Bylaws of the Beyond120 Program

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Approved September 2026

Contents

• Mission and Vision
• Mission
• Vision
• Operations
• Voting Members
• Authority
• Director
• Meetings
• Voting
• Committees
• Faculty Promotion
• Standards
• Process
• Evaluation
• Progress to Promotion
• Merit Evaluation & Merit Pay
• Staff
• Faculty
• Amendments

These Bylaws are intended to be consistent with Florida law, the rules and regulations of the Florida Board of Governors and the University of Florida Board of Trustees, the Collective Bargaining Agreement of the United Faculty of Florida, the University Constitution, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Constitution. Those documents take precedence over these Bylaws in any matters that conflict.

Mission and Vision

Mission

To educate and empower every undergraduate student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with knowledge, skills, and experiences to explore and succeed in meaningful careers and lives.

Vision

Every CLAS student has access to experiences that empower them to maximize their liberal arts education.

Operations

Voting Members

Except where specified differently in these bylaws, the voting members of Beyond120 consist of all permanent faculty budgeted at least 0.51 FTE in Beyond120. These include the Director plus those holding the rank of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, or Master Lecturer.

Non-voting members include Adjunct Faculty, Affiliate Faculty, Staff, Graduate Assistants, Student Assistants, and CLAS Ambassadors.

Authority

Beyond120 is an academic unit within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Within Beyond120, the ultimate authority resides in its voting members, except in those

instances when the College or University has vested authority in the Director. Operations of Beyond120 are conducted by the Director. The Beyond120 Office Manual spells out the guidelines that govern the day-to-day operations of the unit.

Director

The Director is the chief administrative and financial officer of Beyond120. As such, the Director carries out duties such as, but not limited to, the following:

a. Appoints the Assistant and Associate Directors and selects the members of standing non-elected project committees.

b. Supervises all receipts of money and expenditures and prepares the annual academic program review and budget documents for the Dean.

c. Coordinates the recruiting of new faculty and staff members in conjunction with the appointed search committees.

d. Calls, prepares the agenda for, and presides over Beyond120 meetings as specified in these Bylaws.

e. Supervises all routine activities.

f. Represents Beyond120 to university officers and bodies and acts as the general spokesperson for Beyond120.

g. Ensures that all provisions of these Bylaws are carried out.

The Director is appointed by the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who also sets the Director’s term of service.

The Director’s performance may be evaluated internally at any time or at the request of one-third of the voting members of Beyond120. Should an evaluation be requested, a voting member shall devise a questionnaire and arrange for it to be administered to all members of Beyond120. The results of the questionnaire will be conveyed to the Director and the Dean and will be available to any member of Beyond120 upon request.

Meetings

All members of Beyond120 including staff will typically meet every week throughout the calendar year, with at least two such meetings each term (fall, spring, and summer C). Agenda, reports, and other relevant materials will be provided in advance. The agenda is determined by the Director in consultation with other members. The agenda should include old and new business, items proposed by members, and material presented from outside Beyond120. Additional meetings are called by the Director on their own initiative or upon request by at least one-third of the voting members.

The Director presides at Beyond120 meetings; in the Director’s absence, an Associate Director or another member designated by the Director shall preside. A designee from Beyond120 will take notes at each meeting, which will subsequently be made available to all members for review.

Voting

Items that do not by policy require a confidential vote may be presented and voted on at Beyond120 meetings that have been announced to all voting members at least 3 UF business days in advance. Voting members must be in attendance at the meeting to vote. Confidential votes will take place through an approved UF platform such as Qualtrics. Fifty percent plus one of the voting members of Beyond120 shall constitute a quorum.

Committees

Ad Hoc Committees

The Director may establish committees of specified duration as needed to address specific matters of importance to Beyond120. Beyond120 shall be notified as soon as possible of the purpose and makeup of all such committees. On most committees the Director will endeavor to ensure an appropriate mix of faculty and staff, as well as representation of the relevant teams or groups.

Search Committees

Search committees for vacant faculty lines will be comprised of at least three faculty members from Beyond120 and up to one external faculty member. Beyond120 staff may be invited to participate in the search process as external consultants but may not vote.

The appointed search committee will publicize the vacancy, receive applications, screen candidates, carry out initial interviews, and recommend the applicants who will be invited to on-campus interviews. After the interview process has been completed, voting members of Beyond120 shall vote by secret ballot to register their recommendations. The faculty search committee shall recommend to the Director candidates who had on-campus interviews it deems acceptable for appointment. Prior to making a recommendation to appoint a candidate for a faculty position, the Director shall meet with the other voting members of Beyond120 to discuss the recommendations of the faculty search committee. The Director shall recommend to the dean those candidates the Director deems acceptable. The Director shall also submit to the dean the faculty search committee’s recommended candidates, if any, and the results of the faculty vote on the interviewed candidates.

