Hispanic Research Center
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona 85287-2702
tel. 480-965-3990
fax: 480-965-0315
I. Name, Background, and General Information
The research unit governed by these By-Laws is the Hispanic Research Center (HRC). The HRC is a multi-campus and multi-college organized research unit administratively housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University Main, Tempe, Arizona.
The Hispanic Research Center (HRC), was established by the Arizona Board of Regents on March 1, 1985. The scope of the HRC is both national and international. Its activities, grants, and affiliated individuals include not only ASU Main, West, and East, but other individuals and campuses within and outside of Arizona and the United States. Among its activities on a wide range of topics related to U.S. Hispanics, particularly, Mexican Americans, the HRC:
The director of the Hispanic Research Center reports to the Dean of Arts and Sciences of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Main, Tempe, Arizona.
II. Basis for Evaluating the Performance of the Hispanic Research Center
The Hispanic Research Center is evaluated in accordance with the following goals and objectives which have been established by the Office of the Vice President for Research:
1. Success in submitting external grants and contracts.
2. Success in expanding interdisciplinary art and research that probably would not have materialized outside the Hispanic Research Center.
3. Success in meeting the HRC’s commitment to community outreach in the area of art, research, evaluation, and specialized support.
4. Success in providing educational outreach to Latina/Latino undergraduate and graduate students.
5. Success in producing high technology and traditional publications in the dissemination of research.
III. Limitations of the By-Laws
If any policy or procedure in these By-Laws should be found to conflict with policies or procedures of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, or the Arizona Board of Regents, the policies or procedures of the latter three will take precedence.
IV. Voting Members
The voting members of the Hispanic Research Center shall include all full time, regularly appointed faculty, academic professionals, service professionals, administrators, project staff, or others holding renewable contracts who are affiliated with one of the Working Groups.
V. Amendments or Additions to By-Laws
1, Proposals for amendments or additions to the HRC By-Laws shall be submitted in writing to the Coalition of Working Groups (in care of the Director of the Hispanic Research Center).
2. If passed by a simple majority of the Coalition of Working Groups, the proposal shall be submitted to an HRC vote (normally electronically) for consideration ten days prior to vote.
3. For enactment, the amendment or addition proposed needs a two-thirds vote of all voting members eligible to vote.
VI. Organization of the Hispanic Research Center
The Hispanic Research Center is made up of three separate sub-entities, the Working Groups, the Community Art and Research Outreach (CARO), and the Bilingual Review/Press.
A. Working Groups
The HRC is primarily organized around Working Groups that reflect the interests of its currently affiliated faculty, academic professionals, service professional administrators, research fellows, staff, and others. Similarly, the mechanism of the Working Group serves to open affiliation with the HRC to a wider group of the ASU community and even to interested faculty in other colleges and universities, nationwide and internationally.
The number of Working Groups is open and their establishment is subject primarily to their relevance to the HRC mission and activities (see I. and II. above). Working Groups may or may not be of extended duration. They may form to complete a specific activity or they may have a multiyear life. All Working Groups are closely monitored with respect to their level of activity and relevance to the HRC by the HRC director and by the Coalition of Working Groups. The operational assumptions of the Working Group are:
(1) They need to reflect the genuine interests of the HRC members.
(2) They are relatively open vehicles for participation in the HRC; the primary requirement for an individual’s participation in a working group being both relevant credentials and a definite professional interest in the group’s content area.
(3) Working Groups are flexible in that they can close down (or be dismantled by the HRC Director if they are inactive), change their activities and agenda as they develop, or otherwise evolve according to their needs.
Affiliation into a Working Group is open to all ASU faculty, irrespective of ethnicity. It is the content area of the Working Group that defines this mechanism for participation in the HRC, not specific individuals. In addition, academic professionals, administrators, research fellows staff, students, community members, or others may participate in a Working Group. The HRC acknowledges the fact that its own staff have successfully written over a score of grant proposals since the HRC’s establishment. Finally, the Working Group in principal may be open to non-ASU employees, including members of the community, faculty of other colleges and universities, and other relevant individuals such as foundation officers, government officials, and so on.
