Purpose: This study was designed to address the problem of how higher education institutions, as organizations designed to promote learning, responded to the COVID pandemic and the suspension of in-person instruction. The purpose of this paper was specifically to explore how institutions go about learning from the pandemic to better prepare…

Community college trustees play a variety of roles in governing their colleges, but there is little consistency in interpreting these actions. Defining the specific responsibilities of trustee involvement has increasingly developed into a priority for community college leaders. To what extent trustees should be involved in different…

Trustees play an important role in determining the direction, priorities, and future of higher education institutions, and as such, are critical actors in the decision-making and policy formation process. Numerous anecdotal reports have concluded that there are often competing interests in the use and structure of trustees throughout higher…

Efforts to enhance college going rates have employed a number of strategies, such as improving recruitment efforts and enhancing financial aid packages. Little effort, however, has been directed at looking at the social and human capital that might impact a residential community, and the subsequent influence this community might have on a…

This chapter describes the various approaches to internal shared governance utilized by community colleges, ranging from approaches that intentionally involve different constituents to those evolved from habit, tradition, and precedence.

College students have been engaged in various aspects of campus governance since nearly the beginning of the academy. This governance was formalized greatly by the academic freedom movement of 40 years ago, and the current system of shared governance has not adapted well to the changing nature of the commercial higher education institution. The…

Student involvement in higher education governance has traditionally been seen as an important element in institutional decision-making. Student governance, along with faculty, staff, and trustee governance, is seen as an important, defining element in higher education decision making, and an element that helps to define the unique nature of the…

This report presents a study that examined the desired roles and characteristics of faculty co-governance bodies. The study was conducted as part of the creation of the National Data Base on Faculty Involvement in Governance Project at the University of Alabama which was developed as a collaborative project among individual scholars from across…

American colleges and universities rely on a system of shared governance that includes the voluntary involvement of faculty to assist in the decision-making process. With a culture of democratic involvement and an expectation to participate in the democratic process generally, American citizens are accustomed to this type of involvement,…

The provost is typically seen as the chief academic officer of an institution, who has a great deal of control over how faculty are involved in academic decision making. Using a 3-round Delphi survey, a group of 20 provosts identified and rated 20 dimensions to the value of faculty involvement in governance. These leaders agreed most strongly with…

The purpose of this study, conducted as part of the National Data Base on Faculty Involvement in Governance Project, was to examine the perceptions of full-time faculty at a private professional graduate school of their involvement in governance in relation to an ideal system of shared authority and involvement. Data were collected using a survey…

This study examined trends and issues in the involvement of college faculty in institutional governance between 1994 and 1997. The study reviewed 132 issues of "The Chronicle of Higher Education" published during this period to identify any article or news report related to faculty involvement in governance. These topics included faculty…

Faculty senates and similar units have long held a place in college and university decision making. This study was undertaken to determine how college presidents perceive faculty involvement in governance. A 3-round Delphi survey was conducted, and a total of 23 of the initial 30 college presidents completed all 3 rounds. Results suggest that…

This study examined the attitudes of faculty senate leaders concerning the role of faculty in university governance, their own motivations for becoming involved in governance, and their leadership styles. A survey questionnaire was developed and mailed to 100 faculty governance leaders at research and doctoral institutions. Nearly half of the 78…

Discusses the concept of shared authority in higher education and its impact on student affairs administrators, particularly recognition of the involvement of various constituents in the decision-making process. Study allows traditionally disenfranchised constituents, including African American, Native American, and international faculty members,…