Vacancies

If a vacancy occurs in any non-elected committee, the Director will appoint a replacement.

If a vacancy occurs on an elected committee, another election will be held as soon as possible. If no eligible candidate is found, the Director is authorized to appoint a replacement.

Faculty Promotion

Faculty members in the Beyond120 program occupy non-tenure-accruing positions. The primary responsibilities of the faculty in Beyond120 is teaching and other instructional activity, and service; consequently, evaluation for promotion will be based solely on these assignments unless other additional assigned duties have been negotiated with the Director and are reported on the Lecturer’s annual activity report.

There are two levels of promotion available to faculty in the Lecturer series:

1) Promotion from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer, for which there must be evidence of sustained meritorious achievements in teaching and other instructional activities, and service.

2) Promotion from Senior Lecturer to Master Lecturer, for which there must be evidence of sustained superior achievements in teaching and other instructional activities, and service beyond what was on the record at the time of last promotion.

Standards

Promotion for Lecturers and Senior Lecturers is based on a record of sustained achievement completed in the Beyond120 program or in combination with professional teaching, program development, or related experience from another program or institution. The primary areas of achievement to be evaluated are teaching and program development and service to the College, the university, and the profession (including professional development activities).

Beyond120 evaluates teaching and other instructional activities, such as program development, through indicators such as, but not limited to:

• Positive student teaching evaluations
• Efforts to develop and improve teaching skills
• Significant efforts in course development, improvement, and enhancement (e.g., new assignments, new content, out-of-class experiences, etc.)
• Strong peer teaching reviews
• Substantial time devoted to student advising and consultations
• Contributions to program development, including the creation, maintenance, or enhancement of experiential opportunities for students
• Efforts to develop and maintain relationships with alumni, donors, and employers
• The evaluation of service includes, but is not limited to, the following:
• Engaging in outreach efforts for Beyond120 or related programming
• Facilitating and/or attending events to promote Beyond120 programming
• Serving on campus committees at the college or university level
• Serving on standing or ad-hoc committees at the program, college, or university level
• Serving as advisor to student groups
• Collaborating on programming with other campus offices or with other
• institutions, including sharing knowledge and expertise
• Professional development efforts, including attending conferences, presenting or assuming a leadership position in a related professional association.

Process

During the Spring term of any faculty member’s third year in a non-terminal rank, a Progress to Promotion process may be initiated to evaluate progress towards meeting the promotion standards.

The University of Florida is a “promotion when ready” institution, meaning that there is no predetermined timeline for promotion, nor is there a requirement for a minimum number of years of service before promotion.

The faculty member is encouraged to meet with the Director to evaluate the faculty member’s progress toward meeting the promotion standards and readiness to apply for promotion in the next promotion cycle.

These same guidelines hold for promotion from both Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Senior Lecturer to Master Lecturer after comparable years in rank.

Candidates for promotion will follow college and university guidelines and deadlines.

Evaluation

The faculty member should complete a draft of their promotion packet following the timeline provided by the Dean’s office. The edited packet should be available by late August to any eligible unit faculty for review. These individuals will be given at least one week to review the promotion materials.

After the review period, eligible faculty will meet with the Director to discuss the application. A secret ballot shall be taken no earlier than one day following the meeting.

Progress to Promotion

Process

All faculty in their third year or beyond in a non-terminal rank (i.e., Lecturer or Senior Lecturer) are eligible to be reviewed under the Progress to Promotion process. Typically, these reviews will occur in the third year in rank only, although any faculty member may opt to be reviewed in subsequent years.

During the Fall term, the Director will identify which faculty members are eligible for the Progress to Promotion Review and distribute to those individuals a survey to ascertain which members want to be reviewed, and which prefer to opt out. This decision must be made by January 10th. Faculty members who decline to be reviewed will again be eligible the following year, unless they have been promoted to the next rank in the title sequence.

Declining a Progress to Promotion review does not prevent or in any way prejudice a subsequent application for promotion.

The faculty member who agrees to be reviewed under this Progress to Promotion process will be instructed to prepare an appraisal dossier containing the same kind of information as would be included in a promotion dossier, minus the external letters of evaluation.

The Director and the Office Manager will work with the faculty member to ensure that the following materials are available for inclusion in the dossier: semesterly activity assignments; departmental promotion criteria; annual evaluations. The dossier will be submitted to the Director by March 1st.

