President's Council - Northern Michigan University

Purpose:

President’s Council facilitates communication and functions as an information and advisement conduit.  Information flows from the President through a cross-section of campus leadership.  Information is also presented to the President and other members as members represent their departments and organizations.

Applicability/Membership: 

Members are appointed by the President.  The core membership consists of the President, all Vice Presidents and Associate/Assistant Vice Presidents, the Directors of Communication, Public Safety, Athletics, and Human Resources.  The Academic Senate Chair, the President of ASNMU, and the Executive Assistant to the President/Secretary to the Board of Trustee are also members.  Other members are appointed at the discretion of the President, and include Deans, Technology Officers, Directors, the Controller, and others.  Membership is assigned across the full organization chart to ensure proper communication across campus.     

Agenda:  

The agenda’s core includes updates from the President, Academic Affairs, Finance and Administration, Advancement, Enrollment Management and Student Services, Extended Learning and Community Engagement, Academic Senate, and ASNMU.   These updates include status updates on regular areas of concern, proposed policies and policy changes, AQIP project updates, and any other information relevant to campus.  In addition, proposed and active ad hoc initiative updates will be presented.  Finally, the council will view presentations from various departments and groups when the President had identified a need to facilitate communication on certain issues.

Duties of Members:  

Members are expected to review all policy, AQIP project, and other materials distributed before the meeting.  When the proposal is relevant to their area, members are required to carefully review and when appropriate, discuss with their department/unit members in order to facilitate discussion and provide feedback to the full council and the President.  New policy, policy changes, AQIP projects, and strategy initiatives will be read twice before implementation, so that feedback can be provided both before and after full council discussion.

In addition, the members are expected to communicate relevant information from the meeting back to their department/unit.   Unless otherwise communicated, all meeting information is expected to be shared, particularly focusing on information that would be relevant or impact the unit.  This could include current priorities/strategy, calendar updates of upcoming important deadlines/dates, updates on major initiatives,  concerns/issues, as well as areas where the unit want to engage and involve others.   

Finally, regular meetings will include “round-table” discussion, where each member will communicate their own department initiatives, news, or other information deemed relevant to the campus.

Meeting Times: 

Meeting times are set by the President. The council will meet at least twice in Fall and Winter semester.  Other meeting will be scheduled as need is identified.

Documentation:

The executive assistant to the President will distribute the agenda and support materials before meetings.  In addition, the assistant will keep meeting minutes and distribute these to the members.  Finally, new members will be provided with this document to ensure that they understand their duties as a member of the council.