Name :
Employee Group (PSRP/ESP, FTF, PTF, Admin., Dean/Assoc. Dean) :
Title :
Primary Work Location :
Number of Years at the College:
Have you attended training in Interest Based Problem Solving? If so, what training?
Please rank your interest in the box for any council and/or task force you have an interest in being on and briefly explain your interest or expertise that would address the characteristics listed in the Shared Governance Council Membership Application.
Please rank interest in councils if interested in more than one council. (1=most interested)
Council Name
Briefly explain your interest or expertise.
Your answers may be in the form of bullet points.
The boxes below will expand, as needed, when you enter your answers.
Are you interested in being on a Task Force for this Council if
Council membership is not attained?
(X if yes)
Academic Council
Diversity and Community
Relations Council
Employee Relations &
Professional Development
Council
Facilities Planning and
Investment Council
Fiscal Management &
Organizational Effectiveness
Council
Information Technology
Council
Student Affairs Council
The College has a strong interest in assuring that shared governance reflects the Madison College community.
Please complete the next section to help us ensure inclusion and equity in our shared governance system. This information is optional, and will be kept confidential.
Category Briefly explain:
Ethnic / Racial /Social / Other
Examples: age, race, creed, color, physical abilities, ethnicity, marital and/or familial status, sex, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, learning styles, lifestyle, political affiliation, region, religion, social class, etc.
Response:
Please send an email and attach your completed application form to the College Assembly no later than Friday,
April 22, 2016, 4:00 p.m. CST.
If you have any questions regarding this form or the application process, please email the College Assembly . Note that further explanation of the College Assembly & Council roles follows, as well as current council issues.

The College Assembly is the highest level body in the Shared Governance system. As such, it plays an organizing role and a policy review role. Organization issues include issue prioritization, council creation, council change of charge, or council elimination. Policy review occurs when Councils forward recommendations to the Assembly. Assembly review should determine if the IBPS process was used to reach the recommendation, if the process considered the various interests involved, and whether the recommended option responds appropriately to the interests. The Assembly may also review the criteria used to select an option and whether the recommendation was made by consensus. The Assembly should always insure that any recommendation is consistent with the mission, strategic vision, and values of the College. The
Assembly is not designed to be a work team that reworks an issue that a Council already considered. Its decision is largely about the integrity of the process including assuring interests were considered rather than making a second determination that an alternative recommendation is better than the BATNA. Assembly members have the right to know with clarity the rationale for the recommendation and to be certain that the rationale is not arbitrary. It is critical that Assembly members feel confident in explaining the recommendation to the College community. If the recommendation or the rationale is not clear, it should be clarified before the entire Assembly is asked to approve it.
As a member of the Assembly, it is important to communicate the interests of the groups you represent to the Councils who are working on creating best options addressing the issues. The Council needs to know how your constituents feel about these important issues. It is possible for you to arrange loop-out sessions with those you represent for the Council members. The Provost office and the IBPS office can help with the logistics of those sessions.
Equally important is to represent the best interest of the College as an Assembly member. This takes an investment of time for Assembly members to learn about the issues that face our College. There will be occasions when there is conflict between positions held by people you represent and what you believe to be the best course for the College as a whole.
Everyone on the Assembly (and most representative governing bodies) has experienced these types of struggles and the resulting questions that arise about your role as an Assembly member. As a member of a Council, it is imperative you represent the interests (not positions) of your constituents. As a member of the Assembly, it is important that you focus on the best interests of the College as you understand them.
Councils work the issues using an IBPS process. Councils are responsible for discovering the variety of interests that are generated around the issue they are working. Councils need to demonstrate they know the important interests surrounding issues, and that those interests were considered in the option creation phase of this work. Councils do not need to meet every interest when selecting the best option. However, they are responsible for demonstrating that the process used had integrity, was based on interests, was informed by data, and any recommendation was reached by consensus.
Councils also play a role in issue identification. Councils need to make certain that the Assembly knows of the issues in the areas of their responsibility, and play an integral role in determining the priority of the issues they will work on.