Evaluation

Faculty members who would be eligible to vote on the reviewed faculty member’s promotion shall review the appraisal dossier and meet with the Director by April 1st, to assess whether the faculty member under review is making satisfactory progress toward promotion, according to the kinds of expectations and indications of success that are consistent with Beyond120 promotion guidelines. By April 15th, the Director will prepare a written summary of the Progress to Promotion evaluation. These results will include any recommendations about how the faculty member might improve their performance, and which assistance might be available to help improve performance. This review letter and the candidate’s dossier will be submitted to the Dean’s office for review, no later than June 10th.

Upon approval from the Dean, the Director will then share the letter with the faculty member, and will arrange a meeting to discuss it. This meeting will take place no later than July 10th. The appraisal will not be placed in the faculty member’s permanent file and shall not be included in any subsequent promotion dossier.

Merit Evaluation & Merit Pay

This section sets forth procedures and guidelines by which merit will be evaluated and recommendations for merit salary increases will be made in Beyond120.

Staff

Merit Evaluation

Merit evaluation will be based on UF Engage documents, supervisor feedback on performance, and a holistic assessment of the staff member’s performance of their assigned duties.

Merit Pay

When merit pay is available to staff members, the Director will evaluate performance over the period covered by the merit process and will recommend merit increases. Individuals may request a conference with the Director at any point in this procedure.

Faculty

Merit Committee

Beyond120 shall maintain a Merit Committee responsible for advising the Director regarding merit evaluations and merit pay recommendations for eligible faculty. The Merit Committee will consist of three voting members of Beyond120 elected by secret ballot from among voting members of Beyond120. Committee members shall be elected during the spring semester prior to the next evaluation cycle.

• All eligible faculty members shall appear on the ballot.
• Each voting member of Beyond120 shall be able to vote for three (3) candidates.
• The three faculty members receiving the highest number of votes shall serve on the committee. In the event of a tie, the faculty member who served less recently shall be appointed. If a tie remains, the faculty member with greatest seniority in the unit shall serve.
• Members shall serve one-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms.
• Vacancies shall be filled through a secret ballot from among voting members of Beyond120, with the elected faculty member serving the remainder of the unexpired term.
• Committee members shall recuse themselves from deliberations involving any conflict of interest.

The Director shall not serve on the Merit Committee or participate in committee deliberations regarding faculty merit evaluations or recommendations.

Faculty Merit Evaluation

The merit evaluation process recognizes and assesses faculty members whose performance advances the mission of Beyond120 and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. All faculty with paid appointments in Beyond120 apart from the Director will be evaluated based upon their contributions in:

• Teaching and other instructional activities
• Service.

Merit Evaluation Process and Criteria

The Merit Committee will meet every year after the Spring term to review the performance from that year of all faculty with paid appointments in Beyond120 apart from the Director. They will consider that year’s Annual Activity Reports (AARs), student teaching evaluations (when available), and any additional documentation requested (e.g., a short summary of the year’s accomplishments).

Merit evaluations shall:

• Be based upon written criteria adopted by the Beyond120 faculty.
• Evaluate contributions in:
  • Teaching and other instructional activities
  • Service
• Apply the approved evaluation criteria consistently across all eligible faculty members.
• Provide merit ratings and recommendations regarding merit salary increase eligibility to the Director.

The committee then makes recommendations to the Director for merit evaluation. These recommendations take the form of an overall assessment of 1 (=unsatisfactory performance), 2 (=needs improvement), 3 (=meets expectations), 4 (= exceeds expectations), or 5 (=Exceptional) according to the faculty member’s effort assignment and the following guidelines.

Teaching and Other Instructional Activities

Beyond120 evaluates teaching and other instructional activities through markers such as, but not limited to the following indicators and rating scale descriptions:

Efforts to develop and improve teaching skills

•  Efforts in course development, improvement, and enhancement (e.g., new assignments, new content, out-of-class experiences, etc.) 
• Student teaching evaluations
• Peer teaching reviews
• Time devoted to student advising and consultations 
• Contributions to program development, including the creation, maintenance, or enhancement of experiential opportunities for students 
• Efforts to develop and maintain relationships with alumni, donors, and employers 

