Staff Governance and Institutional Policy Formation

A volume in Educational Policy in the 21st Century:Opportunities, Challenges, and SolutionsSeries Editor Bruce Anthony Jones,University of South FloridaThe number of staff members serving American higher education institutions has morethan doubled in the past twenty years, as occupations in technology, development, governmentrelations, and even athletic administration have grown as never before in thehistory of the academy. As the number, variety, and importance of these positions havegrown, so has the need for their involvement in determining the direction and vision ofthe contemporary university. Often in opposition or cast in a competing light, staff governancebodies are positioned within the governance framework of faculty, students,trustees, and even legislatures, all bound together by formal and legal authority guidelines.The current volume is among the very first to explore this landscape, and beginswith a critical evaluation of the context of how staff are involved in decision-making.The text devotes six chapters to an in-depth exploration of the environment where staff governance is used: in private andcommunity colleges, with athletics and student affairs, in collective bargaining environments, and how the inclusion ofstaff can be an asset to institutional self-determination. The final section describes the array of topics staff governance bodiesaddress, and shares a case study of one professional administrator who chaired a staff senate. The concluding chapteroutlines the implications in policy formation, evaluation, and agenda setting for the involvement of staff in the higher educationcommunity. The book is a must read for new, senior college administrators, staff governance leaders, practitioners inhuman resource management, those concerned about democracy in education, and scholars studying higher education management.