Council members must be invested in the IBPS process and be willing to point out when we stray from it when considering an issue. As such, it is critical that Council members know what a good issue statement or problem solving question looks like. They must know the difference between a position, an interest, and/or an option. Council members should model the patience required to resist the rush to a premature decision. Recommendations must be complete in the IBPS sense.
The recommendations should be clear, address the issue statement, reflect many of the interests collected, and be better than the BATNA. All members of a Council should make sure forwarded recommendations meet those standards.

Members should also be very aware of “what we are hearing” from college faculty and staff about their issues and about
Shared Governance in general. Council members should become experts in their field, and use that expertise to inform decisions about issues. Council membership is a time consuming endeavor. It is a leadership position in the College.
The Co-chairs are responsible for organizing the work of the Councils. Fortunately, we have IBPS Facilitators who can assist in those tasks. All agendas should be set by the co-chairs and the facilitators. However, Co-chairs have a responsibility to consult with the membership when setting the agenda. The Co-chairs implement the strategy to accomplish the work of the Council and the facilitator provides the process strategies. Co-chairs are equal partners in this work and all decisions should be made by consensus. If that is not possible, there are resources to help sort out the conflicts and come to an acceptable decision.
Co-chairs are leaders at the College. They are leaders by position but also by their actions. The responsibility to adhere to our decision-making processes and promote their constructive use is greater for the Co-chairs than the members.
Co-chairs are members of the Co-chair team. This team is used to help assess our processes and systems, and to offer a safe place to discuss ongoing frustrations or issues. The team can be used as a sounding board by the President, Cabinet,
Deans, or any other college-wide team that needs advice on a problem or an idea they are considering. This is a challenging process for individuals and presents stressful dilemmas for members and especially co-chairs. Co-chairs should be available to each other to discuss issues in confidence or with selected groups.
The guiding principles we have identified that incorporate our shared values are:
Inclusiveness: Our shared governance system will be designed to ensure that all members of the college community are, at the least, represented by their peers. Avenues for participation will become available at many levels as the governance system expands and matures.
Transparency: The activities and processes within our shared governance system will be promptly communicated. There will be avenues for feedback, questions, and participation at many points in the process.
Shared Responsibility: Participation in one of the shared governance groups will enable college community members to represent the interests of their peers. Representation will carry with it a responsibility for proper understanding of the interests of your peers and for your role in the consensus decisions of the group.
Accountability: Discretionary decisions made by employees of the College as an individual or as part of a group have a concomitant responsibility to work within the shared governance system to achieve sufficient understanding of the interests of affected constituencies prior to arriving at a decision. The roles of all decision makers will be clearly defined and every decision will be effectively communicated with attribution.
Efficiency and Effectiveness: Our goal is to integrate shared governance into college operations so decisions and plans for the future can be made in and will lead to a more efficient and effective institution. The shared governance groups will have roles in assessment of College operations and access to any information and expertise they require to properly analyze and discuss College operations.
Collegiality: A properly functioning shared governance system requires collaboration with and respect for everyone at the
College. A fundamental tenet of the IBPS system is there is no rank in the room during meetings. We are all equals. We are all just employees doing our best to ensure the success of the College.

Innovation: The greatest inherent advantage of an IBPS based shared governance system is its ability to elicit creativity, to share new perspectives, to see new ways of planning for the future, to discover new approaches to solving problems, and to find new opportunities.
Fairness and Coherence: Our vision for our shared governance system is one that will be just and consistent, with everyone treated as equals, developing a system that provides an environment supportive of the work and commitment of all employees and constituents of the College.
Continual Assessment: All our decision-making processes must be examined regularly and improved based on feedback from everyone at the College. The outcomes we define for shared governance should be continually assessed as the system grows and develops.
The Shared Governance system was built to reflect these principles. The Assembly Co-chairs and other leaders in the
Shared Governance system must demonstrate a commitment to using these principles in how we work. All leaders in the
Shared Governance system and the College should realize the power of these principles in nurturing a collaborative culture at the College.
