Report to State Board of Higher Education September 2015
President’s Column
Tisa Mason, Ed.D.
I find myself thinking a lot about
leadership these days. I have
long believed that leadership
is not a position but a process.
Key elements of leadership as a
process include:
•a culture of trust
•clarity on how we define
success
•decisions based on knowledge rather than opinion
•nimble and well-defined decision-making
processes (many voices with clarity regarding
who is accountable for specific areas of decisionmaking)
These elements of leadership as a process serve as a
guide to help our university think and act strategically
in fulfilling our mission “to prepare students to succeed
as educators, leaders, and engaged citizens in an
increasingly complex and diverse society.”
As simple as those four bullet points may appear, to be
successful it takes intentionality, focus, and practice.
In higher education, we often use the term “shared
governance” to describe this process.
At Valley City State University, we practice shared
governance through four organizational structures:
President’s Cabinet, Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and
Student Senate. These four groups come together in our
Executive Team and are supplemented by a variety of
committees and task forces.
I am excited by the energy, talent, and promise of our
senate leaders:
•Anthony Dutton, Faculty Senate president,
assistant professor and chair, Department of
Social Science (Ph.D., history, North Dakota
State University; M.A., history, University of North
Dakota; B.S. Ed., Valley City State University)
•Kaleen Peterson, Staff Senate president,
admission counselor, Office of Enrollment
Services (J.D., B.A., University of North Dakota)
•Madelyn Zane, Student Senate president
(VCSU senior, business process integration
management major, Newburg, N.D.)
I am equally excited by the members of Cabinet who
work tirelessly and deliberately to deliver on our
mission by unleashing the potential of faculty, staff,
and students:
• Margaret Dahlberg, Ph.D., vice president for
academic affairs
• Wesley Winch, vice president for business affairs
• Jack Denholm, athletic director
• Larry Robinson, executive director for university
advancemen
• Joe Tykwinski, chief information officer
• Greg Vanney, director of marketing and
communications
(This group will soon be joined by a new vice president
for student affairs.)
So as I think about leadership, I pause to reflect on
how fortunate VCSU is to share governance, lead as a
process, and excel because our people are driven by
our mission, quality, integrity, innovation, community,
and diversity. And because of these people and these
reasons, our future is vibrant—and that makes it a
great day to be a Viking!
Staff Senate report
Faculty Senate REPORT
VCSU’s Staff Senate is off and
running this academic year.
We have exciting things in the
works, the most notable being
activities to increase a sense of
Viking Pride on campus. With
the charge from Cabinet and
all the support we could ask
for, we are planning fun events,
sales, giveaways, and more, to cover VCSU in our color,
cardinal. The motto, “We All Row,” suits our goal of
strengthening the culture of teamwork and family we
want to possess at VCSU, and Staff Senate is excited to
lead the rallying cry for this sentiment.
VCSU’s Faculty Senate has
hit the ground running and is
looking forward to a productive
fall.
Kaleen Peterson
The work of our Onboarding Subcommittee last year
has resulted in a face-to-face welcome for all new staff
members from Staff Senate, notification of new staff for
which broadband group they are a part of, and improved
means of finding information in our printed Employee
Directory on campus. These items might seem small,
but every little bit helps the cause, and we want to
ensure new staff members are connected early on and
can find what they need with the resources they have.
We have created a group of subcommittees made
up of staff members who are not representatives on
Staff Senate. This allows more staff to get involved
in a way that is meaningful to them without taking on
the commitment of being a senator. This has been
well received, and we have great groups eager to take
on their specific area. One of these is a Community
Subcommittee currently planning a Secret Viking
activity for staff over Homecoming week. We are excited
to see that roll out.
October 1, 2015, will be a historic day at VCSU when
Tisa Mason is inaugurated as our 13th president. Staff
Senate is encouraging all staff and students to take
part in a campus walk from the Student Center over to
the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse to attend Inauguration. It
will be a fun event that we hope all take the chance to
be a part of.
Staff Senate at VCSU is enjoying having our students
back on campus for a new school year. We are a group
of office staff, coaches, and trades, and it has been a
great mix—lots of opinions, discussion, and individuals
happy to be part of the Viking Family helping and
guiding students every day.
Anthony Dutton
One of the big issues that senate
will be dealing with this year is
overseeing curriculum changes
in the development of a new
catalog for the 2016–18 biennium. This is a shared
responsibility with the Curriculum Committee, and every
two years represents a major commitment of energy from
both groups.
The rhythm of this work will soon change, however, as
VCSU is in the process of adopting CourseLeaf software
to refine both the curriculum revision and catalog
development processes. A working group representing
the registrar, curriculum committee and other
stakeholders has been hard at these tasks for months,
developing workflow and customizing the software to
VCSU. We anticipate efficiencies in the coming years, to
reward the effort today.
Senate is pursuing the needed constitutional changes
to complete our transition from academic divisions to
departmental organization. Two years ago, VCSU began
the process of eliminating a level of academic oversight
to address a recommendation from the Higher Learning
Commission’s site visit. This year we will effect the last of
those changes.
Senate will also oversee a number of policy revisions,
including academic integrity, and aligning the campus
and NDUS intellectual property policies. Also in the early
stages is a faculty workload study to assess how nonteaching commitments bear on our work lives.
The watchword on campus this year is governance,
and with President Mason’s guidance and support,
senate is working to actively represent the interests of
faculty while cooperating with Staff Senate, the campus
administration, and Student Senate.
VCSU is moving forward in pursuing a shared governance
model, and as representative of the faculty, I am
optimistic that we all will benefit, together.
Student Senate report
Look for a report from Student Senate in the next issue
of this publication.