Honors College Governance
“. . . the College seeks to foster an intellectual climate in which democracy, diversity, excellence, and civility are fundamental, coequal values.” -- from the Mission Statement of the Honors College.
Given the College’s mission, its governance is crucial. Governance implies a framework of system of government, and it implies a governing activity or function. Both system and function require shared responsibility for managing resources towards achieving some agreed ends.
Starting with governance function, we need to acknowledge that, given our aims and ends, chief of which is students’ academic success, we must manage our resources well: responsibly and carefully, yes, but also creatively and energetically. Management of resources is not a job exclusively for managers, nor in any successful organization can it be restricted to a managerial class (for instance, to deans and associate deans). In higher education, we have to include all producers in the activity of governance, minimally to insure that their valuable time is well and wisely spent. Here, the field of all producers includes faculty and students and staff (it certainly cannot be narrower). So if you are (for example) a student, and want to take part in Honors College governance, a good place to start is with your own time and money and energy.
If you are a member of the Honors College, we’d also be glad of your advice in terms of the College’s time and money and energy, so we also have a framework of government* that is open and participatory, while reflecting our pursuit of excellence. Openness is reflected especially in the College Assembly, where all those who have taught in the program and College staff sit as by right, but where a large representation of twelve students sit, eleven by special election, the president of the Honors College Student Association (PLHCSA, pronounced “plick-sa”) ex officio. The Assembly takes as its purview the corporate life of the Honors College, on which it makes recommendations to the dean, and the Assembly can also consider the honors academic program, and make recommendations concerning it to the Honors College Council.
The Honors College Council is made up almost entirely of Honors College faculty, who are elected to the Council by the Assembly or are members of the College’s full-time faculty. In addition, the Council has two student members, and the dean, associate dean, and writing director sit ex officio. The Council is responsible for assessing the quality of the academic program, for reviewing course proposals, and for considering new curricular experiments. Like the Assembly, the Council makes representations or recommendations to the dean on these issues, and also evaluates proposals by the dean.
To some extent, the dean, who is appointed by the University of Missouri to be the responsible administrative officer, stands outside of this governance system by virtue of that appointment. But given the educational mission of the Honors College, perhaps I might say that the dean needs carefully to consider and openly to respond to the representations and recommendations of the honors students, faculty, and staff, whether coming from the Assembly and Council, from the Student Association, or from individual members of the honors community.
Robert M. Bliss
Dean of the College
*The framework document, which should be considered a draft rather than a “constitution,” is also available on the website.