Board of Trustees to make changes for Jan. 11 meeting
The Board of Trustees have plans underway for a major revamping.
On Nov. 15, Richard Chait, professor at Harvard University, came and spent half the day making a presentation to the board about improvements they should consider to help them be more effective and make the best use of their time.
Chait said President Kermit L. Hall had asked him to come to Utah State University after Hall attended a seminar Chait presented on how presidents of universities could work more effectively with governing boards.
After Chait made the presentation, the board spent the rest of the day discussing how they can be more effective, said Lee H. Burke, assistant to the president for government relations and secretary for the Board of Trustees.
The presentation was done because the board feels they need to be more task-oriented. They want to look at larger policy issues and spend less time on routine business, Burke said.
A number of recommendations were made so the board could concentrate on issues that would serve the greater good of the university, Chait said.
The board will be “more useful at helping the university move along,” Burke said.
These changes will be discussed Wednesday at the Executive Committee meeting, Burke said. Some of the proposals will be effective immediately, while others will take more time and continue to develop.
One proposal is to disband the committees, this will help the 10 members of the board to tackle major issues like retention and recruitment as a group, rather than separate entities, Burke said.
The changes will help students because the alterations will “have the Trustees more involved in issues that will help students,” Burke said.
Faculty and staff will also be affected by the changes. It will be different for the “whole university community,” he said.
Chait said he was impressed with the board because they were receptive to new ideas and “very enthusiastic.”
“I am enormously impressed with the president’s eagerness,” he said. “There is a remarkable amount of goodwill [toward the university] with the Trustees.”
“I’m excited, I think it shows that the Trustees are interested in improving the university,” Burke said. “I’m excited that they want to become more effective.”
Chait has visited many other universities all over the country and has been making presentations since 1975.
“He is one of the nation’s leaders on governance,” Burke said.
The Board of Trustees is the “governing board for the institutions,” Burke said.
In 1969, the Utah Board of Higher Education – which is over nine Utah institutions, set up a two-tier system that would be composed of the Board of Regents and the Board of Trustees. The Trustees are responsible for picking honorary degrees, helping the community and building alumni relations, among other things. They also have other responsibilities delegated to them by the Regents. Many of those duties support the president’s initiatives, Burke said.