ARTICLE VI: Standing and Other Committees of Geisel

Section 1: General

A. The operations of the medical school are also \conducted by designated "Standing Committees" as listed below. In addition to deans, chairs, and center directors, members of faculty and staff serve on Geisel Standing Committees and Councils of Dartmouth. For faculty members who receive institutional support for their compensation at a level greater than 25%, service on Geisel committees is considered an inherent responsibility associated with faculty appointment. Individuals may serve on more than one committee. Faculty members should be part of the voting faculty except as otherwise specified herein. The Dean shall be a member ex officio non-voting of all standing committees of the faculty, unless otherwise provided herein. The Dean shall also be empowered to form any advisory committees deemed desirable for the conduct of business or as specified in other policies of Geisel and/or Dartmouth (e.g., but not limited to, OFDC, Sexual and Gender-based Misconduct Policy, Professionalism Policy). The Dean may establish these as advisory ad hoc committees or Standing Committees.

B. Ex officio members of all committees are defined as non-voting unless specifically identified as “voting” for any given committee.

C. Voluntary members (clinical, adjunct, honorary) may serve on the Faculty Council upon approval by the Dean or his/her/their designate.

D. Emerit and honorary faculty members may serve on the following committees with approval by the Dean of Faculty Affairs:

• Academic Progress Committee
• Committee on Admissions
• Medical Education Committee
• Faculty Council
• Professional Standards and Conduct Board

Emerit and honorary faculty members wishing to serve are to contact the respective committee chair. The committee chair will forward the request to the Dean for appointment. Such faculty members will begin their committee duties at the start of the academic year.

Section 2: Designation of Standing Committees

The following Standing Committees are constituted. Where indicated, bylaws or committee guidelines may be found at the indicated sites on the website for the Office of Faculty Affairs:

Ad Hoc and working committees (task forces) are constituted by the Dean either de novo or as subcommittees of the standing committees as needed:

Section 3: Appointment of Committee Members

A. Appointment of Committees
Standing Committee members are either elected, determined by their position/title, or appointed by the Geisel Dean or his/her/their designate (other than ex officio members), subject to the guidelines below. Faculty Council members are elected by constituent faculty of their Department or Section. The Academic Progress Committee, Admissions Committee, Professional Standards and Conduct Board, and the Medical Education Committee Standing Committees require that members are elected representation (including), faculty representatives will be nominated and selected by vote of the Faculty Council according to the Bylaws of the Faculty Council.

The following general principles shall be followed in committee appointments and elections, except as otherwise specified in these Bylaws.

  1. Outside of committees requiring elected faculty representation (which, when indicated, shall be made by the Faculty Council), appointments to any committee shall be made by the Dean with the guidance of the Faculty Council, SAL and/or the DAB, as warranted for the specific charge of the Committee.
  2. Appointments to standing committees are for three years (or as otherwise specified in these protocols and policies; e.g., APT Committee: 4 years), and a term is renewable for one additional term. The terms of members of a committee should be staggered, and if committee structures are changed, the Dean may make one-time use of one or two-year appointments to achieve such staggering.
  3. Where the Dean considers it appropriate, they may appoint representatives of the staff, the student body, postdoctoral fellows, or non-faculty academics to serve on committees, unless otherwise provided herein.

B. Chairs of Standing Committees

Chairs of Standing Committees shall be appointed according to the guidelines/bylaws of each committee.

C. Duties of Standing Committees

1. Charge by the Dean

The Dean of Geisel shall charge each committee with its specific responsibilities, unless a specific charge is provided herein. The committees shall advise the Dean on matters contained within their charge.

2. Reporting of Activities

Committees shall report to the Dean, the Faculty Council, the DAB, to other standing committees, as appropriate, and to the faculty as a whole when these bodies request that they do so, or on request of the committee Chairperson. The purposes of the reports to the Faculty Council and to the faculty are to inform these bodies of recommendations being sent to the Dean of Geisel, and to allow these bodies to reinforce such recommendations, or to provide the Dean with complementary or alternative recommendations.

Section 4: Committee Meetings

The current edition of "Roberts Rules of Order" shall apply at all committee meetings, except as otherwise provided herein or agreed to by the committee members (e.g., members may choose to operate by Chatham House Rules to facilitate discussion under conditions wherein they would not otherwise be prohibited). All business shall be settled by a majority of the voting members present, unless otherwise specified herein. Only members present may vote, unless otherwise agreed to by the Committee as a whole. Voting shall be by secret ballot if requested by any members present. A quorum shall be 50% of the current voting membership of the committee, except as otherwise specified herein. All committee members shall be eligible to vote, except as otherwise provided herein. The committee chair shall develop the agenda. However, when applicable according to the by-laws of the committee, any faculty member, officer of academic administration, student or other member of the Geisel community may request consideration of any relevant item, and shall be permitted to appear before the committee on request.

Section 5: Specifications of Standing Committees

Membership of Standing Committees may be found on the Geisel website. Bylaws for specific committees, where not otherwise noted below, may be found on the Geisel Office of Faculty Affairs website. Bylaws may be found at website URLs as noted in section 2 above.

1. Academic Deans Committee

The Academic Deans committee includes all members of the Geisel School of Medicine with administrative leadership titles (i.e., associate deans, senior deans, dean, director of the Joint Development Office, Director of the Biomedical Libraries, Chief of Staff/Director of the White River Junction VAMC). This group meets regularly during the academic year (at least 6 times per year) to exchange information across the spectrum of education programs (UME, GME, CME, Joint-degree programs) and to discuss and recommend strategic plans intended to promote continuity among various education programs in the school and among our primary health system partners.

