The meeting was well attended this year, with a total of 121 registrants. The session discussions were robust and much dialog occurred in the areas of the trustee selection, evaluation, advocacy, communications and branding. The opening keynote on Transformation and System Redesign was interactive and engaging and provided a thorough review of the national and regional landscape and the forces that are transforming higher education. This was followed by a great discussion and interaction among the participants about system redesign and the important roles trustees have in supporting their respective campuses as we transition.
A new trustee orientation was conducted, which 11 of our new trustees participated in, to include several new student trustees who were recently appointed by the Governor.
The Q&A Session with Dr. Ken Mash, APSCUF President, was groundbreaking as well as informative. It was the first time that Trustees and APSCUF have interacted at a PACT meeting and provided a new insight into the important relationship between Trustees and Faculty. Later in the day when the Chancellor was asked when we would see concrete signs of “systemness”, he used this session as an example.
University legal counsels presented a session on ethics, which provided an overview of the ethics and disclosure statutes that applies to trustees and practical tips for identifying and advoiding conflicts of interest. Reminder that all trustees need to complete the annual Statement of Financial Interest form by the deadline of May 1, 2019.
The conference ended with a plenary lunch session with Chancellor Greenstein and Board of Governors Chair, Cynthia Shapira, discussing the vital role trustees will play in fostering momentum for change at the campus, community and statewide levels in the system redesign.
Following are links to the various presentations that were conducted at the meeting:
On behalf of the PACT Executive Board, we thank all trustees who attended the meeting this year, the Foundation, conference sponsors, and System staff who made this year’s meeting successful.