only be held if more than two people are interested. These positions will also have a senior/junior system. The names of those who are nominated or have self-nominated for all positions will not be released until ballots are sent out to enhance participation.
In the case of a tie we will have a run-off election.
In the case that no individual is interested in vacant positions, students in filled positions will be asked to help make up for the vacancies; if a senior representative is still active and no junior representative is elected, a senior representative can serve the same position for as long as that person is interested or no other student volunteers for that position. Once a student is a president or vice president, he or she cannot run for the same position again.
In the case of an administrative disagreement, an independent arbiter will be asked to step in for mediation.
Time commitment will vary depending on the position. Representatives are encouraged to attend meetings twice a month (or as needed) (1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes each); allot time to gather student input on important issues (i.e. holding separate meetings; sending out emails); allot time to report back to other students through various means (i.e. memos); allot time to plan activities or professional development opportunities (i.e. socials). [minimum: 3 hours/month; maximum: 20 hours/month]
Section 2: Leadership Team Representatives and their Duties
[Elected] President: The primary role of this position is to be the direct contact between students and the Steering Committee and the Dean. This person will also coordinate monthly Leadership Team meetings; will create and maintain a student input system that is efficient and representative of all students; will act as a liaison between the department and students (when needed); will work with all representatives to ensure that student voices and concerns are heard and addressed; will create public monthly meeting agendas and delegate a minutes recorder; and address the budget. This student will bring up issues pertaining to all students (i.e. coursework, milestones, funding, etc.) that require executive decisions. This person is thus the senior representative.
[Elected] Vice President/President Elect: This person will shadow the ADSE president during his or her term and will fill in for the president when she or he is unavailable. This person will take over as the president during the next academic year and will mentor the incoming president elect. This person thus is considered the junior representative.
Steering Committee Meetings: If neither the President of Vice President can attend, they will ask a Faculty Representative to attend in their place. If none of these representatives can attend, the most senior cohort representative available will attend.
Committee Representatives:
[Elected] Faculty Meeting Representatives: Reports back to students on general information discussed at the faculty meetings that pertains to students (i.e. policies, FYI, and other pertinent information). Representatives will sometimes present agenda items on behalf of students that are relevant to this committee (as opposed to the Steering Committee). Two students will hold this responsibility, one senior, one junior. The senior position will be elected in the founding year only. The junior position will be promoted to senior the next year, and the junior position will be open for election each year.
Faculty Meetings. If neither the Faculty Representative can attend, they will ask the President and/or Vice President to attend in their place. If none of these representatives can attend, the most senior cohort representative available will attend.
[Elected] Cohort Representatives:
Cohort representatives will provide input on behalf of students in their cohort when decisions need to be made about coursework, policies, or other pertinent issues requiring student input. If needed, cohort representatives can come to Steering Committee or faculty meetings when agenda items are pertinent to their cohort.
At the beginning of each academic year, each cohort will be asked to decide on how best they would like to elect a representative. This can be in the form of an election, drawing a name out of a hat, or any other fair and equitable manner. These positions are not voted on by the general School of Education student population.
As detailed above, there will be one representative for each cohorts in years 1-4 and one representative for each cohort in years 5+.
ADSE Meetings. If a Cohort Representative cannot attend an ADSE Meeting, he/she can send another member of their cohort in their place to attend, OR if applicable, they can submit their votes in advance.
[Elected] Junior Professional Development (PD) representative: “Professional development representatives plan events for PhD students that help promote professional development and build the School of Education PhD community. Other duties may include contacting professionals to lead seminars, coordinating times and schedules for attendance, collaborating with others in ADSE to host events, and notifying the PhD student body about professional development opportunities outside the School of Education via email and PhD calendar post. Light record keeping and budgeting is also involved. Two students share this responsibility, a senior and a junior representative, to preserve institutional memory.”
[Volunteer] Associated Graduate Students’ Representatives:The School of Education is given 3 representative slots on the UCI-wide graduate student council. Representatives help with university-wide governance and activities and report back to students. This position will keep the senior/junior model to preserve institutional memory.
The following positions will be created by request from the appropriate students at the beginning of each academic year.
