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(Source: Office of the Vice
President and Secretary, 1996)
The Statutes classify the Trustees as follows:
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Trustees Ex Officio (Non-voting): The Governor of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania and the President of the University during their respective
terms.
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Charter Trustees (Voting): Up to ten in number, elected to
serve until retirement from among persons who have served as trustees for
a period of not less than five years.
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Term Trustees (Voting): Normally up to thirty in number,
elected to serve for terms of five years. A term trustee may serve only
two terms, which would ordinarily be successive, for a total of ten years'
service. Prior service in any other voting class is also applied toward
this ten-year maximum.
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Alumni Trustees (Voting): The President of the General Alumni
Society; up to eight Regional Alumni Trustees, one from each region; and
up to five Alumni Trustees At-Large, elected by the alumni for terms of
five years. A regional alumni trustee may not succeed himself or herself
in office, but may be elected in another class.
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Trustees Emeriti (Non-voting): Charter trustees are designated
as trustees emeriti upon attaining the age of seventy. Other trustees who
have served for more than five years in any class are eligible for election
as trustees emeriti upon attaining the age of seventy or, in special circumstances,
at an earlier age.
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Commonwealth Trustees (Voting): Four non-elected officials
appointed by the following representatives of the Pennsylvania General
Assembly: the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Minority Leader
of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, each of whom shall have the power
to appoint one Commonwealth Trustee in accordance with Act No. 1994-25A.
The Executive Committee of the Trustees
exercises all of the powers and authority of the Trustees except for those
actions which the Statutes specifically require be taken at meetings of
the Trustees. The Executive Committee is elected annually by the Trustees
and is normally comprised of no fewer than ten voting trustees. The Trustees
may form such boards and committees as they see fit for any of the purposes
and activities of the University. The standing committees at present are:
Academic Policy, Audit, Budget and Finance, Development, External Affairs,
Facilities and Campus Planning, Internationalization, Honorary Degrees
and Awards, Nominating, Student Life, and University Responsibility. There
are also two special boards, the Investment Board and the Trustee Board
of the Health System, a Long-Range Planning Committee, and a Legal Affairs
Committee.
The Trustees elect annually the chairman
of the Trustees and one or more vice chairmen, who also serve as members
of and as chairman and vice chairmen of the Executive Committee. The Trustees
hold two-day meetings three times a year, normally in the spring, fall,
and winter, consisting primarily of committee sessions and culminating
in a stated meeting of the Trustees. The Executive and Budget and Finance
Committees are scheduled to meet at additional times throughout the year,
and the other standing committees may meet at an additional time if necessary.
In accordance with Pennsylvania law, formal action on resolutions is taken
in stated meetings that any member of the University community may attend
subject to space.
Each standing committee works with an
administrator within the University who assists the chairman in planning
its agenda and in preparing background material for meetings. Most standing
committees currently have faculty and student liaisons elected by the Faculty
Senate, the graduate and Professional Student Assembly and the Undergraduate
Assembly, respectively, who help link the University community to committee
discussions.
Most of the schools, as well as several
major centers/educational units, have boards of overseers composed of informed
laypersons who act in an advisory capacity to the Trustees, the President,
the Provost, and the Dean of a school or director of a major educational
unit.
Copies of the Statutes and more detailed
information about the Trustees are available from the Vice President and
Secretary of the University. |
