Sharing Shared Governance: The Benefits of Systemness
Subject
Shared Governance; SystemnessAbstract
Shared governance in higher education refers to the structures and processes
through which faculty, professional staff, administration, governing boards and,
sometimes, students and staff participate in the development of policies and in
decision making that affect the institution.
As an organization, the SUNY University Faculty Senate began in 1953, and is
included in the Board of Trustees Policies (Article VII. Title A):
§ 1. Name. There shall be a University Faculty Senate of State University of New
York.
§2. Purposes. The senate shall be the official agency through which the
University Faculty engages in the governance of the University. The Senate shall
he concerned with effective educational policies and other professional matters
within the University.
This poster highlights both the challenges to and benefits of shared governance in the
context of systemness. Systemness provides challenges to shared governance;
however, members of the SUNY University Faculty Senate (UFS) have learned to
capitalize on the benefits of systemness – within campuses, as well as across the
system, to advance shared governance throughout the University. By incorporating
the voices of campus governance leaders (CGLs) as well as the University Faculty
Senators at the UFS plenary meetings, campus faculty and unique campus concerns
are represented. Through the involvement of the Chancellor at these plenary
meetings, an administrative perspective is incorporated. The end result, in many
cases, is the ability to capitalize on the resources available, while being respectful of
the different campus needs and characteristics. And yet, it is the uniqueness and the
idiosyncrasies of the individual campuses that have created the experiences,
perspectives and voices that have contributed to SUNY’s dynamic processes of
shared governance. It is the challenges faced by individual campuses as well as the
System that foster the use of all the options discussed. In this way, the “System is
bigger than the sum of its parts.”
Description
Shared governance in higher education refers to the structures and processes
through which faculty, professional staff, administration, governing boards and,
sometimes, students and staff participate in the development of policies and in
decision making that affect the institution.
As an organization, the SUNY University Faculty Senate began in 1953, and is
included in the Board of Trustees Policies (Article VII. Title A):
§ 1. Name. There shall be a University Faculty Senate of State University of New
York.
§2. Purposes. The senate shall be the official agency through which the
University Faculty engages in the governance of the University. The Senate shall
he concerned with effective educational policies and other professional matters
within the University.
This poster highlights both the challenges to and benefits of shared governance in the
context of systemness. Systemness provides challenges to shared governance;
however, members of the SUNY University Faculty Senate (UFS) have learned to
capitalize on the benefits of systemness – within campuses, as well as across the
system, to advance shared governance throughout the University. By incorporating
the voices of campus governance leaders (CGLs) as well as the University Faculty
Senators at the UFS plenary meetings, campus faculty and unique campus concerns
are represented. Through the involvement of the Chancellor at these plenary
meetings, an administrative perspective is incorporated. The end result, in many
cases, is the ability to capitalize on the resources available, while being respectful of
the different campus needs and characteristics. And yet, it is the uniqueness and the
idiosyncrasies of the individual campuses that have created the experiences,
perspectives and voices that have contributed to SUNY’s dynamic processes of
shared governance. It is the challenges faced by individual campuses as well as the
System that foster the use of all the options discussed. In this way, the “System is
bigger than the sum of its parts.”