2019 PACT Spring Conference Highlights

March 2022

The annual conference for the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees (PACT) was held March 24-25 at the Hershey Lodge. It was wonderful to see old friends and make new friends over those two days. Our topics and speakers were impressive. They supported our conference theme, "Trustees in Action." Those in attendance came away with a sense of urgency for the upcoming 90 days remaining in the current fiscal year.  ​

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Conference Highlights

  • The meeting kicked off with Representative Curt Sonney, Chair of the House Education Committee, who gave us background on the budget process and how the State System has made important changes of the past several years.  His points and parting advice tied nicely with the advocacy presentation the next morning by Cody Jones and Randy Goin Jr.  A point Chair Sonney closed with is that he never hears from his constituents about funding for higher education. He reiterated that constituent voices matter. He encouraged all trustees to reach out to their Pennsylvania Representatives and Senators in the next 90 days to ask them to support funding to the State System.  

  • Cody Jones, the State System's Chief Strategic Relations Officer, encourages all trustees to visit the System’s Advocacy Resource Center or contact your University President for assistance from their staff.  Essentially, trustees need to act in the next 90 days to help the State System secure its funding request.  

  • The new trustee orientation program presented by Randy Goin Jr., Deputy Chancellor, and Andy Lehman, Chief Counsel, was informative and very well attended. The presentation starts with PA’s higher education landscape as it relates to the State System, then moves to governance structures, roles and responsibilities, and closes with the status of System Redesign. The slides summarize the major points and also serve as a review of trustee’s roles and responsibilities. (Presentation: System-Level Onboarding for University Trustees)​

  • The Presidents panel, facilitated by President Daniel Wubah, Millersville University, and panelists President Dale Elizabeth Pehrsson, Clarion University, and President Bashar Hanna, Bloomsburg University, brought trustees up-to-date on university integrations and the new allocation formula for appropriations.  (Presentation: Aligning the Allocation Forumula for Student Success)

  • Next followed a presentation from Dr. Denise Pearson, Vice Chancellor and Chief DEI Officer, that ended with a robust discussion on how trustees can be involved in DEI. All trustees are asked to read the Board of Governors Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  One attendee felt that a key takeaway was “treat everyone with human dignity so our universities are welcoming.” (Presentation: DEI: Beyond Case Making)

  • Friday morning started out with goals and data on the state of higher education in Pennsylvania from Dr. Tanya Garcia.  The Commonwealth has a Postsecondary Education Attainment goal of 60% by 2025. Although we have moved the needle in the right direction on college attainment, the Commonwealth is almost 20% short from accomplishing the goal in less than 3 years by being currently at 50.7% college attainment (60-50.7=9.3/50.7=20%). This presentation builds off of the DEI discussion of a culture of human dignity and the feeling of belonging based on the 11 social identities outlined in her presentation.​ (Presentation: Pennsylvania's Master Plan for Higher Education) 

  • We had an update from the Dr. Jamie Martin, APSCUF President, that informed us on the struggles of faculty during COVID and how they responded to ensure a quality education for our students.  

  • We closed with an update on the State System from Board of Governor’s Chair Cindy Shapira and Chancellor Dan Greenstein. We are coming into Stage 3 of the System Redesign. We have made significant progress and are coming into a full drive focus on enrollment and success for students. (Presentation: System Redesign: Purpose and Progress to Date.​) 

  • We had our PACT Annual Meeting where we thanked officers for their service and commitment to higher education. Jeff Smith, PACT President from 2018 to 2020, accepted his award and made the plea that trustees show their power with their voice. Jack Wabby, current PACT President, was unable to attend;  however, we thank him for his leadership during the COVID era.  

  • PACT announced officers commencing July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024. Congrats to the following:

1st Vice President elect – Rich Frerichs, Millersville University Trustee
2nd Vice President elect – Mike Ross, Shippensburg University Trustee
Secretary – Mary Coploff, Lock Haven University Trustee
Treasurer – Karen Russell, Mansfield University Trustee
President Elect – Milissa Bauer, Clarion University Trustee

I hope each of you will be active by reaching out regarding State System funding so that the Commonwealth’s taxpayers have the opportunity to have the highest quality education at the lowest possible cost! So let’s hit the ground and see all "Trustees in Action" this year!

Thank you for all your time and support of the PACT, and we look forward to seeing many more of you at our summer and fall meetings.

Finally, I want to close with a special thank you to Charissa Williams who planned a wonderful experience for all trustees.  


Sincerely, 

Milissa Bauer, President Elect of PACT​​

 2018 PACT Spring Conference
April 2019
Documents​

April 12-13, 2018

Documents

  • The panel of trustees led an important discussion with attendees to revisit the responsibilities of Trustee, University President, Chancellor and Board of Governors as specified in our current governance model (Act 188).
  • The session included a discussion and recommendations for an improved governance model for the 21stCentury. In support of these discussions, resources included the Trustee Handbook​, including:
    • Excerpts of Act 188 and Section 2009, pages 10-11
    • The Trustee Role and the University President, page 13
    • Personal Checklist for Trustees, page 24
  • Additional resources included articles from Trusteeship magazine, published by the Association of Governing Boards (AGB), a valuable resource publication for all trustees.
  • The panel discussed the importance of a trustee self-assessment as a tool to understand the opportunities, as both an individual and a council, to enhance participation and add value to each council and university. The self assessment developed by the Millersville Council of Trustees is a great example of this valuable tool.

 2017 PACT Fall Workshop
October 17, 2017
Documents

 2017 PACT Spring Conference
April 19-20, 2017
 Documents 
Spring Conference Booklet
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 t​o 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.​​​