Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.15
Liaison Mary Ellen Mallia
Submission Date Feb. 27, 2023

STARS v2.2

University at Albany
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.62 / 3.00 Mary Ellen Mallia
Director of Environmental Sustainability
Finance and Business
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Shared governance bodies

Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which the following stakeholders can regularly participate in the governance of the institution?:
Yes or No
Students Yes
Academic staff Yes
Non-academic staff Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal participatory or shared governance bodies:
The Shared Governance structure at the University at Albany includes the faculty, professional staff, students, the University Council, and the SUNY Board of Trustees. Shared governance is the set of principles and practices through which these stakeholders, where appropriate, participate in the process of informed decision and policy making whose impact is advancing the mission of the institution. This shared responsibility depends on the good faith consultation, among stakeholders, prior to and open communication throughout the decision making process. The result being a shared responsibility for the identification and pursuit of an aligned set of strategic initiatives. Shared governance does not mean that all decisions are made by consensus or that all ideas have merit and will be implemented. Rather, shared governance promotes an environment that fosters opportunity for stakeholders to engage in the process and to be heard.
The shared governance model is illustrated at: https://www.albany.edu/sharedgovernance/

Part 2. Campus stakeholder representation in governance

Total number of individuals on the institution’s highest governing body:
11

Number of students representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
2

Number of academic staff representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
1

Number of non-academic staff representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
0

Part 3. Gender equity in governance

Number of women serving as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
3

Percentage of official members of the highest governing body that are women:
27.27

Website URL where information about the institution’s highest governing body may be found:
https://www.albany.edu/council/council-members

Part 4. Community engagement bodies

Does the institution host or support one or more formal bodies through which external stakeholders have a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them?:
No

A brief description of the campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them:
---

Optional Fields 

Number of people from underrepresented groups serving as official members of the institution’s highest governing body.:
4

Website URL where information about the institution’s governance structure is available:
https://www.albany.edu/council/council-members

Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Selwa Khan, the undergraduate student representative on the university council, is from an underrepresentative group joining other council members Abner JeanPierre, James Jackson and Robert Balachandran.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.