Central Michigan University's Shared Governance Committee was appointed last February to help open communication throughout the university and plans to involve students, faculty and staff in decisions this year.

The 13-member committee includes two student representatives, two staff members, four members of administration, four faculty members and a board of trustees member and will provide recommendations for decisions made in A-Senate.

Jim Hageman, special assistant to University President George Ross and Shared Governance Committee co-chair, said plans for the committee will be discussed and solidified at the first meeting of the semester, set to take place after Labor Day.

"(The committee's plans) are likely to be changed as the committee moves forward. At this point, we have a list of brainstormed ideas," Hageman said.

Jim McDonald, A-Senate chairman and Shared Governance Committee co-chair, said specific actions and goals were planned at the end of the spring semester.

"At the end of the semester we defined what Shared Governance was and went through all the learning processes and brainstormed a list of things we want to work on further," McDonald said. "When we start meeting the week after next, the committee will get together and we'll start generating questions for a campus-wide survey because those are the groups represented on the committee. We want to get people's input about some of these issues."

Following several events of the previous year, communication will be an important asset as the university works to make fair and informed decisions, McDonald said.

"I think input needs to be given before decisions are made, rather than decisions being made before anyone can know what's happening," McDonald said. "Especially when those decisions affect a whole lot of people."

Increased communication through new and under-utilized methods will help the decision making process for the university, Hageman said.

"We'll put forward some proposals to do that, so people will feel they are in the know," Hageman said. "There are different groups in the faculty who have different responsibilities. It's good for all to listen to each other so we can make the best plans possible."

The committee was chosen carefully to be representative of all groups on campus and each group could choose who they wanted to represent them, McDonald said.

"It was a very open process. Names were shared before the committee was announced," McDonald said. "There are four people that are on faculty, three are senators and one is the immediate past president of the Faculty Association. We tried to get a variety of males and females, and SGA chose the students. The people they represent chose who they wanted (to be on the committee)."

McDonald said the administration should use the committee's recommendations to inform their decisions and give everyone on campus a voice in university matters.

"Value their input and use their input," McDonald said. "You may not make a decision people want you to make, but at least you keep those communication lines open. It will affect the way decisions are made and affects the way that we move forward."

This committee will be more effective than ones formed in the past, McDonald said, because the administration is more in favor of the open communication and is likely to follow through with recommendations.

"People are saying, 'here we go again, this is the fifth (shared governance committee) in 20 years, why do we have to revisit this?' It's because people didn't implement the recommendations that were put forward," McDonald said. "The president has said he is looking forward to the recommendations and will implement them. I think everybody learned a lot last year, and going forward we need to change the way decisions are made and that's the direction we're headed."

Academic Senate

McDonald said there are a lot of issues going forward that will affect the university, including strategic planning, master plans for facilities and enrollment and student services. He said goals will be set at the first couple of meetings and A-Senate will decide what to tackle first.

“I think the major emphasis is, we’re back to business,” he said. “I sense that there are just too many important issues to be sidetracked like we were last year.”

McDonald said improving communication will be a main focus for A-Senate this year, and “so far, so good.”

A-Senate learned the importance of transparent communication in the 2011-2012 academic year, McDonald said.

“I think we got the message last year that information needs to be shared,” he said.

Provost Gary Shapiro said he will make a better effort to communicate effectively with members of A-Senate and "explain issues as clearly and effectively as possible."

"I'm looking forward to having a good working relationship (with A-Senate)," he said. "Hopefully we can work together to have a smooth year."

A-Senate has investigated the capacity to live-stream senate meetings, and it will be brought to a vote. The technology does exist and the live-stream would be done by the Information Technology department, McDonald said. Senate meetings are also archived on the senate website.

McDonald said communication has been much better, and he has noticed that people are listening more. He said the administration has shared their goals with him, the first time that’s ever happened, and the president and provost are going to put reports in writing to get word out before the A-Senate regular meetings.

“No one entity on this campus … can work alone and get anything done,” he said.