Bylaws

Administrative Home: Department of Native American Studies
Revision: September 13, 2007
Graduate Council Approval: April 11, 2022

Article I. Objective

The Native American Studies Graduate Program (NASGP) offers the M.A. (Plan I and Plan II) and Ph.D. degrees.

The Graduate Program in Native American Studies offers a formal comparative, interdisciplinary, and hemispheric approach to the study of all aspects of the indigenous cultures of the Americas. This approach includes faculty specialized in a variety of disciplines including art, literature, religion, linguistics, history, anthropology, political science, ethnomusicology, performance and dance studies, and women and gender studies.

The primary mission of the graduate program is to produce scholars and teachers with the Ph.D. degrees who are fully equipped to succeed in a competitive job market and to carry on productive careers in the discipline. Scholarly rigor and theoretical clarity must be accompanied by an attentive gaze to the needs of the Native American communities to whom we are accountable.

Article II. Membership

A. Criteria for Membership in the Graduate Program:

All ladder-rank faculty, including emeriti, in the Department of Native American Studies are members of the NASGP. Non-departmental faculty members of the Academic Senate or Academic Federation whose appointment authorizes the direction of graduate work may be elected to membership in the graduate program.

Members of the Graduate Program must have a record of accomplishment and expertise in the discipline and must be engaged in active scholarship and participate in professional activities related to Native American Studies. Broadly speaking, members should have hemispheric focus in indigenous studies in and contribute to the multi-disciplinary study of the indigenous cultures of North, Central, and South America.

B. Voting rights

 All active members are eligible to vote.

C. Application for Membership

Nominations of prospective members to the Graduate Program may be made by any member of the Graduate Program. After review and recommendation by the Membership Committee, appointments of new members are made by majority vote of the entire membership of the Graduate Program.

It is anticipated that a member of the graduate faculty will perform the following duties.

  1. Play an active role in the administration of the graduate program by serving on administrative committees; as a graduate adviser; or as an administrative officer of the program.
  2. Provide graduate level instruction, as appropriate, in addition to research instruction.
  3. Serve on dissertation and Ph.D. qualifying examination committees, as well as on Master’s comprehensive examination committees.

D. Emeritus Status

Emeritus professors who are members of the Graduate Program have voting rights in the program. All emeriti may teach graduate courses in the program and serve on student committees.

E. Review of Membership

Renewal of membership on the graduate program faculty will be automatic for faculty in the Department of Native American Studies.

Renewal of membership in the graduate program for faculty who are not members of the Native American Studies Department shall be reviewed on a three-year cycle with one third of the membership reviewed each year. Minimal criteria for continuing membership are participation in one or more of the following:

  1. active engagement with graduate students,
  2. direction of or assistance in graduate student research,
  3. teaching graduate courses or upper-division courses with enrolled graduate students,
  4. service on Graduate Program committees.

F. Membership Appeal Process

  1. Membership denial may be appealed to the Graduate Program Committee. A written statement containing a rebuttal of the reasons for denial must accompany the appeal within 30 days of written notice of denial.
  2. Applicants denied membership or renewal of membership may use the final appeal to the Dean of Graduate Studies."


Article III. Administration

The administration of the program and its activities are vested in the Chair of the Department of Native American Studies and the Graduate Program Committee.

Article IV. Graduate Program Chair

  1. The program is administered by the Native American Studies Department Chair, who shall serve as Graduate Program Chair. The Program Chair may delegate day-to-day responsibilities of the graduate program to one or more faculty members of the program. However, even with the delegation of responsibilities, the Department Chair is the official Graduate Program Chair.
  2. Duties of the Chair:
    1. provide academic leadership
    2. develop and implement policies for the program
    3. represent the interests of the program to the campus and University administrators
    4. call and preside at meetings of the Executive Committee
    5. call and preside at meetings of the Graduate Program
    6. be responsible for coordinating all administrative matters with the Office of Graduate Studies
    7. manage the budgets of the program
    8. submit course change or approval forms
    9. be responsible for the accuracy of all publications related to the program including web pages and catalog copy


Article V. Committees

The Graduate Program Committee is a committee of the whole of the Graduate Program faculty, plus a graduate student representative. The Graduate Program Chair is the Chair of the Committee. Each faculty member of the Committee has a single vote in all matters. The student representative has a single vote in all matters excepting those for which the student representative is excluded from the meeting. The Committee’s duties include the administration of the program, and oversight of admissions, and fellowships, and appointment of ad hoc committers as needed.

