Clinical Council

Duties: The Clinical Council is responsible for policies, strategic planning, and management of the clinical activities of the School of Medicine and its faculty. These responsibilities include the faculty practice, which exists to support the vision of the School of Medicine, including its educational, clinical, and research missions. The Clinical Council is also responsible for the clinical components of our strategic plans, and all other clinical business affairs. Examples would be contracted services provided elsewhere by faculty members who are paid by the practice, and the development of contracts with clinicians not on salary with the faculty practice to provide services directly for the School of Medicine.

Authority: The Clinical Council manages the faculty practice. The development of any major new policies or strategic plans, or major modifications to the existing structure or academic function of the faculty practice requires review and approval by the Dean’s Council.

Dean’s Council

Duties: The Dean’s Council works with the dean to determine broad medical school policies and strategic plans. It does this primarily by (a) ensuring that all recommendations regarding policies and strategic plans have been developed with the consideration of how they effect the entire school and not just a single domain, (b) synthesizing, coordinating and evaluating the initiatives put forward by the councils into cohesive strategic plans and objectives¹, (c) initiating recommendations regarding policies and priorities in the use of resources, and (d) acting on recommendations from the Oversight Committee.

These functions will be achieved through the consideration of (a) the overall use and commitment of resources and the availability of resources for newly developed policies and plans; (b) how new policies put forth by a council fit within the strategic plans/goals/objectives of the school as a whole; (c) possible synergies between new proposals and other school needs and goals; and, importantly, (d) the consequences of policies developed by one Council on the entire faculty and students. Thus, while most policies will be developed in the Councils, the Dean’s Council plays a critical integrative function. It bears the final responsibility for evaluating the impact of proposed policies and plans on the School of Medicine and its faculty as a whole.

In addition to considering the policies and recommendations sent from the councils, the Dean’s Council may be assigned tasks by the dean, the executive vice president, or the Board of Directors. The Dean’s Council will then delegate tasks to the councils or, if appropriate, delegate an ad hoc committee to address the task².

The Dean’s Council will also lead the effort to educate the administration of the School of Medicine and of UConn Health about the impact its policy decisions have on the ability of the faculty to do its work and to negotiate ways to streamline the processes. This charge focuses on, for example, the administrative requirements for hiring new faculty members, for spending research dollars, and for implementing approved strategic plans.

Authority: The Dean’s Council advises the dean regarding strategic planning and resource allocation decisions. When the Dean’s Council finds an impediment to the implementation of a decision or recommendation of a council, it can (a) return the decision or policy to the council from which it originated with feedback on the flaws or impediments to implementation, (b) send the decision or policy to a different council to get further information on the consequences and ways to ameliorate those consequences, or (c) reject the recommendation outright.

The Dean’s Council has authority to overturn a negative decision by the Senior Appointments and Promotions Committee on promotion or tenure only on non-academic grounds.

The Dean’s Council approves the operating rules and guidelines of all governance committees, and designates departments and centers as either basic science or clinical.

The Dean’s Council will arrange an election, make an appointment, or delegate the appropriate council to make an appointment when the University, UConn Health, School of Dental Medicine, The Graduate School or other non-School of Medicine committee, or the Board of Directors, desires official representation from the School of Medicine.

The Dean’s Council holds elections for all School of Medicine governance committees. Elections, to be held annually, must provide the opportunity for faculty to nominate self or others.

¹The Dean’s Council does not rework or re-think the policy or decision itself.
²The latter would be especially appropriate when tasks that do not neatly fit within the domains need to be addressed, such as the development of a new faculty compensation plan, revisions to the grievance procedures, or revisions to the criteria for promotion to senior rank.

Education Council

Duties: The Education Council formulates policies and plans for all educational activities sponsored by the School of Medicine which include, but are not limited to, the undergraduate medical curriculum, graduate and postgraduate medical education, continuing medical education, and community education. The Education Council determines the objectives, general form, and content of the educational programs, and assures their quality. It may also request subordinate committees to deal with any issues related to the educational programs. The council oversees the integration of the School of Medicine faculty into the graduate programs, considers the roles of off-site faculty, affiliated hospitals, and community faculty in these educational endeavors, and makes recommendations regarding priorities for the use of available resources.

Authority: The Education Council has authority over all educational activities. As a matter of process, the council must submit new strategic plans or major policy revisions to the Dean’s Council for review and comment. Decisions that require the allocation of new resources must be considered by the Dean’s Council and approved by the dean.

Public Issues Council

Duties: The Public Issues Council champions scholarly activities in public health, preventive medicine and health education. It identifies critical health and disease issues for the region and state, prioritizes them and focuses broad faculty effort to improve both health care delivery and health education on these issues. It makes recommendations regarding priorities for the use of available resources, and seeks to increase community resources through legislative and private educational efforts. Its concerns span a variety of settings, such as affiliated hospitals, physicians’ offices, community health centers, and schools, and include our educational partners in the community and across the state.

Authority: The Public Issues Council advises other councils and the dean regarding the leadership role of the School of Medicine faculty in regional, statewide, and public health and health education missions.

Research Council

Duties: The Research Council is charged to maintain a technically advanced and supportive infrastructure and develop timely new ventures in biomedical science. The council makes recommendations regarding priorities for the research mission and the implementation of research strategic plans. It formulates policies related to the conduct of research including, but not limited to allocation of research space, incentive plans if the executive vice president so delegates, and adherence to compliance requirements imposed by regulatory agencies. The council cooperates with other bodies involved in research planning and policies, and has dominant position either directly, through dual membership, or indirectly on committees concerned with research-related UConn Health issues. The council coordinates biomedical research throughout the University, particularly with the School of Dental Medicine and The Graduate School, and with affiliated hospitals, by analysis, review, and promotion of real and potential cooperative ventures. The council makes recommendations on strategies to identify and procure resources that are essential for the recruitment and retention of faculty members.

Authority: The Research Council is advisory to the Dean’s Council on matters of research governance.

Oversight Committee

Duties: The Oversight Committee is an elected group of faculty that monitors the implementation of the governance mechanisms as outlined in the Bylaws of the School of Medicine. The Oversight Committee ensures that there is communication between the governance committees and the faculty^*; reviews the results achieved by implementation of policies and programs; initiates and monitors all department, center, and other reviews mandated in the bylaws; and identifies bylaws that may need to be reviewed and/or amended. The committee is responsible for ad hoc as well as periodic reviews of the bylaws at intervals no greater than seven years, and for implementing the amendment process described in Section IX.

The Oversight Committee reports its findings to the dean and the Dean’s Council.

Authority: The Oversight Committee has access to the agendas and decisions of all councils. It ensures open communication regarding governance by working with the dean to establish a publishing mechanism and by calling faculty forums at appropriate times. It initiates department and center reviews and monitors the results, and controls the bylaws amendment process as described in Section IX.

^*Sections of departmental and center reviews that address personnel issues are confidential and any communications regarding these issues must be via the chair of the Oversight Committee in consultation with the dean.

Academic Merit Plan Executive Committee

The administrative body for the merit plan is the Academic Merit Plan Executive Committee. Responsibilities of the Executive Committee include: development of processes to implement the principles; development and adjustment of rules; oversight of the plan.