Conference Highlights
“New Trustee Orientation”
Presentation by partners from the Chancellors Office provided new trustees visibility to the Higher Education landscape in Pennsylvania. Discussion included funding trends, student enrollment and demand trends and highlighted the pressures on Public University Systems. Attendees learned about policy issues, specific State System funding and allocation formulas and the budget process.
“The Trustee Role in Sustainability and Self-Assessment”
Highly anticipated session facilitated for trustees…by trustees. The session focused on ways for trustees to advocate effectively for their university. Panel provided a thorough review of the trustee role as identified by ACT 188 and by the State System Governance Statutory Authority. Discussion included key responsibilities of trustees in both Academic and Financial Affairs to ensure sustainability. To that end, the relationship of the trustee to the university president is key. We are grateful to our legal counsel and university presidents in attendance for their significant contributions to this important conversation. This critical discussion re: sustainability demonstrated both the need and value of a self-assessment tool to evaluate both individual trustee and council understanding of their role and required participation. Thanks to the Millersville Council of Trustees for providing their assessment tool as an example, and for focusing on the need for each university council to development an assessment that is tailored to their university and council’s unique needs.
“Operationalizing the System’s Workforce Intelligence Toolkit”
Moderated by partners in the Chancellor’s office, this informative panel discussion included president, provost and deans from four State System universities, providing a forum for extensive review of resources developed by the System and contained in the Workforce Intelligence Toolkit. Panelists shared their unique perspectives in utilization of the toolkit along with their experiences in piloting “Career Coach” to effectively integrate labor market research into recruitment, academic course development, retention and ultimately to student success. Discussion also included how trustees can utilize Toolkit resources to effectively partner with and advocate for their university.
“Financial Risk Assessment Dashboard and Instructional Cost Model”
The dashboard was developed for use by the Board of Governors and is currently in its third year of utilization at the university level. With partners from the Chancellor’s Office, a panel of presidents and trustees discussed their experiences with opportunities/challenges identified by their university dashboard, and how they partner with both staff and trustees to utilize that information in making strategic decisions. Panel discussed how they can review and respond to financial metrics and to the velocity of any changes to these measures. Attendees were excited to learn about the projected Fall 2017 launch of a new tool, the Instructional Cost Model. This highly anticipated tool will be a key link to Workforce Intelligence and comprehensive enrollment development strategies.