Dear Undergraduate Student:
A copy of the proposed charter for the “CE Student Advisory Board” is enclosed for your comments.
The student leaders on April 16, 2007 suggested that we should post the proposed charter on the CE web
site and seek comments from the student body.
Please send your comments to:
Vandra L. Robinson (vrobins4@UTNet.UToledo.Edu)
Academic Program Coordinator
The University of Toledo
Department of Civil Engineering
Phone 419-530-8114
Fax 419-530-8116
Thank you very much for your time in responding to this request.
CE Web Master
University of Toledo
Department of Civil Engineering
Student Advisory Board
Charter
I. Terms of Reference
The Student Advisory Board has been formed to serve as an interface between the Department of Civil
Engineering, including the Chair and faculty; and the graduate and undergraduate student population. It
shall provide an official voice for student concerns and questions regarding Department policy and
standards. It shall also provide a forum by which Department and College of Engineering matters may be
discussed with the student Board representatives.
II. Organizational Structure
The Student Advisory Board shall meet no less than one time each Fall and Spring semester. Summer
semester meetings shall take place when deemed necessary by the Board. Meeting days and times shall be
established at the beginning of each semester, when each member's schedule has been determined, and an
appropriate hour block can be attended by all members of the Board. A vote on any issue shall only occur
when at least half of the Board members are present at an official Board meeting.
A. Membership The criterion for membership on the Board has been determined so as to represent all
segments of the student population within the Department. It can be outlined as follows:
1. Presidents, or their designates, of the following student groups and honorary societies automatically
become members of the Board and are expected to participate in the SAB meetings:
Chi Epsilon, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
It is the responsibility of the previous member (group president) to ensure smooth succession by
introducing the new member to the Board and updating the person on the previous meetings.
2. The Department shall be represented by the Department Chair.
3. Students shall be nominated and elected to the Board by their constituent groups. If a particular
constituency is not represented, then the Director of Undergraduate Studies should suggest a representative.
4. Timing, replacement, term length, grad student: Chair of the Graduate Program Committee will suggest
two names every year.
B. Administration Two members of the Board shall have additional responsibilities to those of other
members. The two members will be designated as administration with the titles of "Coordinator" and
"Communicator”. These two positions will be elected by the Board at the last meeting of the spring
quarter. In addition, each member of the board shall serve a one-year term, including the Administration,
and excluding the Department Chair.
III. Duties and Responsibilities
A. All Members
1. All members of the Board shall make every reasonable effort to attend the meetings.
2. Any member not able to attend a meeting shall find an acceptable substitute to attend in their place. This
means briefly making the substitute aware of meeting procedure, outlining recent topics of discussion, and
reviewing the collection of minutes in the Civil Engineering Student Lounge, 1078 Nitschke Hall. The
substitute should be appraised of issues to be voted on, such as acceptance of previous minutes, etc.
3. Board members have the responsibility to communicate with their constituents. This will include
soliciting any grievances or commendations concerning student experiences within the Department and
College. In the first two weeks of each semester, members should announce in each of their Department
courses who they are and what the Board does.
4. Any member who feels that the Charter does not adequately address any issue of concern to the Board
should schedule the topic to be heard at an official Board meeting. If a majority of the Board members
agree, then the Charter will be amended, and a new draft version of the Charter will be reviewed until the
next meeting where it may be accepted by a 2/3 affirmative vote.
B. Coordinator
1. At the beginning of each semester, the Coordinator shall collect appropriate information from the other
Board members with which to determine a meeting schedule. The scheduled meeting times for a semester
shall be communicated to all members a week before the first scheduled meeting. In general, members
should be reminded of meetings a week before they are scheduled.
2. As a guideline, the Coordinator shall solicit meeting topics from the other Board members in advance,
and an agenda for the next meeting should be distributed a week before the meeting is to take place.
3. From the collected meeting topics an agenda shall be devised and distributed by at least two days before
the meeting.
4. The Coordinator shall moderate the meeting.
5. Department chair will prepare the draft agenda if the coordinator is not ready.
C. Communicator
1. The Communicator shall prepare and distribute the minutes of each meeting after the minutes have been
approved. This includes keeping the minute’s notebook in the ASCE Student Section room up to date.
2. The Communicator shall be responsible for keeping the official record of the Board. This includes
copies of all meeting minutes, official Board correspondence, and copies of anything distributed at Board
meetings.
IV. Meeting Process
Each meeting should follow an agenda which shall be moderated by the Coordinator, and a record kept by
the Communicator. An agenda should have a form similar to the following:
A. Call to Order
B. Agenda Approval
C. Approval of minutes of previous meeting
D. Announcements
E. Agenda Items
F. Old Business
G. New Business
H. Agreement of next meeting date
I. Adjournment
V. Dissemination of Information
Any documents written for public perusal as a result of Board discussions should be formal since they
represent Department policy to non-Board members. The style of the documents should not be too familiar
or refer to speculative issues. Furthermore, they should not include personal opinion or hyperbole.