Our College benefits from leadership across the entire landscape of our work. Leadership is not the sole province of those with particular titles but is the responsibility of all of us. Leadership roles are formal, informal, and sometimes situational.
All of us have opportunities to promote the essential values that our community is working towards. Shared Governance is the formal extension of these values; our day-to-day interactions with each other at work, in our classrooms, and at all our campuses is where our culture lives.
Engaging in this work together is about embracing all expressed interests , being inclusive in decision making, participating in improving work processes, and being collegial as we partner to make sure our College can continue to serve its students at high levels of quality. That takes leadership from everyone here as we all are accountable to build this culture together.
Please see the following page for issues each council is currently working on.

Current Council Issues, etc.
Council
Sample List of Issues Which May be
Discussed
Academic Council Areas of focus might include, but are not limited to, issues that specifically relate to teaching and learning excellence, academic
Diversity &
Community
Relations Council support, infrastructure systems and innovation; faculty workload options; academic portfolio opportunities; credit and non-credit curriculum; academic integrity; assessment of student learning; academic calendar; faculty professional development and academic policies.
Support for an inclusive and diverse environment for students, faculty, staff and administration through coordinated diversity programs and initiatives across the college and surrounding communities
Employee
Relations &
Professional
Development
Council
Facilities Planning
& Investment
Council
Fiscal
Management &
Organizational
Effectiveness
Council
Information
Technology
Council
Student Affairs
Council
Members who have experience, interest, and/or expertise in any the following areas:
 Technical college education
 Educational administration
 Instructor professional development
 Curriculum design
 Program and College accreditation
Support of college employees including hiring, benefits, working conditions, evaluation, professional growth and development initiatives, succession planning, wellness, and employee conflict resolution.
Policies to address utilization, construction, maintenance, and security of district facilities and infrastructure investments. Safety of stakeholders while using district properties.
Future needs and resources to ensure sustainability.
District-wide budget planning, major purchases and capital investments, budget modifications, and identification of measures to determine effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of policies and decisions
 Affirmative action
 Marketing
 Public relations
 Community organizing
 Not-for-profit leadership or management
 Organizational development
 Human resources
 Labor relations
 Organizational leadership
 Development/ Training
 Professional development
 Facilities maintenance and safety
 Architecture
 Interior design
 Commercial real estate
 Strategic planning
 Urban planning
 Institutional research
 Budgets
 Finance
 Economics
 Philanthropy
Strategic planning for district-wide information technology services and support, needs assessment, analysis of usage, purchasing policies, training, coordination and communication, for example:
 Refresh policy
 IT investment policy
 Software management policy
Information security policy
Student success including student services, recruitment, enrollment, financial aid, testing, advising and counseling, student engagement, retention, persistence, completion and employment/transfer support
 Information literacy
 Software development
 Student focused technology
 Academic/instructional technology
 Hardware engineering
 Current/emerging technology trends
 Student affairs
 Advising
 Financial aid
 Student clubs
 Student health services
 Academic affairs
 Testing services
 Academic calendar development
 Teaching and learning innovation
 Alternative delivery methods
 Academic program support
 Educational research
 Minority mentoring programs
 Americans with Disabilities Act
 Regional campus leadership or management
 Robust inter- or intra-professional networks
 Community leadership and involvement
 Benefits committee
 Benefits administration
 Affirmative Action
 Diversity/ EEO roles
 Staffing and Recruitment
 Americans with Disabilities Act
 Finance
 Construction
 Skilled trades
 Regional campus leadership or management
 Quality improvement
 Future-casting
 Strategic planning
 Institutional and/or program evaluation
 Organizational and/or educational and/or social psychology
 Online, hybrid learning
 Educational software platforms
 Technical support and training
 Information technology educational programs
 Technology planning and implementation
 Cost analysis
 Tutoring
 Peer networks
 Veterans’ affairs
 Enrollment management
 Retention and persistence
 Placement and aptitude testing
 Transfer and employment assistance