[Volunteer] DECADE Representatives: Support UCI’s initiative to increase awareness about equity and access. This representative will come from the DECADE student council team that addresses recruitment, retention, and climate issues. The DECADE student council works closely with the SoE DECADE mentor. If representation on ADSE is requested then the DECADE student council can send one or two (if they would like to also institute a senior/junior system) to ADSE meetings.
- [Volunteer] DECADE Student Council: Any students interested in joining this team to provide input on recruitment, retention, and climate can speak to the SoE DECADE mentor for more information. The DECADE student council is not under the purview of the ADSE.
[Elected] International Students Representatives: International graduate students contribute to the diversity of our program and ADSE would like to provide the opportunity for international students to have representation if they so choose. Junior International Student Representative- “International student representatives will provide input on behalf of all international students at the ADSE meeting. Responsibilities of this position also involves planning orientation and welcome events for international students, hosting professional development seminars that address international students’ unique needs. This position will keep the senior/junior model to preserve institutional memory.” If an International Student Representative cannot attend an ADSE Meeting, he/she can send another international student in their place to attend, OR if applicable, they can submit their votes in advance.
Leadership Model
President/Steering Committee (1)
Vice President/Steering Committee (1)
Faculty Meeting (2) Junior Cohorts (4) Senior Cohorts (1) PD(2) AGS(2)
DECADE (1-2) [if requested] International Students (1-2) [if requested]
[Specializations (1-2)] [Only if certain specializations are not represented elsewhere]
ALL OTHER INTERESTED STUDENTS
Voting Model [Seniors only]
Vice President/Steering Committee (1)
Faculty Meeting (1) Junior Cohorts (4) Senior Cohort (1) PD(1) AGS (1)
DECADE(1) [if requested] International Students(1) [if requested]
Max number of votes: 10; majority equals 6
The ADSE will meet once a month (or as needed). Each meeting will run for an hour to an hour and a half. Each meeting will be used to make decisions, voice concerns, plan activities, etc. In cases where a vote is needed the most senior person for each position will carry the vote (i.e. the vice-president, the senior faculty meeting, PD, AGS, DECADE, and international students committee will carry a vote; each cohort representative will also have one vote each. ALL STUDENTS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND THESE MEETINGS.
In the case that a voting member is unable to attend a meeting this person can designate a stand-in voter (if there is no junior representative). This stand-in voter must be publicly announced either through an email or other form of public communication before each meeting.
Document History
Date | Action Item |
May 18th, 2012 | David Lee and Huy Chung started a draft of this document |
October 5th, 2012 | Dean Deborah Lowe Vandell officially and publicly announced a request for the formation of an Associated Graduate Students in Education council |
October 20th, 2012 | First draft of this document was completed and sent out to all PhD students for their input; a Doodle was also sent out to establish a general forum for anyone who wanted to speak with the document writers |
October 24th, 2012 | Faculty were presented with this document at a Faculty meeting |
October 30th, 2012 | First set of students met with Ana Auger and Huy Chung to discuss any changes that needed to be made to the document (present: 2 students; despite 12 students expressing interest and the ability to attend) |
November 1st, 2012 | Second set of students met with Ana Auger, Huy Chung, and David Lee to discuss any changes that needed to be made to the document (present: 3 students; despite 11 students expressing interest and the ability to attend) |
November 2nd, 2012 | Ana Auger, Huy Chung, and David Lee finalized the revisions for this document and sent it out to all students |
November 7th, 2012 | Huy Chung added in language to include a Junior Faculty Meeting Representative; added this position in the leadership model; and reduced one representative spot from AGS (the same number of people are on AGSE from the document sent out on November 2nd). |
December 4, 2012 | Ratification of this document was voted on by the ADSEThis document was officially ratified on XXXX, 2012Any changes to this document will require a ⅔ majority vote |
Oct. 3, 2014 | Minor changes made by CSW & JL. |
Oct. 9, 2014 | Changes to voting structure and leadership structure approved during ADSE meeting. |
Dec. 4, 2018 | Updates were made to some of the leadership role descriptions and approved via voting at ADSE meeting |