Welcome to the BFA!

As a new or substitute BFA Representative this email will give you general information about the BFA, General Assembly meetings, standing committees & elections, and more.

Assembly Meeting Information

  • When:   4-5:30 the first Thursday of each month during fall and spring semesters when class is in session. Specific dates can be found on the General Assembly webpage. 
  • Where:   Zoom & In-Person:
    • Most BFA meetings continue to be held virtually via Zoom*. The Zoom meeting info will be on all meeting agendas. You must be logged into your CU Zoom account on the VPN in order to join the meeting. 
    • The September and May meetings are held in-person. September is usually held at CU Law and May is usually held in the Chancellor's Auditorium in CASE. See meeting invites and emails for further details. These meetings will offer a Zoom option to view only. The chat and raise hands function will not be available. We ask you to attend these meetings in-person if at all possible. 
  • Outlook:   All representatives and liaisons will recieve an Outlook meeting invite. Please email bfa@colorado.edu if you would us to resend/send. 
  • Agenda:    Final meeting agendas are mailed out 1-2 days prior to the meeting.
  • Handouts:   We use a shared BFA General Assembly Google Folder for documents. You must be logged into your CU Google account NOT your personal Google account in order to access the folder. The folder is open to anyone with a CU Boulder Google account. 

BFA Department/Unit and At-Large Representative Information

  • Terms:  BFA representative seats (for both dept/unit as well as elected At-Large reps) are for 3-year terms beginning July 1 and ending on June 30.
    • BFA Assembly Department/Unit Representative seat: According to the BFA Standing Rules, selection of department/unit BFA representative(s) is carried out by the individual academic units. There are no term limits for department/unit representative seats.
    • BFA Assembly At-Large Representatives are elected in a campus-wide election during spring semester. Although these terms do not begin until July 1 of the year they are elected, At-Large Representatives can attend the April and May Assembly meetings, and are allowed to vote in BFA Officer elections at the May meeting.
  • Leave:   If you have a sabbatical or family leave planned for a semester, just let us know. Most often your unit will appoint someone to serve as your substitute during that time, which does not change your official term. Please let us know who the substitute will be for the semester. This will be the only person who can vote for your unit. At-Large Reps cannot appoint a substitute.
  • If you will miss a meeting and would like to send a substitute for that meeting, just let the BFA office know, however see notes below on voting.
  • Stepping Down: If something arises and you will need to step down from your BFA representative seat early, please email the BFA office as soon as you know: bfa@colorado.edu

Attendance & Voting

  • Representatives are expected to attend as many meetings as possible. If you cannot attend a meeting, please let us know. If you’d like to send a substitute from your dept./unit, we will need to know in advance. If you will be joining the Zoom from your cell phone, please let the BFA office know in advance. Attendees with unknown names/numbers may be removed from the Zoom meeting. 
  • Per the BFA Standing Rules, representatives must be in attendance in order to vote on BFA business. If you can attend most of the meeting, but need to leave early, contact the BFA office for voting options. 
  • If you are not able to attend a meeting in which votes on measures will occur, you cannot vote. Per the BFA Standing Rules, no proxy votes are allowed for individual meetings, even if you have sent a substitute to vote on behalf of your department. This does not apply to substitutes who are representatives for the semester, who are welcome to vote, as long as they are in attendance. 

Communication

  • The Assembly roster is on the BFA website and is updated during September. If you see that you are not listed or listed incorrectly, please let us know. 
  • We send out a meeting summary with links and handouts the week following a meeting. Feel free to share this with your constituents. 
  • Meeting minutes are sent out to representatives for approval before the end of the month (usually between the 20th-25th )
  • Both meeting summaries and meeting minutes are uploaded to the BFA website as soon as they are available.
  • Representatives are expected to communicate BFA news/information/queries with their faculty constituents. Please feel free to forward meeting summaries or other items to your faculty. Likewise, if a colleague has a question for the BFA or a query about any campus issue, we encourage you write or forward that request to: bfa@colorado.edu. Always feel free to reach out directly to Shelly Miller, BFA Chair (shelly.miller@colorado.edu)

 

BFA Standing Committees

  • BFA Representatives are also asked to join one of the BFA standing committees.  Most of these committees meet 4 times a semester (during fall and spring semesters when class is in session). 
  • The BFA committee website has information regarding the committee charges, annual reports on committee business, and a roster for each committee.
  • Elections for committee seat vacancies are held in two phases during September and are voted on by eligible Assembly members via Qualtrics:
    • Phase one: internal elections for seat vacancies (open to BFA representatives only).
    • Phase two: external elections for the remaining seat vacancies (open to all eligible campus faculty). 
    • You may want to review committee pages at the link above to see if there is a committee that interests you so that you are prepared to run for that seat. Most committees do not determine their meeting schedules until fall after members have been elected. 
    • See the BFA Elections page for full information and news regarding BFA elections. 
  • The Chairs of these committees, along with BFA Officers, UCB Retired Faculty Association Chair, college/school faculty council chairs/representatives, and administration/student liaisons, make up the Executive Committee. 

If you have any questions on your role as a BFA Department/Unit/At-Large Representative, please feel free to contact us. We are happy to help. Your service to campus faculty is critical and appreciated.