Resources

Checklists

Checklist for Committee Ex-Officios

In August

Ask for updated membership roster
Reach out to committee members to schedule a time to meet
Chair first meeting and elect a Chairperson (responsible for leading the meetings, organizing the meetings and their locations, setting the agenda) and Secretary (responsible for taking minutes and turning them into the Governance Secretary)
Establish tentative meeting schedule

In April

Make sure that the Annual Report is turned in to the Executive Coordinator and Secretary for University Governance; you will receive guidance by email and more information is always available on the website
Ask for the appropriate council to make any needed changes to the membership or responsibilities of the committee

Checklist for Committee Members

Review the responsibilities of the committee and its members in the Faculty and Professional Personnel Handbook
Attend all meetings
Report back to any constituents on the progress of the committee
Be proactive about finding business the committee can address
Don’t forget to document your services in Digital Measures/Faculty Success
Run for committee leadership if you’re able to

Checklist for Committee Chairs

Review the responsibilities of the committee and its members in the Faculty and Professional Personnel Handbook
Schedule and attend all committee meetings
Prepare and send out the agenda for each meeting (in consultation with the Secretary and any administrative personnel assigned to the committee)
Report action items that need to move through the governance system to the Governance Secretary in a timely manner
Familiarize yourself with Roberts Rule’s of Order and other trainings listed under "Helpful Links" above to assist running efficient meetings.
Report committee progress to any overseeing governance councils, as well as attending to introduce and answer questions about action items when necessary
Work with Secretary of the committee to complete and turn in the End of Year Report

Checklist for Committee Secretaries

Attend all committee meetings and take minutes
Turn minutes into the Executive Coordinator and Secretary for University Governance on a regular basis
Keep attendance for all members of the committee; include with minutes
Work in conjunction with the Chair of the committee to complete and turn in the end of the year report
If not able to attend a meeting, inform the chair and make arrangements for minutes to be taken by another member of the committee; reach out to Governance Secretary if unable to find a replacement

Checklist for Professional Personnel Council Members

Attend Professional Personnel Council meetings (including the last meeting of the year in April when new representatives are on duty)
Report information from the meetings back to your area
Meet with members of your area and bring their concerns to PPC
Introduce items of business by emailing them to the Governance Secretary or using the website’s self-service option
Represent PPC as directed to committees and report back on action item progress

Checklist for Faculty Council Members

Attend Faculty Council meetings (including the last meeting of the year in April when new representatives are on duty)
Report information from the meetings back to your department
Meet with members of your area and bring their concerns to Faculty Council (including asking questions of the Provost during each meeting)
Introduce items of business by emailing them to the Governance Secretary or using the website’s self-service option
Represent Faculty Council as directed to committees and report back on action item progress

Checklist for University Senate Members

Attend University Senate meetings (including the last meeting of the year in April when new senators are on duty)
Report information from the meetings back to your area
Meet with members of your area and bring their concerns to University Senate (including asking questions of the President during each meeting)
Introduce items of business by emailing them to the Governance Secretary or using the website’s self-service option
Represent University Senate as directed to committees and report back on action item progress

Helpful Links

What Exactly is Shared Governance?

This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education serves as a really good introduction to the shared governance concept, and is perfect for those just getting started with the governance system.

How To Make Shared Governance Work

This article talks about some of the best practices that institutions can implement to improve their governance systems. It highlights the need for effective communication and the necessity of including stakeholders of all kinds.

How to Run a Good Meeting

Continuously improving the quality of meetings and making sure that all meetings are useful, concise and inclusive is a major focus of the training we do for governance leaders. This article is highly recommended for committee chairs, council chairs and ex-officios

Meeting Today's Governance Challenges: A Synthesis of the Literature and Examination of a Future Agenda for Scholarship

This is a great summary of the scholarship on governance at institutions of higher education. It contains a chronological timeline of the development of the literature on the issue, which contains a lot of insight for anyone participating in governance at any level. It also discusses the approaches that have been used to study shared governance, highlighting the relative merits of each era of scholarship. Finally, it presents an agenda for the future of scholarship on shared governance, to show what we still don’t know and what is missing in the current body of work on the subject.

Shared Governance in Higher Education

This article breaks down a few elements of shared governance and takes a look at the trends at play in an age of great change in higher education. Its content is not designed to be an introduction to shared governance and associated concepts, but rather to analyze the various roadblocks to effective governance and the literature on how to alleviate them. The real highlight of this article is its appendix; there are lots of examples of effective governance, case studies and other really useful information.

