The content of this edition of the State Governance Action Report was informed by newspaper reports, online reports, state and institutional Web sites, and conversations with state and higher education leaders. It is current through February 1, 2011. Much of this legislative activity comes at a time when the fiscal conditions of states are…

This report represents the latest State Governance Action Report (SGAR) covering current or just recently completed legislative sessions. Among the most important issues being considered are management autonomy, such as relaxed rules for purchasing, procurement, and human resources, and greater fiscal autonomy measures such as carry-over budgeting…

Governing board members and chief administrators are increasingly faced with outside demands for better accountability, higher productivity, and experimental innovations at the same time that students stress the need for more relevant courses and more daily contact with professors. A few of the most important trends which have potential for…

This booklet, intended for junior and community college trustees, contains three addresses given this year at a special conference for two-year college trustees, a paper based on a national survey of community college trustees, reaction to that paper, and a selected bibliography of articles, studies, and dissertations by lay governance of the…

Recommendations are presented on how to improve trustee selection in public colleges and universities. It is assumed that the health of public institutions depends on the competence of their trustees, that there has been an erosion in the autonomy of public governing boards, and that lack of diversity in board membership limits its perspectives.…

Problems of collective bargaining for the University of Wisconsin (UW) system and proposed solutions are considered, based on the efforts of a task force representing the various components of the system. Background information and a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the resulting 1975 report are included. Major issues include the…

A self-study survey for state postsecondary education planning and coordinating boards are presented. The first section (topic 1) allows respondents to rate 13 general postsecondary education goals on a 4-point scale (i.e., high, medium, low, or no importance/priority for the board). Under topic 2, respondents can rate the role of the state…

Background data pertaining to postsecondary education in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio are presented as part of a seminar on statewide concerns about the future of public higher education, which was part of an inservice education program. For each state the following is included: demographic and fiscal information, a description of the…

This report examines the historical role of statewide coordinating boards, most of which were established after World War II to help states deal with conflicting institutional political interests and values. While authority over institutional management remains vested in governing boards, statewide coordinating boards serve as alternative models…