Rating Scale

Rating	Description
5 – Exceptional	Consistently exceeds expectations in most/multiple areas. Receives highly positive student feedback. Demonstrates leadership in instructional innovation through significant course, curriculum, or program development. Creates, expands, or enhances experiential learning opportunities with measurable impact. Maintains strong relationships with alumni, employers, and external partners that benefit students and the program. Provides extensive student advising and mentoring beyond normal expectations. Individual exhibits no serious deficiency in any significant area of responsibility.
4 – Exceeds Expectations	Exhibits strong and consistent performance in many areas. Receives positive student evaluations and actively improves teaching practices. Makes meaningful contributions to course enhancement, program development, or experiential opportunities. Maintains productive relationships with alumni, employers, or community partners. Provides substantial student advising and support.
3 – Meets Expectations	Effectively fulfills assigned teaching, advising, and program responsibilities. Receives satisfactory student evaluations. Participates in course updates and program activities as needed. Maintains expected levels of student consultation and support. Contributes appropriately to experiential learning and relationship-building efforts.
2 – Needs Improvement	Meets some expectations but performance is inconsistent. Student evaluations, advising efforts, instructional quality, or program contributions demonstrate areas requiring improvement. Engagement in course enhancement, experiential learning development, or external relationship-building activities is limited.
1 – Unsatisfactory	Does not meet expectations in key areas. Demonstrates insufficient effectiveness in teaching, advising, instructional development, or program contributions. Limited evidence of student support, course improvement efforts, or engagement with experiential learning opportunities and external stakeholders.

Service

Beyond120 evaluates service through markers such as, but not limited to, the following indicators and rating scale descriptions:

• Engaging in outreach efforts for Beyond120 or related programming
• Facilitating and/or attending events to promote Beyond120 programming
• Serving on campus committees at the college or university level
• Serving on standing or ad-hoc committees at the program, college, or university level
• Serving as advisor to student groups
• Collaborating on programming with other campus offices or with other institutions, including sharing knowledge and expertise
• Professional development efforts, including attending conferences, presenting or assuming a leadership position in a related professional association. Beyond120 will also consider professional development activity in the other relevant areas.

Rating Scale

Rating	Description
5 – Exceptional	Consistently exceeds expectations in most/multiple areas. Demonstrates outstanding service and leadership. Regularly contributes to major outreach initiatives, events, committees, collaborations, and professional organizations. Frequently assumes leadership roles and makes significant contributions that advance Beyond120, the college, university, or profession. Actively presents, publishes, leads workshops, or holds leadership positions in professional associations. Individual exhibits no serious deficiency in any significant area of responsibility.
4 – Exceeds Expectations	Exhibits strong and consistent performance in many areas. Actively participates in outreach, events, committees, collaborations, and professional development activities. Makes meaningful contributions to institutional initiatives and professional organizations.
3 – Meets Expectations	Consistently fulfills expected service responsibilities. Participates in outreach efforts, events, committees, collaborations, and professional development activities appropriate to role and workload. Demonstrates reliable engagement in program and institutional service.
2 – Needs Improvement	Participates in some service activities but engagement is limited, inconsistent, or below expectations. Demonstrates minimal involvement in outreach, committees, collaborations, or professional development opportunities.
1 – Unsatisfactory	Demonstrates little or no meaningful participation in service activities. Fails to meet expected service responsibilities or engage in professional development efforts.

Faculty Merit Pay

Merit pay may be awarded based on the results of the faculty merit evaluation process and in accordance with applicable university and college guidelines. To be eligible for merit pay, the faculty must at minimum meet expectations in the evaluations being used for the current merit pay round.

When general merit funds are allocated or anticipated, the Merit Committee will meet to consider faculty merit evaluations, AARs, as well as any additional documentation submitted by individual faculty members and make recommendations to the Director regarding merit pay for eligible faculty members.

The Director will review the recommendations of the Merit Committee. The Director then recommends merit increases to the Dean.

The Committee’s deliberations and recommendations will be confidential. Committee members will maintain the confidentiality of faculty personnel information and will recuse themselves from discussions or recommendations involving themselves or any matter in which they have a conflict of interest.

Individuals may request a conference with the Director at any point in this procedure.

Amendments

Any three voting members of Beyond120 may propose an amendment to these Bylaws to the Director in writing. The said amendment shall be circulated at least two weeks prior to a publicly noticed meeting to which all voting members of Beyond120 are invited to discuss and vote on the amendment. Any three voting members may also introduce an amendment at a Beyond120 meeting, with the vote to be taken at a separate, publicly noticed meeting held no sooner than two weeks and no later than three weeks after the meeting at which the amendment is introduced. Any amendments must be voted on by show of hands at a publicly noticed meeting and must be approved by a majority all voting members of Beyond120. Any amendment that is passed in Beyond120 will then be presented to the Dean for approval. Should the Dean propose modifications, the faculty will vote on those revisions.