March 15, 2024

Dear NDSU Community,

On Thursday, March 21, members from our NDSU governance groups will gather for a Shared Governance Summit.

This half-day meeting will include members from NDSU administration, Faculty Senate, Student Government and Staff Senate, our faculty representative on the State Board of Higher Education and an external facilitator from the Association of Governing Boards (AGB). The goal of this summit is to revisit and amend the Shared Governance Principles document that was written two years ago, so that the changes can be shared with the campus and adopted by the governing bodies this spring.

As part of our work together, we will also discuss the following:

• How NDSU can continue to engage in productive conversation around shared governance.
• How to learn and improve upon past incidents that may have eroded confidence in shared governance at NDSU.
• How the institution can maintain an agile and adaptive approach to emerging issues and challenges within an effective shared governance structure.

Following the Summit, the group will present its amendments to the Shared Governance Principles document in an open forum, scheduled for April 2, from 3:30-4:30 in the Anishinaabe Theater and on Zoom at https://ndsu.zoom.us/j/94657514764. Taking this dialog into consideration, we will ask each governance group to vote to adopt these principles in their April or May meetings.

Colleagues participating in the Shared Governance Summit:

• Administration
  • President David Cook, Provost David Bertolini, Spec. Asst. to the President and University Registrar Phil Hunt, Vice President for Communication and Marketing Kathryn Kloby
• Faculty Senate
  • President Warren Christensen, Senator Karla Haug, Senator Kjersten Nelson and Hollie Mackey
• Staff Senate
  • President Kristi Steinmann, President-elect Kay Hopkins, Past-president Fred Hudson and Senator Jeremy Kopp
• Student Government
  • President Kaylee Weigel, Vice President Austin Anderson, Senator Avery Jorgenson, Commissioner Heather Gades
• NDSU faculty member and Council of College Faculties representative to the North Dakota State Board of Higher Education
  • Lisa Montplaisir

I appreciate everyone’s interest and commitment to engaging in the conversation. Shared governance is a special quality of our NDSU campus community.

My Best,

David Cook, President