Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 74.69
Liaison Tess Esposito
Submission Date Feb. 9, 2022

STARS v2.2

University of Dayton
PA-3: Inclusive and Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.12 / 3.00
"---" 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:
All full time undergraduate students have an avenue to participate and elect representatives to the Student Government Association (SGA). They have access to a software program called OrgSync that is used to elect representatives to SGA by class (first-year, sophomore, etc.) and by major (Arts & Sciences rep, School of Business Admin rep, etc.).

SGA Mission: "The mission of the University of Dayton’s Student Government Association is to actively advocate on behalf of the undergraduate students, seek to hear every voice across campus, and serve as the liaison between the administration, faculty, staff, and the student body."
https://udayton.edu/studev/leadership/involvement/student-life/org-sga.php


Staff participate in university governance through serving on committees including the President’s Council, President’s Cabinet, Human Resources Advisory Council, and the University Policy Coordinating Committee. Staff typically serve as a representative for their unit at the request of their unit leader and are designed to be cross-sectional.

For example, the Human Resources Advisory Council's (HRAC) charter defines membership: "Every attempt is made to ensure diverse representation. Faculty, exempt staff and non-exempt staff, including bargaining unit employees, will be represented, as well as most divisions, schools and the college." The HRAC "provides key input, feedback and advice to the Vice President for Human Resources at the University of Dayton. The Council meets and confers about benefits plans, paid time off plans, compensation plans, strategic learning and development initiatives, new and revised policies, and other important human resource initiatives. In addition, members may bring forward issues and concerns of which they are aware, representing themselves or their constituents. Members of the Council guide and help administration in understanding the needs and concerns of UD faculty and staff."

Faculty participate in university governance through the Academic Senate, the Human Resources Advisory Council, and the Education Leadership Council. Tenured and tenure-track faculty elect representatives to the Senate within their division or unit, and full-time non-tenure track faculty elect a representative, as do adjunct faculty. Students, undergraduate and graduate, and administrators are also represented on the Academic Senate; however, all Senate officers are faculty members. Additionally, faculty are nominated to participate on various committees which consult on and develop policies. Representatives report to the provost’s office and to campus units.

Faculty Policy and Governance Handbook: https://udayton.edu/provost/_resources/facadminaffairs/documents/2018-ud-facultyhandbook.pdf

Part 2. Campus stakeholder representation in governance

Total number of individuals on the institution’s highest governing body:
37

Number of students representing their peers as official members of the institution’s highest governing body:
0

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:
13

Percentage of official members of the highest governing body that are women:
35.14

Website URL where information about the institution’s highest governing body may be found:

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?:
Yes

A brief description of the campus-community council or equivalent body that gives external stakeholders a regular voice in institutional decisions that affect them:
Board of Trustees Local Community Membership. The University of Dayton’s governing Code of Regulations ensures that community stakeholders are participants in university governance, strategy, and operations. The Code (Article V Section 5) stipulates that at least 20% of the total number of Trustees, including ex officio voting Trustees, shall represent involvement in the Greater Dayton community. “Greater Dayton” means the eight-county area consisting of Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Clarke, Darke, Warren, Butler, and Preble counties. Because of this representation on the Board and the strong commitment of the University to be parterns in community-building, the community is able to provide feedback about the institution's role and impact with the community including adjacent property owners, and relationships with the City of Dayton, Montgomery County, and surrounding communities. (https://www.udayton.edu/legalaffairs/governingdocs/code-of-regulations-page.php).

Members of the Board of Trustees represent civil society, private sector, and educational organizations. (https://udayton.edu/president/administration/board-of-trustees/index.php)

Fitz Center Mission Statement provides a framework for stakeholder engagement. The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community initiates and sustains partnerships within urban neighborhoods and larger communities that both support comprehensive community building and provide a context for broadly connected learning and scholarship. The agenda of the Fitz Center is determined entirely on the basis of the leadership challenges facing the community partners. It is a collaboration with our communities that enables them to provide feedback to the university on its role and impact in the community. All Fitz Center partners contribute to monthly or quarterly face-to-face discussions of emerging community challenges and the University’s current and desired role in addressing the challenges.

Land-use planning: The University supports community-campus dialogue and engagement when new properties are developed. For example, in 2017-2019 the University supported a Project Manager position as a liaison to engage external stakeholders in land use planning for the recently purchased Fairgrounds (OnMain) property adjacent to campus. This project manager was in regular email and personal contact with community members, coordinated over 40 stakeholder meetings in 2017-2018, including 3 meetings with the community group (FANS), and four advisory committee meetings that bring several groups to the same table (Dayton Development Co, Downtown Dayton Partnership, Urban League, City of Dayton, Dayton History, Dayton Chamber of Commerce, Fitz Center, RTA, Citywide Development). In addition, the planning firm hired by the University and its partner in the project, Premier Health, held two community wide events that brought in over 500 people (total), and supported an opportunity for online engagement that brought in over 1300 ideas.
(http://fairgroundstofuture.org/). Similar community development partnerships are convened with the University's anchor institution role in the Dayton Arcade redevelopment project.

Additionally, each school convenes an Advisory Council that includes membership by external stakeholders. The schools rely on advisory councils to stay connected to industry partners, non-profit organizations, and governmental organizations and educational institutions. Membership on these advisory councils includes external stakeholders from local government, educational, private-sector, and civil society organizations. Examples include representatives from the Marianist communities, local governments, Dayton Public Schools, local businesses, and local non-profit organizations. The following are a few of the advisory councils that have external stakeholders:
Law School: https://udayton.edu/law/about/about-us/advisory_council.php
School of Business Administration: https://udayton.edu/business/about/alumni/advisory-councils1.php

In 2017, University of Dayton launched For the Common Good, a website outlining five overarching themes of the University's ambitious strategic vision. The "Building Capacity for Servant-Leadership" initiative will be achieved in part through community engagement define as developing "deeper, higher-impact reciprocal relationships in the Dayton community, elevating the education of our students through experiential learning and addressing issues such as Catholic and urban education; food security, nutrition, and health; reconciliation of racial, religious, and cultural conflict; environmentally sustainable neighborhoods; and alternatives to violence," appointing "'community geographers' to analyze neighborhood-based data and trends to identify and prioritize issues for our shared work," creating "community co-working space for non-profit community organizations," locating "strategically pivotal, community-based centers," and serving as a hub of student, faculty, and staff collaboration." https://udayton.edu/vision/#!/stories/servant-leadership.php

Optional Fields 

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

Website URL where information about the institution’s governance structure is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Student Government Association: https://udayton.edu/studev/leadership/involvement/student-life/org-sga.php

Office of the President (including information about Board of Trustees, President's Cabinet, President's Council, Educational Leadership Council, Government and Regional Relations, and President's Emissaries): https://udayton.edu/president/administration/index.php

Faculty Policy & Governance Handbook: https://udayton.edu/provost/_resources/facadminaffairs/documents/2018-ud-facultyhandbook.pdf

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.