Office of the President

Shared Governance Committee Updates

Materials from committee meetings and information for the campus community will be posted on this webpage.

The following individuals agreed to participate as members of the core group for this conversation:

• Mark Samples (Music) – Faculty Senate
• Heidi Perez (Psychology) – Academic Department Chairs Organization
• Josh Welsh (English) – United Faculty
• Katy Williams (Health Sciences) – NTT faculty
• Arun Pillutla – Exempt Staff
• Arryn Welty – Classified Staff
• Justine Eason – PSE (Public School Employees)
• Michelle Carrillo – ASCWU Board of Directors
• Elvin Delgado – Academic Affairs Administration
• Erin Black – Trustees

Several administrators also joined these conversations: Jim Wohlpart, Patrick Pease, Joel Klucking, and Dania Cochran.

FINAL CWU Statement on Shared Governance for BOT Review

After receiving feedback from the University community, the Shared Governance committee has finalized CWU’s Statement on Shared Governance. This statement will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees for their review and feedback and final approval.

Shared Governance at Central Washington University: Aligning Priorities to Advance the University’s Vision and Mission 

DRAFT CWU Statement on Shared Governance

After two and a half years of studying shared governance documents and best practices, and reviewing and considering our own work at CWU, the committee has developed a draft statement for the university. This statement will be shared with shared governance constituencies in the Winter and Spring 2025 quarters. The Board of Trustees will review the statement for approval in the May and/or July Board meeting.

Shared Governance at Central Washington University: Aligning Priorities to Advance the University’s Vision and Mission

Academic Year 2023-2024

• 01/11/2024 Update on Shared Governance Meeting #1
• 11/30/2023 From the President: Shared Governance Committee

Academic Year 2022-2023

• 01/06/2023 Shared Governance Committee
• 11/22/2022 Elevating Shared Governance

Central Washington University 2023-2024 Academic Year

The following individuals agreed to participate as members of the core group for this conversation:

• Mark Samples (Music) – Faculty Senate
• Heidi Perez (Psychology) – Academic Department Chairs Organization
• Amy Claridge (Family & Consumer Sciences) – United Faculty
• Tommy Fernandez – Exempt Staff
• Arryn Welty – Classified Staff
• Justine Eason – PSE (Public School Employees)
• Michelle Carrillo – ASCWU Board of Directors
• Elvin Delgado – Academic Affairs Administration
• Erin Black – Trustees

Key Statements on Shared Governance

Listed below are the key statements on Shared Governance over time. The two main sources for these statements come at this work from very different perspectives (AAUP from a faculty perspective, AGB from a Trustee perspective). The core group will read these statements, deepen their understanding of shared governance, and then discuss how shared governance is currently operationalized at CWU.

They will then work to propose a more collaborative way in which we might operationalize shared governance, perhaps taking one central issue and using it as an example to deepen our work together.

The Foundational Joint Statement on Shared Governance:

• “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities” (Founding Joint Statement on Shared Governance—ACE, AAUP, AGB, 1966)

American Association of University Professors (AAUP) statements:

• “On the Relationship of Faculty Governance to Academic Freedom” (AAUP, 1994)
• “The Role of Faculty in Budgetary and Salary Matters” (AAUP, 1972)
• “Statement on Academic Government for Institutions Engaged in Collective Bargaining” (AAUP, 1988)
• “The 2021 AAUP Shared Governance Survey” (AAUP, 2021)

Association of Governing Boards statements:

• “Board Responsibility for Institutional Governance”(AGB, 2010)
• “Statement on Shared Governance” (AGB, 2017)
• “Shared Governance: Is Okay Good Enough” (AGB, 2016 survey)
• “Shared Governance: Changing with the Times” (AGB, 2017)

Article in the American Association of State Colleges and Universities journal:

• “Building a Culture of Healthy Shared Governance” (AASCU, 2017)

Finally, an article that was published by faculty and administrators at UNI after Jim left:

• “From Shared Governance to Shared Leadership”(UNI, 2022)