UDTS ATS Accreditation 2024

Standard 9: Governance and Administration

• Standard 9: Governance and Administration

  • 9. Governance and Administration: Theological schools are communities of faith and learning governed by those with authority to ensure schools meet their missions with educational quality and financial sustainability. Governing bodies do that by working collaboratively to establish priorities, develop policies, make decisions, authorize actions, and evaluate outcomes. They are composed of qualified persons who broadly represent their schools’ constituencies and understand their fiduciary responsibilities. Governance is based on a bond of trust among boards, administrators, faculty, staff, students, and ecclesial or denominational bodies where shared governance is clearly defined and appropriately implemented. School administrations are adequately structured, sufficiently staffed, and duly authorized and supported to fulfill their responsibilities.

    
    

    Comment:

    Description of UD Board. List. Evidence of qualifications. 

    Administration org chart.
    

    Need description of Graduate Studies Governance, committees.
    

  • Governance Authority and Qualifications

  • 9.1 The school is under the documented authority of a governing body with appropriate legal authority (and ecclesial or denominational, if needed) to ensure that its mission is achieved in ways that demonstrate educational quality and financial sustainability. A school embedded in another entity has some group that attends to the theological school’s mission, such as a board committee or an advisory council, and documents that group’s authority and responsibilities. A school with a bicameral system of governance documents the authority and responsibilities of each body, such as a board overseeing financial and administrative matters and a senate overseeing academic matters. A school with a governance system where authority is shared with or delegated by an ecclesial or denominational body documents the authority and responsibilities of each body.

    Comment: Description of Seminary Advisory Council, list of members and qualifications, composition, authority. Documentation of role: advise, advocate. Documentation of meetings, visits, schedules. Agendas of COA meetings and emails to COA.
    

  • 9.2 The school’s governing members possess the qualifications appropriate to their fiduciary responsibilities and represent the diversity reflected in the school’s mission, ecclesial or denominational commitments, and constituencies. New members are appointed through clearly defined processes and are adequately oriented to their responsibilities. The school’s governing body exercises its authority collectively as a group, not as individuals, and fulfills its responsibilities on behalf of the school as a whole, using the school’s mission to guide all major decisions.

    Comment: HLC accreditation documentation of UD Board appointment process, qualifications and orientation (schedules). Include UD Mission. Evidence that mission guides decision making. List of sub-committees of board.
    

  • Governance Responsibilities and Processes

  • 9.3 The school has clear and current documents that describe its governing body’s authority, responsibilities, composition, and governance processes. Common responsibilities include ensuring the school’s mission is met; setting priorities for the school through strategic planning; selecting, caring for, evaluating, and, when necessary, dismissing the school’s chief executive officer; delegating appropriate authority to school administrators and faculty; and managing the school’s finances and other assets by approving budgets, entering into contracts, preserving endowed funds, and ensuring annual independent audits.

    Need:
    

    UD Governance handbook: document that describes boards authority, responsibility, composition and governance process.
    

  • 9.4 The school has and implements governance processes that help achieve its mission in light of its context and constituencies. These processes include governance structure(s) appropriate to the size and nature of the school, regular meetings of the governing body, clear conflict of interest policies and practices, and safeguards for procedural fairness and freedom of inquiry. The governing body communicates its major decisions in clear and timely ways to all appropriate constituencies.

    Need:
    

    a list of officers and committees
    

    meeting agendas
    

    board conflict of interest policy

    schedule of meetings of board

    evidence of communication of major board decisions

    evidence of "treating people fairly" re: "freedom of academic inquiry"
    

  • 9.5 The school’s governing body regularly evaluates its responsibilities, processes, and actions and uses those results to improve its effectiveness. The governing body also ensures that the school’s mission and educational and institutional outcomes are regularly evaluated and that the results are used to better achieve the school’s mission and improve its various outcomes.

    Need:
    

    evidence of board self-evaluation and improvement (tool to measure effectiveness?)
    

  • Shared Governance

  • 9.6 The school recognizes the value of shared governance in theological education by clearly defining and periodically evaluating how shared governance works in its setting. Shared governance recognizes the appropriate roles and expertise of key constituencies. Shared governance understands that decisions of the governing body are enhanced by seeking the wisdom of the community in collaborative ways, where that is feasible and appropriate, especially decisions impacting the school’s educational quality and financial sustainability.

    Needs:

    • "theologically informed" statement of UDs approach to shared governance, with citation (Fac handbook 1.2, 1.3, 1.4)

    • Copy of the Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws (may be obtained through the Office of the President)

    • Position descriptions for senior academic officers and Program Directors/Department Heads of the University are maintained in the Office of Academic Affairs.

  • 9.7 The school’s governing body delegates to the administration the authority to administer board policies and decisions and manage the school’s resources and operations within any appropriate guidelines set by the governing body.
    

  • 9.8 The school’s governing body delegates to the faculty appropriate authority to oversee the school’s academic programs and policies in light of their expertise in those areas. Faculty are also delegated an appropriate role in establishing admissions criteria, in recommending candidates for graduation, and in developing and implementing procedures for appointing, retaining, and promoting faculty.
    

  • Administration

  • 9.9 The school has an administrative structure adequate to the size and nature of the school and sufficiently staffed to achieve the school’s mission. The school has persons who fill the roles of chief executive officer, chief academic officer, and chief financial officer, though one person may fill more than one role. The administration represents the diversity reflected in the school’s mission, ecclesial or denominational commitments, and constituencies. Each administrator has appropriate qualifications, clearly defined responsibilities, and the necessary authority and resources to fulfill those responsibilities. Each administrator is regularly evaluated in light of assigned responsibilities, and the results are used to better fulfill or to adjust those responsibilities.

    Need:
    

    • admin org chart
    • admin qualifications (Resume) and job descriptions
    • evidence of administrator evaluations
      
  • Additional Evidence

  • 

    David Tiede "Faculty Powers in Shared Governance" File

    Mark as done