Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 66.30
Liaison Andrea Trimble
Submission Date March 1, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Virginia
PA-3: Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.25 / 3.00 Andrea Trimble
Director - Office for Sustainability
Office for Sustainability
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Part 1

Do the institution’s students have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a student council)? :
Yes

Do the institution’s students have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
Yes

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which students are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
A student representatives has been included as a member of UVA's Board of Visitors since 1983: https://vpsa.virginia.edu/student-member and http://www.virginia.edu/bov/visitorsandstaff.html The student representative is essentially selected by their peers, as the outgoing student BOV representative speaks for his/her peers (his/her role is to represent students) and is a key voice in selecting the subsequent student BOV member, annually. Students serve on all University and Presidential Committees. Students run the Honor and University Judiciary Committees, and student self-governance is a key feature of life at UVA. See decision-making descriptions below for more details.

Do the institution’s staff members have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a staff council)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s non-supervisory staff members have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body?:
No

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which staff are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
The Staff Senate (http://staffsenate.virginia.edu/) represents all staff personnel who work in the Academic Division, equaling over 5,000 staff. In the Academic Division's Staff Senate, senators are elected by their represented areas, such as Facilities Management, IM-Rec, etc.. Staff can submit concerns or questions directly to their senators to be share with the staff senate at monthly meetings, or they can submit an anonymous email online. Additionally, the Medical Center has an Employee Council for staff in the Medical Center (http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/pub/mcec/home.html). The UVA Medical Center Employee Council aims to enhance Health System services by representing the ideas and concerns of Medical Center staff and customers through direct communication and active problem solving with administration and peers. The Council is comprised of representatives from each area of the Medical Center and related clinics and services. Members meet once a month (the 2nd Thursday of each month) with administration and representatives from various areas of the University to discuss challenges, successes, and ideas for improvement.

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have a representative body through which they can participate in governance (e.g. a faculty senate)?:
Yes

Do the institution’s teaching and research faculty have an elected representative on the institution’s highest governing body? :
Yes

If yes to either of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which teaching and research faculty are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:
The UVA Board of Visitors includes a Faculty representative (http://www.virginia.edu/bov/visitorsandstaff.html). This person is selected based on the recommendation of the UVA Faculty Senate, to the University Board of Visitors - thus selected by their peers. UVA’s Faculty Senate represents the interests of all academic faculty at the University regarding all elements of University governance and advises the President and the Board of Visitors (BOV) concerning educational and operational matters affecting the welfare of the University and its community (see http://www.virginia.edu/facultysenate/index.html for additional details). All academic faculty including both tenure-eligible and non-tenure-track (NTT) teaching and research faculty who are employed full-time or part-time (50% or greater) are eligible to nominate, vote for, and serve as members of the Faculty Senate. In addition, UVA’s General Faculty Council (GFC) represents the interests of full and part-time (50% or greater) NTT faculty and senior professional research staff at the University, advises the University on matters pertaining to these constituents, and provides service to the University (see http://www.virginia.edu/generalfacultycouncil/ for additional details). All NTT faculty including both academic teaching and research faculty and administrative and professional faculty as well as senior professional research staff who are employed full-time or part-time (50% or greater) are eligible to nominate, vote for, and serve as members of the GFC. As described in more detail below, elected representatives of the Senate are appointed to serve on seven BOV committees and elected representatives of both the Senate and the GFC are appointed to serve on numerous University committees and task forces (see for example http://www.virginia.edu/facultysenate/senatereps/ and http://www.virginia.edu/generalfacultycouncil/committees.html).

Part 2

Does the institution have written policies and procedures to identify and engage external stakeholders (i.e. local residents) in land use planning, capital investment projects, and other institutional decisions that affect the community?:
Yes

A copy of the written policies and procedures:
threepartyagreement.pdf

The policies and procedures:
The Planning And Coordination Council (PACC) is a group that brings together the City of Charlottesville, the County of Albemarle and the University of Virginia to discuss topics of mutual interest, including development plans. "The Planning & Coordination Council (PACC) was established in 1986 to promote cooperation in planning and community development between the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and the University of Virginia. Meetings are held quarterly and the coordination of those meetings is shared and rotated between the three governing bodies." The three party agreement can be found here: http://www.officearchitect.virginia.edu/index.php/item/1578-pacc

Does the institution have formal participatory or shared governance bodies through which community members representing the interests of the following stakeholder groups can regularly participate in institutional governance?:
Yes or No
Local government and/or educational organizations Yes
Private sector organizations No
Civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) No

If yes to one or more of the above, provide:

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which external stakeholders are engaged in institutional governance (including information about each stakeholder group selected above):
The PACC Tech committee is a sub-committee of the Planning and Coordination Council. It consists of planners from all three entities of PACC: the city, county, and University.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
https://vpsa.virginia.edu/student-member

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
https://vpsa.virginia.edu/student-member http://www.virginia.edu/bov/visitorsandstaff.html https://staffsenate.virginia.edu/ http://www.virginia.edu/facultysenate/ http://www.charlottesville.org/departments-and-services/pacc-meeting

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.