Administration

Organization and Governance

The department’s success in fulfilling each of its missions depends primarily upon the quality and productivity of the faculty. Departmental organization and administration is thus largely concerned with (1) obtaining and allocating resources to improve the quality and enhance the creativity of the faculty in teaching, research, and extension, (2) coordinating the activities of different faculty members, and (3) accounting (ultimately to the state legislature and other grantors) for the use and productivity of funds entrusted to the department.

A. Department Head
The department head is appointed by the president of the university in consultation with the Deans of the College of Agriculture. Candidates for the position of department head should possess credentials sufficient for tenure and appropriate rank in the department.

The Utah State University Faculty Code vests all department-level authority in the department head, who is responsible for the overall administration of the department. The primacy of department head authority is therefore axiomatic. In particular, matters involving fund allocation, teaching assignments, course calendars, proposals for contracts or cooperative agreements, personnel matters of any sort, and any proposals to college or university level committees must be discussed directly with the department head. The department head is responsible to college and university administrators for maintaining continuity and stability in the operations of the department and for the fulfillment of agreements made with them. The department head is responsible to the faculty for enhancing the professional stature of the department, facilitating the professional development of the faculty, and creating and maintaining physical conditions, services, and patterns of communication that will foster a high level of productivity and morale within the department.

While recognizing the authority and responsibility vested in the department head by the Utah State University Faculty Code, the broad distribution of human capital in the department, nonetheless, makes a decisive case for a participatory approach to internal management founded on open deliberation, team-oriented organization, and the delegation of authority to subject matter experts. The internal governance and organization of the department is intended to expedite the work of the faculty in achieving department objectives.

B. Department Faculty
The faculty is the basic advisory body to the department head with respect to all policies and programs of the department. The internal organization and governance of the department is intended to expedite the work of the faculty. The effectiveness and professional stature of the department depends upon the competence and morale of the faculty and each faculty member benefits from an enhancement of these qualities in the department as a whole.

The faculty consists of all members of the department who hold tenured, tenure-eligible, term, or special faculty appointments. The faculty can circumscribe the participation of prospective term or special appointments, but once an individual is hired onto the faculty his or her participation rights will not be reduced by the faculty or the department head. All faculty may participate in the process of setting and voting on policy within the department to the extent permitted by the Utah State University Faculty Code (sections 7-5 and 7-6) and by the terms of their original appointment to the faculty. The department head takes responsibility for seeing that all staff are appropriately informed of changes in department policies, personnel, and of other news relevant to their work and participation in the professional life of the department.

C. Department Executive Committee
The department head serves as ex officio chair of the department Executive Committee, which (1) considers matters of concern to the faculty between meetings of the latter group, (2) undertakes more extensive consideration of policies and programs than would be feasible for the faculty as a whole, and (3) advises the department head on matters not warranting discussion by the full faculty or on which discussion by the larger group would be inadvisable. The Executive Committee is an advisory body without administrative authority within the department. Policy recommendations of the Executive Committee will be brought to the faculty before being acted upon by the department head.

The Executive Committee acts in an advisory role to the department head in preparation of the annual department budget. The department head makes a formal budget report to the faculty at the time the budget is prepared for the next fiscal year and provides the faculty with quarterly budget summaries. Each year the Executive Committee will recommend to the department head a distribution of the aggregate change in available salary funds between uniform adjustments and merit raises. The department head will allocate merit raises at his/her discretion, with reference to the objective performance indicators established in the "Annual Review of Objectives and Organization" section (see section IV).

In addition to the department head, the Executive Committee membership consists of the chairpersons from each of the four standing committees: undergraduate training, graduate training, research, and extension and community service. Those chairpersons are elected by the faculty for no more than two consecutive three-year terms following the methods articulated in section IIIB below. Elections for committee chairs will be staggered so that no more than two positions are up for election in any given year. The department head may, with the approval of the faculty, designate an ad hoc committee for extraordinary representation on the department Executive Committee. Such a committee chair must also be elected by the faculty, which must also approve ad hoc committee representation on the Executive Committee each year. A faculty member can withdraw his or her name from eligibility for election to the Executive Committee. In the event that a member of the Executive Committee resigns that position during the year, he or she will be replaced for the remainder of the year by a vote of the faculty, following the procedures described in section IIIB.