Leadership in determining who is a member of the Working Group is bestowed upon the group itself, albeit with the limitation that membership in a Working Group should normally not carry with it an internal financial burden of any kind on the HRC (e.g., members of a Working Group who are not at ASU normally have to participate in a fashion that would not incur travel or other expenses to the HRC except through external grants or contracts).
In order to establish a Working Group, the interested party (parties) must complete and submit the “Request to Establish a Working Group.” An evaluation of the Request will be made by the HRC director in consultation with the Coalition of Working Groups based upon the substance and relevance of the Request.
Working Groups may be broad and wide-ranging, often with the expectation that they will continue in operation over years; or they may be very specific to one issue. In order to avoid jurisdictional problems, there may be more than one Working Group in a specific content area as long as they do not overlap to the point of redundancy.
Subject to its rather limited budget, the HRC provides limited seed money to newly approved Working Groups normally restricted to a maximum of $1000.
Because the Working Group is envisioned as a form of flexible, work-focused participation in the HRC, and not as a mechanism for establishing unneeded, long-lasting structures, a working group can be terminated by the HRC director with 30 days notice (additional time will be given as necessary in order to conclude the Working Groups financial and self-evaluative responsibilities).
Appendix No. 1 contains the form to request a Working Group.
B. Community Art and Research Outreach (CARO)
The scope of CARO's mission is nationwide although its primary focus is the State of Arizona and the Southwest region generally.
CARO's numerous roles include the following:
The Community Art and Research Outreach initiatives are coordinated by an academic professional who reports directly to the director of the Hispanic Research Center.
Appendix No. 2 contains the Guidelines for Participation in the Community Art and Research Outreach (CARO).
C. Bilingual Review/Press.
Founded in 1973 at the City College of New York, the Bilingual Review/Press is at the forefront of presses specializing in Hispanic Literature and scholarly writing. The Hispanic Research Center serves as the fiscal agent of this autonomous publishing enterprise.
The Bilingual Review/Press is directed by an editor-in-chief who reports directly to the director of the Hispanic Research Center and a managing editor who reports directly to the editor-in-chief of the Bilingual Review/Press.
Appendix No. 3 has information about the Bilingual Review/Press.
VII. Officers and Committees
A. Director, Hispanic Research Center.
1. The Director is responsible for the effective administration and execution of university policies and for overall administration of the Center. The Director is responsible for realizing the mission and performance goals of the Center in accordance with the standards that have been established by the Office of the Vice President for Research. The Director represents the Center in its official business with other university offices and personnel, with Working Group coordinators and affiliated Working Group members, with students, community-based organizations, institutions outside of Arizona State University, and with the public at large.
2. The Director has general and overall responsibility for all aspects of the Sunset Review of centers and institutes in accordance with University policy and for preparation of the Center Sunset Review Self-Evaluation and Summary Report in accordance with those policies.
3. The Director serves at the pleasure of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Main, and reports directly to him. There is no set term for the directorship of the Hispanic Research Center.
4. In the Director’s temporary absence, he/she will name an acting director selected from the senior administrative leadership of the Center
B. Associate Director, Hispanic Research Center.
1. The Associate Director position is funded by the Office of the Provost of Arizona State University West and is appointed by the Director in direct consultation with the senior administrative leadership of Arizona State University West.
2. The Associate Director will normally be a faculty member and/or senior administrator of Arizona State University West.
3. The Associate Director will perform such duties assigned by the Director with special attention on enhancing the effective participation of the faculty, administrators, academic professionals, service professionals, students, and community served by Arizona State West.
4. The Associate Director is normally housed full-time at Arizona State University West and normally is not asked by the Director to function as acting director in the temporary absence of the former.