Article VI. Student Representatives

  1. The Chair, upon recommendation of the program's graduate students, may appoint one student as a representative to the Graduate Program Committee.
  2. The Chair of any committee with student members must excuse the student representatives from meetings during discussion about other students, personnel actions, or disciplinary issues relating to faculty, during rankings of existing students for funding, and for disciplinary issues related to students.


Article VII. Graduate Advisors

Graduate Advisors are appointed in compliance with the policies and procedures of the Graduate Council and the Office of Graduate Studies.

  1. The graduate program will have a sufficient number of Graduate Adviser’s to establish a student to adviser ratio of approximately 15:1.
  2. Graduate Advisers are appointed for a two-year term and may be reappointed.
  3. The adviser’s primary responsibility is to ensure that the students in their charge have completed the requirements of the program, and to act as an advocate for each student in their charge. Advisers will carry out their duties in accordance with policies of the Group, the Graduate Council, and the Office of Graduate Studies.


Article VIII. Meetings

Business of the NASGP may be taken up at regular faculty meetings with appropriate notification of all Graduate Program members. In addition, two meetings will be held each year dealing exclusively with graduate matters: Winter Quarter: admissions and fellowships, and Spring Quarter: graduate student evaluations.

Additional meetings may be called by the Graduate Program Chair or by petition of three or more members of the Graduate Program. Notification of meetings shall be given at least one week beforehand, by electronic mail. Members away from campus on the meeting date may make arrangements with the Chair prior to the meeting in order to participate via conference call or other appropriate mechanism.

Article IX. Quorum

The Graduate Program in Native American Studies follows the Graduate Council’s quorum policy. Any issue requiring a vote must be voted upon by more than 50 percent of the eligible voting members, and passage requires more than 50 percent of the members voting. Voting may be done in a meeting (with proxy voting permitted for absent members) or by electronic mail ballot.

Article XI. Amendments

Amendments to these bylaws must be approved by a 2/3 vote of the entire Graduate Program membership and submitted to the Graduate Council for review and approval.

  1. Amendments to these bylaws may be proposed by any member of the Graduate Program and must be submitted electronically to the Graduate Program Chair.
  2. Amendments shall be circulated to the faculty via electronic mail.
  3. Voting on any proposed amendment shall take place no earlier than three weeks and no later than six weeks following its submission to the Chair. Voting shall take place in a meeting of the Program faculty, with proxy votes allowed for members unable to attend.

Article XII. Eligibility to Serve on Advanced Degree Committees (GC1998-01)

Category 7 for eligibility to serve on advanced degree committees is defined in the Policy on Service on Advanced Degree Committees (GC1998-01). It is a title for academics/researchers who are not eligible under categories 1 through 5, but who the program anticipates will be asked to serve on more than one advanced degree committee (violating Category 6). Eligibility to serve on advanced degree committees in one program does not confer eligibility to serve on committees in other graduate programs. Committee members in this Category must be approved by each graduate group or program separately and be reviewed by the program(s) every 3 years (separately from program/group membership) for continued eligibility to serve in Category 7. Below is the criteria that NAS faculty established to evaluate a member of Category 7’s eligibility.

  • Has the mentor provided guidance on appropriate literature for the mentees’ research topics
  • Has the mentor provided guidance on appropriate methods/tools for the mentees’ research topics
  • Has the mentor provided feedback on written documents in a timely manner
  • Has the mentor provided guidance on how to access facilities or other resources needed to complete thesis research
  • Has the mentor provided guidance on professional development
  • Has the mentor been supportive of mentees participation in professional development activities

These review criteria will be applied consistently to all potential Category 7 individuals.

Process or Approving Eligibility to Serve on Advance Degree Committees Under Category 7.

  1. If the individual meets the criteria established by the program/group, they may be recommended for eligibility under Category 7 (self-recommendations are acceptable).
  2. The request is evaluated by the NAS faculty.
  3. The program submits the request to the Dean of Graduate Studies for final review and approval.
  4. If approved, the individual becomes eligible to serve on advanced degree committees via Category 7 for a period of 3 years.
  5. The individual is reviewed for continued service every 3 years based on the evaluation criteria established above.