CAA Operating Guidelines

MEMBERSHIP

The Council on Academic Affairs (CAA) consists of the Provosts, Chief Academic Officers, Senior/Executive Vice Presidents/Chancellors for Academic Affairs of APLU member institutions. This also includes those appointed on an interim basis in these positions.

PURPOSE

The CAA provides opportunities for discussion of issues of concern to provosts, highlighting and curating promising and effective strategies and practices. The CAA seeks to maintain confidentiality to encourage meaningful exchanges of ideas. Topics include trends in all areas of higher education and the public mission; funding patterns and budget strategies; teaching and learning innovations; faculty roles, rewards, and performance management; academic programs, planning, and advising; research and publication; and service and engagement with other sectors. The CAA is assisted in achieving its goals by the Committee on Faculty Affairs which reports periodically to the CAA on issues pertaining to the faculty affairs portfolio such as, the role of term faculty, tenure, dual-career positions, post-tenure review, faculty workload and accountability, and sensitive matters related to performance management and conduct. The CAA advises the Council of Presidents and the APLU Board of Directors regarding association priorities and agendas in these areas.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The Executive Committee (EC) is responsible for conducting the business of the council in close collaboration with APLU’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs (SVP for AA). This includes organizing all CAA meetings, CAA sessions at the APLU annual meeting, overseeing the activities of the Committee on Faculty Affairs, conducting elections, and organizing ad hoc working groups to focus on specific topics of current interest.

The EC consists of at least 15 members, divided into three groups (classes) of at least five members each. Members normally serve for a period of three years, with the possibility of renewal. The period of service (term) usually starts at the end of the APLU annual meeting. However, a member elected or appointed to complete the term of a departing member may serve less than three years. The EC may appoint a member (without an election) to fill a vacancy arising between APLU annual meetings and start their term at any time during the year. The EC members include a Chair, Chair-Elect and Past-Chair who serve for one year in these positions, starting at the end of the APLU Annual Meeting that year.

Each year, an election is conducted to fill the vacancies in the EC and to determine the Chair-Elect. The Chair-Elect automatically becomes the Chair at the end of the next APLU annual meeting.

OFFICERS

The Officers of the council are the Chair and Chair-Elect. They provide leadership and advise the Office of Academic Affairs on the operations, initiatives, goals, and programming for the council.  As such they meet regularly with the SVP for AA to review meeting agendas prior to the meetings.

The Chair is responsible for leading the meetings of the Executive Committee, the Virtual Conversations, the Summer Business Meeting, and Annual Business Meeting (at the APLU annual meeting). The Chair-Elect will substitute for the Chair as necessary.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

The Nominating Committee (NC) consists of the Chair, Chair-Elect, Past Chair, and APLU’s SVP for AA. The NC makes recommendations to the EC on the composition and membership of the Executive Committee, the Chair-Elect, and all other positions on the EC.

REPRESENTATIVES AND LIAISONS

The Past-Chair serves for one year as the CAA Representative to the APLU Board of Directors.

The EC shall appoint members of the EC to fill the following positions, usually for a period of two years. However, if a member is unable to complete their two-year term, the EC should appoint another member to complete the term. The terms of service start and end at the end of the APLU annual meetings. 

• The CAA Representative to the Research-Intensive Committee (RIC)
• The CAA Liaison to the Committee on Faculty Affairs (CFA)
• The CAA Liaison to the Commission on International Initiatives (CII)
• The CAA Liaison to the Council on Research (CoR)
• The CAA Liaison to the Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE)
• The CAA Liaison to the General Counsels Committee (GCC)

MEETINGS

The EC meets in-person during the CAA Summer Meeting (usually mid-July) and at the APLU Annual Meeting (usually November) and meets virtually on a regular schedule throughout the year.

The CAA holds an in-person Summer Meeting, usually in mid-July, and Virtual Conversations on topics of current interest throughout the year. These meetings are open only to members of the council unless otherwise specified, depending on the topic of interest. The Summer Meeting includes an opportunity for the attendees to discuss the topics of interest for the sessions at the annual meeting. To include perspectives from a variety of subject matter experts, sessions at the summer meetings may include speakers who are not members of the CAA. In that case, the non-CAA speakers are limited to only attend the session in which they are speakers.

The council organizes sessions at the APLU Annual Meeting which are generally open to all attendees, except in specific circumstances in which a session may be limited to a specific group.

The council organizes an Annual Business Meeting at the APLU Annual Meeting which is open to all members of the council.

ELECTIONS

Each year, the Executive Committee determines a slate of candidates for the next year’s EC to maintain the required composition, and the Chair-Elect. If necessary, a call for nominations will be sent to the general CAA membership to create a pool of candidates, which form the basis for the final slate. CAA members will vote electronically on the slate in October.

The Chair-Elect automatically becomes the Chair for the next year at the end of the APLU Annual Meeting.

The terms of the newly elected EC members begin at the end of the APLU Annual Meeting.

The EC may appoint a new EC member (without an election) to complete the term of a member who departs the EC between APLU annual meetings. The term for such a member may start at any time during the year and be less than three years. 

COMMITTEE ON FACULTY AFFAIRS

The Committee on Faculty Affairs (CFA) provides input and advice to the CAA on relevant faculty affairs issues such as: analysis and recommendations for the professoriate of the future including the role of term faculty; tenure; diversity, equity, and inclusion; dual-career positions; post-tenure review; faculty workload and accountability; and sensitive matters related to performance management and conduct. The CAA liaison to the CFA provides regular reports to the CAA Executive Committee on their ongoing and planned activities.

WORKING GROUPS

The council may form working groups or task forces on specific topics of current interest to increase the council’s knowledge base and organize events on these topics to benefit the entire council. These shall be approved by the EC upon the presentation of a proposal from interested parties of the council. Each working group will have a designated facilitator appointed by the EC and their meetings will be open to all Council members.

AMENDMENTS/REVISIONS

Amendments and revisions of these Operational Guidelines must be approved by a majority vote of the Executive Committee.

• Amended and passed by the Council on Academic Affairs on 8/28/2024
• Amended 2/17/17
• Amended 11/12/12
• Amended 11/9/08
• Amended 7/24/01
• Amended 11/14/00
• Amended 7/27/96
• Amended 7/30/95
• Amended 2/20/93
• Amended 8/3/91

For a pdf version of the guidelines click here.