Write a resolution

How to Write a Resolution

TO: University Senate, Faculty Council or Professional Personnel Council
FROM: (Person introducing the resolution)
RE: (Title of the Resolution)
Date:

RATIONALE: (Explanation of the problem that exists the resolution is trying to resolve.)

(Write Whereas statements of facts that need to be established) Example Below

WHEREAS: The Sky is Blue

WHEREAS: Many pernicious groups are attempting to teach students that the Sky is Red

RESOLUTION: (The action that will be taken to resolve the problem stated above)

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the University Senate acknowledges the fact that the Sky is Blue, and requires that be what is taught to students at Ball State University

Now That You’ve Written Your Resolution, What Do You Do?

Introducing a resolution to a governance body can be intimidating. We’ve done our best to make it as easy as possible.

If you're a governance member, please submit your resolution to governance@bsu.edu. If you're not a part of a governance council or committee, reach out to that address as well. We will help to connect you with the appropriate person.

Frequently asked questions

What is shared governance?

Shared governance refers to the joint responsibility of faculty, administrations, and governing boards to govern colleges and universities.

What is the difference between councils and committees?

Committees have specific charges over a particular aspect of the university. For example, the Library Committee is the governance committee that handles business relating to the university libraries. Councils are larger, and rather than having a specific subject to cover, they have a particular unit of employees that make up the members of the council. For example, Professional Personnel Council is made up of predominantly Professional Personnel from 9 different divisions across campus. The exception is the University Senate, which is designed to bring together voices from all of these disparate units to handle campus wide business.

How do I join a Committee?

There are many different ways to get involved with committees! The most common way is to be appointed by a governance body or your unit leadership. Most committees are made up of members appointed by Faculty Council or Professional Personnel Council at the end of the Spring semester. By filling out the Preference Poll, you can let governance leaders know what governance committees you are interested in joining. More information on the purpose and responsibilities of each committee can be found in the Faculty and Professional Personnel Handbook.

How do I join a Council?

Councils are made up of mostly elected members from various constituencies and departments.

Senate: Tenure Line Faculty members are elected by colleges, while Non-Tenure Line members are elected by vote of the NTL faculty. Professional Personnel are elected by their divisions, and the students are appointed by SGA. An academic dean, appointed by the Provost, and a representative from the Honor’s College rounds out the membership.

Faculty Council: Tenure Line Faculty members are elected by their departments, with one representative for each. Non-Tenure Line faculty are elected by a vote of thefull-time Non-Tenure Line Faculty.

Professional Personnel Council: All of the PPC representatives in the Senate are also members of PPC; they are joined by 3 colleagues elected by their unit to serve on PPC. Seven faculty, one from each college, are appointed by Faculty Council as well. To round out the group, SGA nominates 5 students that serve one-year terms.

If I have an item I’d like the governance system to address, how do I go about making that happen?

There are a lot of ways to get started with the governance system. The first and easiest way is to reach out to your representatives, whether on Senate, Faculty Council, or Professional Personnel Council. They should be able to direct you to where you need to go to attend meetings or read up on action items. If you have an issue that you know relates to a specific committee’s work, you can also reach out to your unit’s representative on that committee. If you have already done this and have a formal resolution that you would like introduced, you can submit it to the Senate Agenda Committee and it will be assigned to the proper committee or council.

What happens after a council approves something?

When a council approves a resolution, an action item is created that is sent various administrative offices, starting with the Office of Legal Counsel, and followed by the Provost and President’s offices respectively. If the action item requires Board of Trustees approval, it is forwarded there after receiving approval from all of the other offices involved. If not, the action item is formally approved once the President has signed and the necessary changes have been made to the handbook.

What is the Gantt Chart?

The Gantt chart is the way we track the progress of an item through the governance system. Each item is listed under the council that has oversight, and all of the councils and committees that have addressed the item are listed next to it. Finally, to visualize the item’s process, there is a graph with an estimate of the progress of the item through the governance system. The agendas for each of the council meetings contain an updated version of the Gantt chart.

I keep seeing Committees listed as having ex-officio members. What does that mean?

Ex-officio translates roughly to “by virtue of the office held.” In this case, they are committee memberships that are held because someone serves in a certain role on campus. As an example, the Athletics director has an ex-officio role on the Athletics Committee so they can use their expertise and knowledge of the Athletics department to improve the work of the committee. Most ex-officios are non-voting members of the committee. They’re allowed to participate in the discussion, but won’t be able to cast a vote. In a few cases, ex-officios are granted the privilege to vote; they can participate in the way full members of the committee do.

University Governance

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