Join the IAS for a forward-thinking conversation on University governance in part two of this three-part series, with input from faculty, staff, and students system-wide.
The specific questions we'll be examining during this session on University Governance are:
- How do we use our values to guide processes of shared governance?
- What do "consult" and "shared" mean in the governance process and how do we insure that consultation includes a wide range of opinions and interests—voices who don’t always agree?
- How do we enhance democratic processes and cultivate broad participation and leadership in shared governance to make it best represent the needs of our diverse constituencies?
The transition in presidential leadership provides the University community with an opportunity to engage in collective conversation about our ideals and realities, and how to bring them closer. For more information about our next session on University Budget, please click here; to review our first session on University Values, please click here.
This series has its specific origins in discussions last October with members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and the chair of the Faculty Consultative Committee about the potential value of additional meetings with University community members to inform the search process. Given the fast pace of the presidential search, the co-chairs of the Search Advisory Committee suggested instead the idea of listening sessions to identify key messages for an incoming president once that person was chosen. That is the goal of these three community conversations over the next month: to apply our best imaginations to generating productive ideas to share with President-designate Joan Gabel for our future work together.
The more general origin of this series lies in the IAS’s convening role as a University-wide center that brings people together to foster interdisciplinary investigation, collaboration and critical engagement with complex problems, issues, and ideas. The three themes of this series—values, governance, and budget (finances)—reflect pressing contemporary issues in the national landscape of public higher education, and important questions we face locally in pursuing the University’s land-grant mission and its strategic commitment to becoming a reciprocally engaged research university, educating students who can contribute to solving grand societal challenges, partnering with the communities and people of our state to benefit the common good, and cultivating and empowering leaders to foster institutional and societal change.
As a land-grant institution, how do we balance the needs of our multiple constituencies? How do we make sure that the values and governance of the University as an institution reflect the diverse interests of the state? How can our values help cultivate broad participation and leadership in shared governance? How are values of equity, access, and diversity reflected in our budget priorities and what are the impacts on student debt and our educational mission? How do finances influence our ability to respond to changes in knowledge production, towards greater interdisciplinarity and ethical, reciprocally engaged partnerships?
LOCATIONS
TWIN CITIES CAMPUS: Crosby Seminar Room (240 Northrop)
DULUTH CAMPUS: Kirby Plaza 173
CROOKSTON CAMPUS: Keihle 105
We strongly encourage you to attend an in-person gathering if at all possible, as it will be beneficial for group discussion. If you are unable to join a group on your campus, please email us at [email protected] by 4:45pm on Thursday, March 7th about participating remotely.
We will open our online discussion page for public comments on Monday, March 11th, and close commenting on Friday, March 15th. If you would like to participate in the discussion or share your answers to the above questions, please visit the discussion page for this event.