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Records of the Faculty Council

 Collection
Identifier: UFCP

Scope and Contents

The Records of the Faculty Council consist of documents related from 1909 to 2024, with the bulk falling from 1950 to 2022. Combining meeting minutes and agendas from the Faculty Council Committee and the various sub-committees under the Council, this collection touches upon various topics related to the faculty, staff, and general education needs at Colorado State University (CSU). Paper records extend from 1909 to 2011 and 2021 to 2022, and electronic files cover 1988 to 2023 Faculty Council and the Executive Committee meeting minutes. Faculty Improvement Committee materials include correspondence between committee members, committee annual reports, and final reports of grant recipients. A full set of academic faculty and administrative professional manuals from 1947 to 2022 are present, though there is a large gap between 1952 to 1978. Manuals from academic year 2011-2012 to 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 to 2023-2024 are only available digitally.

Items that have been digitized are available in CSU's digital repository, Mountain Scholar.

Dates

  • Creation: 1909-2024
  • Creation: Majority of material found in 1950-2022

Creator

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection. However, the collection is stored off-site so advance notice is required.

Restrictions on Use

Not all of the material in the collection is in the public domain. Researchers are responsible for addressing copyright issues.

History

In September 1915, President Charles Lory presided over the first meeting of the Faculty Council. Original membership of the Council consisted of the executive officers of the institution, such as the Dean of Women, the Dean of the School of Agriculture, and all department heads and academic chairs. The duties of the Faculty Council included outlining the general policy of instruction, making decisions on courses of study and related subjects, and passing all rules and regulations pertaining to University government. Several subsidiary committees were established under the Faculty Council and facilitated the decision-making between board meetings or if urgent circumstances arose.

By 1948 there were two faculty bodies that were active in the policy-making for Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts: the General Faculty and the Faculty Council. The General Faculty included a much larger group of instructors, Experiment Station, Extension, Library, administrative officers, and Military Science Department commissioned officers. It formulated recommendations to be passed on to the State Board of Agriculture and had authority to consider matters that affected the whole institution. The Faculty Council consisted of the President, the Deans, the Department Heads, the Librarians, full professors, some elected associate and assistant professors. There were approximately fifteen standing committees of the Faculty Council and members of these committees were elected each fall for one-year terms. The Faculty Council met monthly and dealt with course-work offerings, changes in administrative units and reports from its several committees.

In 1956, as a response to the Self-Study Committee evaluation of the powers and role of the Faculty Council, the report found that the Council's powers and responsibilities included jurisdiction over the general education policy of the university but were subject to the statues of the State and policies of the State Board of Agriculture.

By 1968 an extensive reorganization of the Faculty Council was launched. This reorganization reflected that the government should rest primarily on elected faculty members, which shrank the Council's members to only those elected by their department to be a representative. This reorganization also created a new agency for faculty government, the Steering Committee. The Steering Committee was made up of one representative from each of the colleges, with representatives elected by the Faculty Council delegations from each college.

In 1992 the Faculty Council adopted the proposal that the Steering Committee would be designated as the Executive Committee of the Faculty Council. This new committee was created with the intent of ensuring that a duly elected body of faculty members would be available to quickly respond, on behalf of the academic faculty, when issues of some concern and urgency might be brought forward. The Executive Committee would be responsible to the Faculty Council, much like its predecessor had been. Today, the Faculty Council still operates under the same Code of Operations and shares jurisdiction over the general educational policies of the University.

The Faculty Improvement Committee was established on December 2, 1918, as the Faculty Self-Improvement Committee. While established to promote self-study or graduate study for faculty, the committee became increasingly active in other matters of importance to faculty during the early 1940s, such as academic freedom, appointment, promotion and tenure, and sabbatical and special leaves. At the June 3, 1947, meeting of the Resident Instruction Faculty, the committee's name was changed to Faculty Improvement Committee (FIC). Unlike most of the faculty committees, the FIC reported annually to the General Faculty rather than to the Faculty Council and was charged to consider any matter that could be broadly interpreted as improving the faculty. Subsequently, the FIC was responsible for initiating major developments that affected faculty status and government at CSU. By 1957, FIC constituents included all faculty, Experiment Station, and Extension personnel with faculty appointments as well as resident instructors. During 1995-1996 academic year, the functions of the FIC were reassigned to other elements in the university governance structure, and in spring 1996, the Faculty Council voted to abolish the FIC, a recommendation which the State Board of Agriculture approved.

Extent

33 linear feet (22 record cartons)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Since 1915, the Faculty Council has been the representative body for the academic faculty at Colorado State University. The council decides the educational policies of the university and passes all rules and regulations necessary for university government. This collection contains meeting minutes for the Faculty Council, Summer Session Executive Committee, Executive Committee, and University Curriculum Committee; minutes, documents, and correspondence for the Faculty Improvement Committee; and faculty and administrative professional manuals. Items that have been digitized are available in CSU's digital repository, Mountain Scholar.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged as found.

The collection consists of 6 series in 22 boxes:

Series 1: Faculty council records, 1939-2022

Series 2: Summer session executive committee records, 1931-1942

Series 3: Executive committee records, 1909-2023

Series 4: University curriculum committee records, 1950-1970

Series 5: Faculty improvement committee records, 1920-1983

Series 6: Academic faculty and administrative professional manuals, 1947-2024

Acquisition

The Records of the Faculty Council was created by staff who transferred three volumes of meeting minutes from the Records of the Graduate School in December 2018. The bulk of the Records of the Faculty Council was transferred by the Office of Faculty Council in October 2021. Another small set of records were transferred to the collection from the Records of the Academic Vice President/Provost in December 2021. Faculty Improvement Committee materials were transferred by the chair of the Faculty Improvement Committee between 1977 and 1983, and final reports of grant recipients were transferred from the Records of the Graduate School in December 2018 before all were moved to the Faculty Council Records by archives staff in January 2022. Executive Committee minutes for 2021 to 2022 were transferred in July 2022, and Faculty Council minutes for 2021 to 2022 were transferred in September 2022. Manuals were transferred in February 2023 and June 2023. Executive Committee minutes for 2022 to 2023 were transferred in May 2023.

Online Materials

Some materials have been scanned or were born digital and are available through the Colorado State University Libraries website.

Related Collections

The Records of the Faculty (UFAC) subseries 1.2 contains Faculty Council reports, with most of the records related to the Faculty Council Committee on Committees. Records of the Committee on the Responsibilities and Standing of the Academic Faculty (UCOS) contains the records of a current Faculty Council subcommittee.

Processing

Processing was completed in January 2022. The materials were refoldered into acid-free folders. Paper clips, staples and rubber bands were removed from the material. Three volumes of duplicate materials were removed from the collection. The collection was arranged in chronological order. Digital files were digitally archived.

Inventory Note

Note: Two identical copies of the same item are indicated by the phrase "2 copies" at the end of the entry.

Title
Guide to the Records of the Faculty Council
Status
Edited Full Draft
Author
Prepared and revised by Clarissa J. Trapp
Date
Copyright 2018
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the CSU Libraries Archives & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Fort Collins Colorado 80523-1019 USA
970-491-1844