|
CALS Guidelines for
Governance and Operation
Preamble
The college governance and management processes need to be structured
to create an environment for doing everyone's best work. These "guidelines"
provide general guidance on the governance and operation for the College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This approach avoids having to change
these guidelines frequently, allows for flexibility during uncertain times,
and allows the reader to more easily follow the governance and operation
of the college. Links are provided to web pages that contain more detail.
1. Introduction
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences includes a number of disciplines
(described in the Strategic
Plan) and has offices throughout Arizona. Diversity of subject areas,
types of employees and interactions with federal, state, and county governments
requires that the college be managed well, have clear strategic directions,
and maintain flexibility in how it makes decisions. The guidelines are
based on several principles (see below), identify how the various employee
groups represented in the college participate in college governance, and
how the college approaches shared governance.
2. Purpose of these
Guidelines
These guidelines describe the basic processes for governance and management
of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The guidelines and the
associated CALS Governance web page place relevant
information in one place. This information can be used by new employees
as well as current employees and others interested in how the college
functions.
3. Principles
The University of Arizona and CALS embrace the concept of shared governance.
Shared governance requires a commitment from all members of the college
community. Faculty and staff, employed by the college for a substantial
portion of their professional careers, should understand that the contribution
of their time to college and university service, beyond their working
unit, is one of their responsibilities. They must be willing to participate
in college committees to provide advice and to serve as conduits of information
to their peers. The University of Arizona president's
prioritization principles, while directed at specific aspects of the
university, are also useful in providing guidance in governance approaches.
While these guidelines are directed at the college as a whole, that also
can be implemented within the college units, as appropriate to the circumstances
of each unit, but consistent with the aims and principles of these guidelines.
Two factors apply
to all principles: 1) Accountability requires that each group performs
its role well and on a timely basis, coordinating with other groups when
appropriate, and 2) Communication before, during, and after decisions
needs to be accomplished by the relevant councils and committees.
a. Shared governance
is a basic assumption of CALS operation. Shared governance can be thought
of as the sharing of responsibility for major decision-making relating
to the institutional mission and budget. Shared governance does not extend
to management decisions (e.g., carrying out policy that stays clearly
within the guidelines of that policy).
b. All major college
activities must be represented in the governance system. Areas such as
academic programs (teaching), research, and cooperative extension, will
have defined places in the governance system. All major employee groups
within the college are represented on the Dean's Advisory Council. These
groups include: college administrators, faculty, classified staff, appointed
personnel, and undergraduate and graduate students.
c. Diversity is emphasized,
where diversity is defined by words such as: understanding other's views,
dealing with varied experiences, perspectives and backgrounds, and representation
of multiple groups and approaches within the college. In a word, diversity
is inclusiveness.
d. College values
are to be followed (from the Strategic Plan) and include: scholarship,
creativity, integrity, cooperation, diversity, and mutual respect.
4. Mission and
Focus of the College
The mission of CALS is "To improve the quality of life through exploration
and discovery to enhance agriculture, the environment, our natural resource
base, family and youth well-being, and the development of local communities.
We accomplish this mission by development, integration, dissemination,
and application of knowledge in the agricultural and life sciences."
The strategic plan identifies 6 major subject areas: 1) Environment and
Natural Resources, 2) Family, Youth and Community, 3) Human Nutrition,
Food Safety, and Health, 4) Marketing, Trade, and Economics, 5) Animal
Systems, and 6) Plant Systems.
5. Organization
and Management of the College
CALS is organized by departments, county offices, agricultural centers,
and other support units. There is a strategic
plan for guidance, a process for shared governance as described in
"principles" above, and a number of committees and policies
and procedures are identified on the employees
page. The college has formal agreements (via memoranda of agreement)
with a number of affiliated organizations and informal working relationships
with industry and commodity groups and non-govenmental organizations.
In addition to the normal university roles of teaching and research, CALS
management obligations includes working with all county and state governments
in Arizona, as well as involvement in a special funding process with the
legislature and the US Department of Agriculture. CALS is therefore the
most complex college on the main campus. As a result, the dean also carries
the tile of Vice Provost.
The college includes
the Office of Academic Programs (teaching), the Agricultural Experiment
Station (research), Cooperative Extension (outreach and non-formal learning),
and Administrative Services (personnel and finances). The college also
has programmatic review, funding sources and reporting obligations through
the US Department of Agriculture, works with several agricultural-related
Arizona state agencies, and various commodity organizations and nonprofit
groups. CALS also has cooperative agreements with each County Board of
Supervisors to provide location and direction to Cooperative Extension.
Further, each county Cooperative Extension office has its own Advisory
Board, appointed by the Board of Supervisors as defined by Arizona law,
and various stakeholders of CALS programs routinely provide feedback for
CALS programs. CALS
has schools, departments, and administrative offices as well as a
number of committees
and councils. Cooperative extension offices in counties and reservations
as well as agricultural centers represent the off-campus
locations.
6. Councils and
Committees
Committees cover the working needs of the college by having broad participation
among members of the college. Some committees have an elected membership,
some develop their own nominations for final selection by the executive
council, and some are appointed by the executive council. Councils or
other groupings will be established for faculty, students, appointed personnel,
and staff. Each would have one member of the executive council to serve
as liaison to the council. In addition, there would be the two unit heads
groups (campus department heads and county extension directors) and the
executive council. An overarching group is the Dean's Advisory Council,
which consists of representatives of all the above councils. The Dean's
Advisory Council also serves as the college group addressing strategic
planning and budgeting. Committees and councils are listed
elsewhere, along with a purpose and membership for each.
7. Policies and
Procedures
CALS follows Arizona Board of Regents' Policies and University of Arizona
policies. However, because of the nature and complexity of the college.
CALS has established some additional policies and procedures. These can
be found on the CALS Governance Page or the CALS
Employees page. These policies are developed with participation of
the groups primarily affected.
8. College-wide
Communications and Meetings
It is essential to have good communication. There are multiple methods
of addressing this need, including printed or electronic (including web)
documents, meetings, and conference calls. There is a college-wide faculty/staff
meeting twice a year to discuss timely information about the college and
for the college to receive feedback from participants at the meeting.
9. Making Continuous
Improvements: Best Practices, Monitoring and Feedback
Continuous improvement of college governance occurs though the use of
best practices and assessing how we are progressing. Best practices include
the various best practices for management and human relations and the
best practices for shared governance. Monitoring
can be accomplished by periodic surveys, formal reviews of administrators
and academic programs, and having each of the college council provide
such a function as part of looking at the college through the perspective
of its purpose and employee group. Feedback opportunities should be provided
on a continuing basis (see the College
Contact web page) as well as highlighted at appropriate times.
10. Making Changes
to These Guidelines
Changes to these guidelines are endorsed by the representative groups
through the shared governance councils. These include: faculty, staff,
appointed, student, department heads, county extension directors, dean's
advisory council, and the executive council.
Selected references
CALS
Employees Web Page -- http://cals.arizona.edu/employees
Contains a range of topics for all employee classifications.
CALS
Departments, Units, and Administrative offices -- http://cals.arizona.edu/general/departments.html
Contains links to the administrative units in the college.
CALS
Governance Page -- http://cals.arizona.edu/governance
Contains descriptions of advisory councils, governance process, policies
and procedures, committees, awards, evaluations, and communication within
the college.
University
of Arizona Shared Governance Web Page -- http://fp.arizona.edu/senate/ShgovDirectory.html
Contains history and guidelines for shared governance.
President
Peter Likin's Prioritization Principles -- http://www.library.arizona.edu/nca/president2.htm
Return
to CALS Governance Home Page
|
