Faculty Governance

Academic governance is the framework of policies, structures, relationships, systems, and processes that collectively provide leadership to and oversight of a higher education provider’s academic activities (teaching, learning, scholarship, research, and research training, if applicable) at an institutional level. The term governance refers to formal policies and procedures within institutions for making policy decisions. Faculty governance includes all the mechanisms delegated to faculty for rendering recommendations and/or providing direct decision-making through university-, college-, and department-level committee structures. This entry provides an overview of faculty governance in the United States, then examines the basic models of faculty governance, related responsibilities of faculty members, the role of faculty senates or councils, and the review and evaluation of these governing bodies.