2. Admissions Committee

The Admissions Committee for undergraduate medical education, in conjunction with the Geisel admissions office and the Chair of the Admissions Committee, shall operate to select medical students who meet standards for academic achievement and who are expected to become empathetic, highly competent practitioners of the art and science of medicine, consistent with the mission statements of Geisel.

3. Appointments, Promotion and Titles (APT) Committee

Appointments, Promotion and Titles (APT) Committee The APT Committee comprises 13 faculty members that are representative of the disciplines in Foundational and Clinical Departments and of the expected diversity of the Faculty at Geisel. The APT Committee shall review all requests for appointments, promotions or changes in faculty titles for members of the voting faculty at the rank of Associate Professor and Professor. The Dean of Faculty Affairs serves as an ex officio member of the Committee and appoints the Chair of the APT Committee. The policies governing the membership of the APT Committee, as well as its procedures, are found in APT document.

4. Continuous Quality Improvement Medical Education (CQI-ME) Steering Committee

The Membership of the CGQ-ME Steering Committee is set by the Dean and Chaired by the SADME. The CGQ-ME Steering Committee is responsible for performing an ongoing assessment to ensure that the Medical School is compliant with elements set forth by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in the document, Functions and Structure of A Medical School, for ensuring that the medical achool addresses any all issues of non-compliance/compliance with monitoring, and for ensuring the Medical School is prepared with respect to all obligations set forth by the LCME for reaccreditation (e.g., but not limited to the Data Collection Instrument, DCI). The Dean shall constitute the membership of the CGQ-ME Steering Committee to reflect those officers of the medical school (faculty and staff) with responsibilities and oversight for the research, education, administration and facilities, and budgetary operations of the medical school.

5. Dean’s Academic Board (DAB)

The structure and organization of the DAB is defined in Article I. The DAB shall be advisory to the Dean concerning all matters that relate to the internal academic affairs of Geisel. These matters shall include faculty appointments, dismissals, and advancements in rank; student admission policies and procedures; administrative policies concerning the academic missions of the medical school; and major curricular matters affecting Geisel.

Votes of the DAB may be solicited by the Dean for matters that require input across the community (i.e., faculty, staff and/or students). Members of the DAB may also be called upon to serve pursuant to other policies of Geisel/Dartmouth (e.g., but not limited to the “Organization of the Faculty of Dartmouth College” (OFDC), the Professionalism Policy for Geisel)

6. Geisel Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI Committee)

The Geisel DEI Committee is charged with developing recommendations and implementation plans to inform our efforts to increase diversity and foster greater inclusiveness in the Geisel community and among our partnering institutions.  Recommendations would include planning for the allocation and prioritization of financial resources committed for these purposes.

7. Geisel Diversity Council

The Geisel Diversity Council, in conjunction with the Geisel Office of Diversity and Inclusion (DICE) and the Dartmouth College Office of IDE shall engage representatives to provide strategic advice on how to encourage and support diversity and inclusion and to monitor effectiveness of Geisel’s diversity initiatives as set forth in the Geisel Diversity Plan and in culture and climate initiatives of Dartmouth College.

8. Faculty Council

The structure and organization of Faculty Council is defined in Article IF, details are available in the Bylaws of the Faculty Council.

9. Medical Education Committee (MEC)

The MEC shall be responsible for defining and revising the goals, objectives, structure, and content of the undergraduate medical curriculum. The roles, responsibilities and membership of the committee are set forth in the MEC Committee Charge.

10. Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC[1])

All GME Programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), which, in turn, acts on the recommendations of 27 Review Committees (RCs), each of which serves a medical or surgical specialty. Specialty certifying boards establish the educational criteria that residents must achieve to be eligible for board certification.

D-H/Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, as the sponsoring institution for all ACGME-accredited programs, assumes accountability for the quality of the GME training programs it sponsors. While each program assumes responsibility to ensure integrity under the purview of their RC and common/specialty-specific program requirements, institutional oversight is maintained by the organizations Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC). The GMEC principally comprises the Associate Dean for GME (GMEC Chair), a representative sample of program directors, peer-selected residents/fellows, an institutional quality improvement or patient safety officer and GME office staff.

GMEC responsibilities include but are not limited to: establish and implement policies regarding the quality of education and work environment for the residents/fellows; establish and maintain appropriate oversight of training programs; regular review of ACGME RC accreditation letters; conduct Special Program Reviews as needed; conduct an Annual Institutional Review (AIR) and present an AIR Executive Summary to the D-H Board of Trustees; assure an educational environment in which residents may raise and resolve issues without fear of intimation or retaliation; make recommendations to organizational leadership related to program and house staff support, benefits, and conditions of employment; assure that each program provides a curriculum and an evaluation system to ensure that residents demonstrate competence across the ACGME Six Competencies (Patient Care, Medical Knowledge, Practice-Based Learning, Communication, Professionalism, and Systems-Based Practice).

 

 

 

[1]Although authority for the GMEC rests with Geisel’s clinical partner, D-H/Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, the Associate Dean for GME is a member of the Dean’s leadership team, and GME programs have substantive impact on UME programs. As the such, the charge for the GMEC is provided in these bylaws.