Elections

Become an SJSU Senator

• Do you care deeply about shared governance?
• Do you enjoy working with faculty, students, staff & administrators?
• Are you interested in hands-on experience developing university policies?
• Can you represent the voices and interests of your peers?

If yes, then you should run to be an SJSU Academic Senator!

Each spring semester, SJSU’s Academic Senate holds its general elections, giving SJSU community members the opportunity to run for its open seats.

To learn more, carefully review the information on this page, and contact the Senate Office if you have questions or need assistance.

Election Calendar

Click here to see the Academic Senate's Spring 2026 election calendar. 

Faculty Senate Seats

Faculty Senator Eligibility

1. Are you a tenured or tenure track faculty member who has completed at least one year’s service at SJSU, or are you a Lecturer faculty who has completed at least one academic year of service at SJSU?
2. Are you able to attend in-person Senate meetings once a month on Mondays from 2:00-5:00 PM?
3. Are you able to attend policy committee meetings in-person or via Zoom (depending on the committee’s preference) three times a month on Mondays from 2:00-4:00 PM?

If you answered “yes” to all three questions, then you are eligible to run for election to a faculty Senate seat. 

Faculty Senator Vacancies

On SJSU’s Academic Senate, faculty Senators represent the college or unit in which they hold their appointment. The only exception is with SJSU’s seats on the Academic Senate of the CSU system (ASCSU); for ASCSU seats, any SJSU faculty member from any college or unit with at least one year of service at SJSU is eligible to serve.

Below are the current faculty Senate seat vacancies and their respective term endings. Note that all terms will begin with the Senate meeting held on May 4, 2026 from 4:00-5:00 PM.

If you are eligible to run for election as a faculty Senator, and if there are Senate vacancies that you are eligible to fill, then you can nominate yourself to run for one vacant Senate seat. Note that it is not permitted to run for more than one Senate seat of any kind in any single election.

Faculty Senator Nomination Instructions

To nominate yourself for a faculty Senate seat, you must complete and submit an electronic nominating petition following the instructions below.

Only completed electronic petitions that are received before the deadline will be accepted; no paper copies are allowed.

Create your nominating petition.

1. Use your SJSU credentials to sign into one.sjsu.edu; from there, search for and sign into DocuSign.
2. Inside DocuSign, click the “Templates” tab at the top of the screen, then click “Shared with Me” in the left side menu.
3. Type the word, “Senate” into the search bar and press Enter; you will now see the Senate nominating petitions for the current election cycle.
4. Select the nominating petition for the seat that you wish to run for (see the table above for guidance), then click the blue “USE” button. 

Personalize your nominating petition.

1. DocuSign will prompt you to personalize your nominating petition. Fill out all of the required fields with your specific information.
2. Your nominating petition requires ten signatures of faculty peers who endorse your candidacy; however, it is strongly recommended that you get more than ten to ensure that you have a sufficient number of valid signatures. When prompted by DocuSign, enter the names and email addresses of 10-15 faculty peers who meet the criteria as described on the nominating petition.
3. Continue to enter all required information as you scroll through the DocuSign page.
4. At the bottom of the page, DocuSign allows you to modify the Subject line, and it is recommended that you personalize it. (For example, “Please endorse me to run for one of our college Senate seats.”)
5. Similarly, at the bottom of the page, DocuSign allows you to add a message that will appear in the email notification that DocuSign sends to your signees. It is highly recommended that you include a brief statement here about your motivations for running for election to the Senate.
6. When you have finished personalizing your nominating petition, click the yellow “Send” button at the bottom of the page. 

Monitor your nominating petition.

1. Once you have clicked “Send,” DocuSign will route the form to each endorser in the order that you entered them into the template.
2. Be aware that your nominating petition will remain with the immediate recipient until they take action on it; if they take no action, then the form will not advance to the next signee. For this reason, you should periodically log into DocuSign to check the status of your petition, and reach out to the current signee to encourage them to take timely action.
3. When the final endorser has signed the form, DocuSign will automatically route your completed petition to SJSU’s Academic Senate office.
4. In order to be considered, completed electronic nominating petitions must be received by the Senate Office no later than Friday, February 13, 2026 at 11:59 PM.
5. Any petitions that are incomplete, have fewer than 10 validated signatures, are submitted after the deadline, or are submitted in any format other than the one required, will not be considered.

Contact

If you have any questions about running for a faculty Senate seat, or need any assistance with the process, please email the Senate Office at senate@sjsu.edu.

Staff Senate Seats

Staff Senator Eligibility

• On SJSU's Academic Senate, staff Senators are SJSU employees who are neither members of Collective Bargaining Unit 3, nor students, and who do not hold positions as Management Personnel Plan (MPP). 
• SJSU's Academic Senate has seats for two staff Senators who hold positions as Student Service Professionals (SSP staff); and for two staff members of the general staff electorate.
• Staff Senators must be able to attend in-person Senate meetings once a month on Mondays from 2:00-5:00 PM, as well as policy committee meetings in-person or via Zoom (depending on the committee’s preference) three times a month on Mondays from 2:00-4:00 PM.

Staff Senator Vacancies

Below are the current staff Senate seat vacancies and their respective term endings. Note that all terms will begin with the Senate meeting held on May 4, 2026 from 4:00-5:00 PM.

Staff Senator Nomination Instructions & Contact

Elections for Staff seats on SJSU's Academic Senate are managed exclusively by University Personnel.

If you have questions about running for a staff Senate seat, or need assistance with the process, email the Office of Employee Relations at equal-employment@sjsu.edu. 

Student Senate Seats

Student seats on SJSU's Academic Senate are managed primarily by Associated Students. For more information, visit the Associated Students elections webpage at https://www.sjsu.edu/as/elections.php