Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

equipo decanal

English translation:

faculty executive team

Added to glossary by peter jackson
May 21, 2014 17:39
10 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Spanish term

equipo decanal

Spanish to English Social Sciences Education / Pedagogy
1. Se faculta al Equipo Decanal de la Facultad a interpretar el presente Reglamento y tomar decisiones sobre su contenido en caso necesario o excepcional.

Not sure how to say this. The Dean's team sound more than a little odd.

Proposed translations

+4
32 mins
Selected

faculty executive team

Isn't it funny how you can use a Spanish term many times and never stop to think how you would say it in English? "Equipo decanal" is such a case for me.

In the Spanish faculty where I worked, the equipo decanal consisted of the Dean, the Vice-Deans (I think there were two) and the Faculty (Academic) Secretary. However, I wouldn't guarantee that all equipos decanales are made up exactly like this.

What is certain, however, is that the equipo decanal consists of the academics who are elected together as a team of candidates, and does not include the administrative and secretarial staff who assist them.

I agree that "Dean's team" just doesn't sound right. It's quite true, as Laura says, that in the US and the UK faculties are usually run by the Dean's Office. The trouble is that the Dean's Office consists not only of the Dean, Vice-Deans and Faculty Secretary but also the support staff. You can't call the equipo decanal the Dean's Office or the Dean's Office staff, because those that are empowered to interpret the regulations in your doc. are just the academics in the Dean's Office, those elected to office by the faculty, not the support staff in the Dean's Office.

One solution would be to spell it out: "the Dean, the Vice-Deans and the Faculty Secretary", but we can't be sure exactly who is involved. So I'd go for the term "Faculty Executive Team" which is used in a number of British universities and refers precisely to the Dean and his/her executive team of academics (Vice-Deans or Assistant Deans etc.).

Here's an example from UCL; there are a number of others:

"The Vice-Deans are responsible to the Dean and together with the other Vice-Deans, Directors of Divisions and Institutes, Faculty Tutor and the Faculty Manager comprise the Faculty Executive Team."
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/vacancies/ViceDeanforEducationJD

For comparison, here's a page on an equipo decanal at UAM:
http://www.uam.es/ss/Satellite/FilosofiayLetras/es/123488998...

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Note added at 1 hr (2014-05-21 18:43:34 GMT)
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To put it in Spanish university terms, the equipo decanal consists exclusively of PDI (personal docente e investigador), whereas the Dean's Office Staff comprises a combination of PDI and PAS (personal de administración y servicios). PDI and PAS is the great divide of Spanish university life, affecting everything from your salary regime to where you go for your coffee break. It would definitely be out of the question for PAS to interpret and take decisions on the regulations.
Note from asker:
Excellent explanation, as always. Thanks, Charles. I feel there may be some simialr questions coming up tomorrow.
Peer comment(s):

agree liz askew
30 mins
Thanks, Liz :)
agree Laura Messer : I stand corrected.
38 mins
Thank you very much, Laura!
agree Helena Chavarria : Actually ever since I realised I was thinking in Spanish whenever I was on my own, I play a sort of game which entails asking myself how we say whatever occurs to me at the time in English!
4 hrs
A very good idea! I ought to do more of that myself, because when the question "how do you say that in English?" arises I sometimes have to stop and think! Thanks, Helena :)
agree Dr. Andrew Frankland : Lovely explanation.
16 hrs
Thanks, Andrew!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, Charles."
18 mins

Dean's Office Staff

Dean's Office or Office of the Dean is the usual term for where a dean works, staff would be a more natural-sounding term for a dean's employees.
Example sentence:

You will need to contact the Dean's Office staff to resolve this dispute.

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