D. Departmental Committees
The department head delegates authority over various administrative, community service, instructional, and research activities to faculty committees and emphasis areas and, less commonly, to individual faculty members in order to facilitate the efficient fulfillment of departmental missions. It is axiomatic that authority lodged in any committee, emphasis area faculty, or individuals must be commensurate with the assigned responsibilities. It is also axiomatic that authority can be delegated, but responsibility cannot. The department head remains ultimately responsible to the deans and vice presidents even when internal authority is delegated to faculty.

The department has four standing committees: undergraduate training, graduate training, research, and extension and community service. The chairs of these committees are elected by the faculty, as detailed in section IIIB. Other delegations of long duration or major importance will be made by the department head after consultation with the department Executive Committee, the faculty, or both. Delegations to ad hoc committees to handle short-term assignments do not require prior consultation with the faculty or the Executive Committee. The department head need not consult the faculty or Executive Committee before designating the chairs of any committee other than the four standing committees described below. The chairs of committees establish committee membership jointly with the department head. Committees will maintain appropriate written documentation of their deliberations, decisions, actions, and recommendations forwarded to the department head.

Committee on undergraduate training. This committee takes primary responsibility for the department's undergraduate teaching and advising programs. The committee oversees the curriculum in all undergraduate degree programs and recommends appropriate changes to the faculty and department head. The committee recruits undergraduate students, assigns and trains undergraduate student advisers, nominates students for and administers undergraduate scholarships, coordinates departmental efforts in internship programs, facilitates undergraduate placement with employers and graduate or professional schools, and tracks undergraduate alumni. It makes recommendations to the department head concerning instructor assignments and class schedules for undergraduate courses and faculty undergraduate teaching and advising awards. The faculty members serving as primary adviser to students in each college are standing members of this committee.

Committee on graduate training. This committee takes primary responsibility for the department's graduate teaching and advising program. It oversees the curriculum in all graduate degree programs and recommends appropriate changes to the faculty and department head. The committee recruits graduate students, makes graduate admissions and degree conferment recommendations to the School of Graduate Studies, maintains graduate student records, coordinates graduate placement activities, tracks graduate alumni, prepares and submits nominations for thesis awards, and administers the Ph.D. qualifying examination. The graduate committee administers departmental graduate fellowships and coordinates with the department head and faculty in the offer of assistantships to qualified candidates. It makes recommendations to the department head concerning instructor assignments and class schedules for graduate courses and faculty graduate teaching and mentorship awards.

Committee on research. This committee has primary responsibility for facilitating communication among faculty regarding individual research interests and programs. This committee acts in an advisory role to the department head in coordinating the department’s research program and in synthesizing the department’s research foci. It runs the department research seminar and summer speaker series, has responsibility for the Economics Research Institute (ERI) Study Paper publications series, serves as an information clearing house on research contracts and grants for the faculty, serves as the Board of Directors of the ERI, and produces an annual list of departmental publications for dissemination to external stakeholders and to other colleges and universities. The committee makes recommendations to the department head regarding faculty research award nominations.

Committee on extension and community service. This committee takes primary responsibility for coordinating department extension and community service activities. It produces regular consolidated agricultural outlooks, produces the department extension publications series, ensures satisfactory department participation in outreach programs, and makes recommendations to the department head regarding assignments.

In addition to the four standing committees, whose chairs sit on the department Executive Committee, there is one additional permanent committee.

Computing resources committee. This committee takes primary responsibility for maintaining satisfactory access to computing resources for all faculty and staff. This includes supervision of the department's computer support technician, necessary coordination with the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business computer network administrator, maintenance of department home pages on the World Wide Web, including a site for downloading ERI Study Papers, and recommendation to the department head of software for which the department should acquire network site licenses. The committee will also organize extraordinary training sessions on computing subjects of general interest to the faculty and staff. The computer support technician is an exofficio member of this committee.

There will be a regular need for ad hoc committees (e.g., faculty search, individual promotion and tenure). Ad hoc committees will be established by the department head in consultation with the Executive Committee or the full faculty for a pre-designated, finite period of time. The department head should consult with the faculty and the Executive Committee before formation of any department committee of indefinite term. Promotion and tenure committees are appointed by the deans of the Colleges of Agriculture and of Business in consultation with the department head.