Questions for Boards

Recommended Resources

All Resources

Why this is important.

Shared governance is a foundational tenet of higher education. This principle “acknowledges the final institutional authority of governing boards and distributed authority to the administration and faculty.”1 Traditionally, governing boards delegate the responsibility of strategic planning and daily management to presidents, while faculty lead educational delivery. Delegation of authority between key constituents on campus strengthens institutions by championing meaningful engagement and inclusive, transparent decision-making.

“Effective shared governance strengthens institutions by serving as a vehicle for necessary change,” and such innovation is essential to confronting today’s uncertain higher education environment.2 Strong shared governance informs decisions. A governing board’s commitment to the practice of shared governance “bears fruit for the institution in the form of mutual trust in challenging times, support for innovation, and shared commitment to goals for building a stronger future.”3

Ultimately, shared governance is one of higher education’s most distinctive values and is key to the institutional success of all colleges and universities. It brings stakeholders together around passion for the institution and “ensures the inclusion of a range of voices and ideas in the formulation of goals, priorities, and strategies.”4 Together, these collaborative voices focus on holistic, strategic directions for the future.

Still image from a video showing a woman wearing a dark suit and purple scarf in front of a purple background that includes the letters A, G, B.

Mary Papazian, PhD, AGB executive vice president, talks about sharing responsibility, creating buy-in, and balancing delegation with accountability.

Sources:
1Shared Governance: Is OK Good Enough? AGB 2016
2AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Shared Governance, AGB 2017
3AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Shared Governance, AGB 2017
4AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Shared Governance, AGB 2017

Questions for boards.

Click below to reveal key questions for your board to consider:

Roles and Responsibilities

Consequential Questions:

  1. What are the roles of students and staff in shared governance at our institution? Is the board satisfied with their engagement?
  2. What can the board chair do to demonstrate the board’s commitment to shared governance? What does the president do?

Source:

AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Shared Governance, AGB 2017

Processes and Alignment

Consequential Questions:

  1. How are new board members, faculty, and senior staff oriented to shared governance?
  2. When did our institution last assess the state of its shared governance? What was the result? On the basis of that assessment, what has changed?
  3. How does the board engage the faculty on matters of consequence?
  4. Are the priorities of the board, president, and faculty currently aligned on critical mission-related matters?

Source:

AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Shared Governance, AGB 2017

We carefully curated these staff-picked resources for you:

Shared Governance for Agile Institutions

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AGB Board of Directors’ Statement on Shared Governance

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Shared Governance: A Legal Perspective

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Strengthening Shared Governance to Support Strategic Transformation

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Shared Governance for Agile Institutions: How to Align Boards, Administration, and Faculty around Strategic Priorities

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All resources.

Webinar On Demand
Shaping Successful Board and Faculty Relationships
August 6, 2020 - Watch this Webinar On Demand for a conversation on how to navigate successful board and faculty relationships for the new school year and going forward.
View Webinar
CEO Update
AGB President & CEO Update: Strategic Boards and Executive Leadership
The compounding effect of the global pandemic on declining enrollments and escalating tuition discounts, long-anticipated demographic changes, and extraordinary societal divisions are transforming higher education. Governing boards and institutional leaders in collaboration with the faculty and other members of campus …
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CEO Update
AGB President & CEO Update: Important Announcements for the Year Ahead
On behalf of AGB, I want you to know how much we value and appreciate your membership and engagement with AGB through your institution. I am also pleased to share a brief summary of our key activities this past year …
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Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - University System of Maryland
The University System of Maryland comprises twelve universities representing, in many ways, the broad range of American higher education institutions—from large research universities to smaller comprehensive institutions to HBCUs. While the diversity of the system—and the spectrum of opportunities that …
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Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - Taylor University
Taylor University is a relatively small (approximately 1,890 students), non-denominational faith-based institution in Upland, Indiana. The university is distinctive for—among other things—its “Life Together Covenant,” which “identifies the expectations for living in community as we seek to fulfill our mission.”1 …
Read Article
Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - State University of New York
The State University of New York (SUNY) is the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the United States, comprising 64 campuses with nearly six hundred thousand students and over ninety- thousand employees (roughly thirty-four thousand faculty and almost …
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Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - Stockton University
Since April 2015, Stockton University has been engaged in an ongoing, intensive discussion of institutional governance involving all of the university’s stakeholders. The immediate catalyst for this discussion was a crisis in early 2015 that not only deeply troubled trustees, …
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Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - Rollins College
In 2013, a vote of no confidence in the then-president was the result of a series of decisions made by the president and approved by the board of Rollins College, chief among them the top-down creation of a College of …
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Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - Duke University
Shared governance at Duke University is a healthy tradition both in terms of formal structure and policy and in terms of institutional culture and practice. Central to the faculty’s role in shared governance is a policy known as the Christie …
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Case Study
Shared Governance: Changing with the Times - California State University
Dr. Timothy P. White became chancellor of the California State University (CSU) system in December of 2012. The CSU system is the largest four-year system of higher education in the country, with twenty- three campuses, nearly half a million students, …
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