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University Community Belonging Council

The University Community Belonging Council (UCBC or “The Council”) functions as an advisory body to the Office of the Provost and the Office for Community Belonging, and is a liaison to departments across the university in support of our academic community. This Council is composed of faculty and staff. The UCBC responds to institutional priorities as advised by the Office of the Provost and the Office for Community Belonging with anticipated areas of focus that include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. In alignment with the university strategic plan, UCBC will recommend initiatives and/or practices to strengthen community belonging among our faculty, staff, and students.
  2. The council will serve as a partner for developing, communicating, and assessing initiatives managed by the Office for Community Belonging.
  3. The UCBC will review institutional climate and belonging data on a periodic basis.
  4. The council will strengthen lines of communication between schools, noting successful practices for building healthy communities, and improving the retention of faculty, staff, and students.

 

Creation and Composition of the Council

  1. The Pepperdine UCBC voting members will consist of approximately fifteen faculty, administration, and staff members. The Provost of the university or a designee from that office will serve as a non-voting, ex officio member. The UCBC will be chaired by the Vice President for Community Belonging or a designee from the Office for Community Belonging. The Dean of each school shall appoint 1 representative from the faculty and 1 representative from the staff of their respective school. In addition, the following administrative departments should be represented on the council: Student Affairs, Office of Student Accessibility, Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Public Safety, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Human Resources, Athletics, Hub for Spiritual Life, Student Veteran Affairs, and Pepperdine Libraries.
  2. Council members will serve for a two-year period and may serve two consecutive terms, unless circumstances necessitate otherwise.
  3. The Council will elect one faculty vice chair, one staff vice chair and one recording secretary from the Council’s current membership. Open administrative positions on the committee will be established at the beginning of the academic year through nominations and anonymous voting. The term of service for each position will be two years, unless circumstances necessitate otherwise.
  4. Minutes of each meeting will be collected, approved by the council, and posted within the UCBC webpages.

 

Presiding Officers, Voting, and Scheduling of Meetings

The council will meet three to four times per academic year or may choose to meet more frequently as need arises. The chair will preside and schedule meetings, calling additional meetings as necessary. Sub-committees may be established to study specific matters of university-wide concern, and will report back to the full council as they conclude their work. Individual members of the council will serve in a liaison role to their respective schools/departments. It is an important responsibility of all members of the council to attend meetings for the sake of continuity in discussion and voting. Though the UCBC is an advisory council, there may be rare occasions where voting is helpful in clarifying the majority Council viewpoint. At least 51% of the Council's voting members must be represented for a vote to be considered valid. The results of voting should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, which are then communicated to the Provost and the Vice President for Community Belonging.