C. Affirmative Action Representative.
The Hispanic Research Center continuously provides for one or more Affirmative Action representatives, trained in accordance with University policy. The Affirmative Action representative(s) sits on committees or does other relevant work in accordance with the Center’s affirmative action needs in accordance with University policy.
D. Coalition of Working Groups.
1. Each Working Group has representation on the Coalition consisting of the coordinator of the Working Group or another person delegated to represent the Group by its internal constituency.
2. The Coalition normally conducts its business electronically over the Internet and advises and consults with the Director on matters relating to the administration, goals, and performance of the Center. As special circumstances warrant, the Coalition may physically meet as a general body, normally at ASU Main, but if desirable, at ASU West or ASU East.
3. The Coalition has major responsibilities for advising the Director on Center matters, for bringing to the attention of the Director, other HRC administrators, and other Working Groups, the activities of the Working Groups separately and collectively, and for disseminating information to individual members of each Working Group.
4. The Coalition has a major role in preparing the Hispanic Research Center’s self-evaluation and summary report for the purpose of Sunset Review.
5. The Coalition advises the Director and individual Working Groups in the formation of numerous ad hoc committees for various purposes either within the Center itself or in its relationship with other offices and institutions.
E. Other Committees.
From time to time, the Center will establish other committees such as search committees, committees to produce websites or high-technology products that run across Working Groups, committees to conceive and run conferences, and ad hoc committees. These committees will be formed by the Director or by the Coalition of Working Groups through and with the approval of the Director, or by ad hoc groups of Hispanic Research Center members through and with the approval of the Director as necessary.
VIII. Meetings
The Hispanic Research Center is a multi-campus unit with members at all campuses of Arizona State University and at other institutions in other states of the United States and other countries. Its membership is located in a number of different time zones and on different continents. It is also organized through Working Groups with interests that span a very wide spectrum of fields in the arts and sciences, engineering, health and helping professions, education, the humanities, business, law and other fields. Accordingly, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the Center, meet the constant deadlines imposed by external grants and contracts, and meet the needs of a geographically widespread membership, wherever possible meeting, votes or the statements of opinion, consultations and other business, and information dissemination is conducted asynchronously over the Internet.
IX. Publications, Producibles, and Information Dissemination
The Hispanic Research Center is committed to as wide dissemination of its publications, producibles, and information as practical. Accordingly it publishes books and occasionally other materials in hard copy, maintains numerous varied websites, and produces CD-ROMs and other high-technology information products to the extent of its financial abilities, often with external funds. Some websites are maintained through one or more Working Groups. Others are the product of the HRC senior administration or the result of specific external grants or contracts.
IX. Evaluation
A. Evaluation of the Center. Evaluation of the Center is undertaken in accordance with the University procedures for Sunset Review. See sections VII, A. 2 and VII, F. 4 for preparation of the Sunset Review.
B. Evaluation of the Director. The Director is evaluated, as a result of the position’s reporting relationship, by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Main, in accordance with the relevant University policies.
C. Evaluation of all full-time officers, administrators, faculty, academic professionals, service professionals, and other employees is conducted by the evaluated person’s immediate supervisor in accordance with the relevant University policies. This is the case for all types of evaluation including annual and for the purpose of merit raises. The HRC chief budget officer is delegated the responsibility of consolidating and submitting the information required by the University for the purposes of merit raises. The HRC chief budget officer, after appropriate consultation with the HRC director, drafts individual allocations of the merit raise pools for the review and approval of the director.
D. Requests by non fulltime affiliated faculty or other academic personnel for evaluations of their HRC effort for the supplemental purpose of retention, promotion, tenure or its equivalent are made by applications to the HRC director. The HRC director will review and approve such requests as merited and conduct such evaluations or in special circumstances convene ad hoc committees for these evaluative purposes.
PO Box 872702 / Tempe, AZ 85287-2707
Dept. #: (480) 965-3990 / Fax: (480) 965-0315
Contact Webmaster: Jo Ann Briseño