President's Governance Retreat
May 11, 2006

Session One  Governing Concepts

• Leader and management

• Dreams become reality

  • Standing committees

    • Two concepts per committee

      • 15 minutes to brainstorm

      • 5 minutes to create "headlines"

      • Place headline over brainstormed notes

      • Place both on the wall under the Governing Concept Banner

      • Present "headlines" to group

• Notes: 

  • Governing concepts are the lenses through which we view/ assess the work of Senate.

  • Your interpretation of the concept

  • What actions would your committee wish to put into place to realize this governing concept?

Session Two ABCs of Shared Governance

• Where have we been and where are we going

• Business of Senate

• System of Relationships

• Notes

  • Short warm up before starting that will put folks in cross groups

  • Strategic management theory suggests that year three is a tipping point for reflection on the work of an organization

  • We know much more about shared governance than we did 6 or so years ago when we created our first statutes and began to move toward a functioning University Senate.

  • We have a much better sense of what works and what doesn't

  • We are clearer about our focus: we recommend policy that impacts the primary purpose of the institution - education.  In doing so we debate motions, we solicit input from constituents, we disseminate information, and we express concerns and propose actions about them as appropriate.

  • This task focuses on relationships.  Those of Senate’s internal and external stakeholders such as Senate as a whole; its standing and ad hoc committees, administrators at all levels and administrative committees, students, staff, and faculty.

  • What can we learn from the last several years that would make us better?
• ABCs
  •  A = affect
    • Constituents need to feel like they are informed.
  • B = behavior
    • Send a brief summary of reports given at Senate meetings.
    • Include Senate Report on School and Department meeting agendas
  • C = cognition
    • Know how Senate business flows
    • Know Senate representatives
  • Notes
    • Attitude research suggests that attitudes are comprise of values, actions, and knowledge. Positive attitudes toward shared governance is important.
    • This segment of the retreat is a focus on shared governance from the perspective of relationships and how we can build informed, positive relationships through the conduct Senate business.
    • Michael Fullan in the Meaning of Educational Change, talks about a theory of change and a theory of changing ………. (short explanation).
    • This exercise focuses on the subjective culture associated with a theory of changing – that of the stakeholders of shared governance.

Session Three Governance Scenarios

• The Student Affairs Committee felt that it should have had an opportunity to review the student academic bill of rights and responsibilities
• The University Services Committee felt that it should have been asked to approve mandatory student fee requests
• The University Services Committee felt that it should have had a private audience with the consultant hired to help the President determine Information Technology needs and the desired qualifications of the next CIO.

Session Four Shaping the Future for Shared Governance