Accreditation Self-Study Report 2006
Standard Three
Organization and Governance
Description
New Hampshire Technical Institute [NHTI] is one of seven colleges within the New Hampshire Community Technical College [NHCTC] System established by the New Hampshire State Legislature in 1961 (via RSA 188-F), reorganized to four colleges in 1995 (via amendments to the RSA), and reorganized once more back into seven colleges in September 2005 in RSA 188-F:4-a-II. Throughout these changes to the system, NHTI has remained the only uncoupled and residential college in the system. The NHCTC System is directed by a Board of Trustees and a Commissioner, all of whom are appointed by the Governor of the State of New Hampshire and approved by the Governor's Executive Council. New Hampshire RSA 188-F describes the authority and responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, the Commissioner, and the college Presidents within the NHCTC System. Much of the Institute's organizational structure is determined via legislation, policies, and procedures that regulate all state agencies. All colleges within the NHCTC System operate in compliance with documents listed in Section I.D.1 of the New Hampshire Community Technical College Board of Trustees Policy Manual and within the boundaries of the System's mission.
The 25-member Board of Trustees, the governing board of NHTI and its sister colleges, includes representation from the following areas: business and industry; education or technology; labor; law enforcement; health service professions; and the community service sector. The Board also includes the following individuals: a high school vocational director, an alumnus/a of a NHCTC System College, five general public members, and two full-time current students from the NHCTC System. The Board meets with the seven college Presidents and Commissioner in practice monthly and by rule no less than once every three months. The Board reviews the overall effectiveness of the legislated governance structures of the System colleges. It also maintains and revises the Policy Manual as necessary. Approved amendments to the Policy Manual are included in minutes and distributed electronically to all NHCTC system employees. Trustees have no financial interest in the institution.
The NHCTC System Office and the Board of Trustees have direct involvement in budget management, payroll, purchasing, professional development, information technology, grants, and human resources. For example, the Commissioner defines and chairs the System Leadership Team [SLT], which includes all College Presidents and selected System personnel. This team meets regularly, independently and with the Board of Trustees, to recommend System policies, fees, and tuition, and to develop college capital and operating budgets for Board and legislative approval; once approved by the legislature, each college's budget is managed by its President. Each college within the system is provided with funding from the New Hampshire General Fund. The Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs meet regularly with the Deputy Commissioner to discuss issues and propose academic policies and procedures affecting all campuses, such as the academic calendar, grading policies, and System initiatives (e.g., Running Start, distance learning, etc.). In addition, the System Office also supervises the Information Technology Department, which provides database management and computer infrastructure for all the colleges within the System.
As required by the enabling legislation, NHTI's Chief Executive Officer [CEO] is the President, who is nominated by the Commissioner and approved by the Board of Trustees; effective in the fall of 2005, a new President no longer needs to be confirmed by Governor and Council. As the CEO, the President holds full appointing and fiscal powers and delegates tasks to appropriate personnel as illustrated in the NHTI Organization Chart Overview (Figure III.A). The Commissioner conducts a review of the President annually in the areas of leadership, management skills, vision-setting, developing partnerships with business, communities, and government, managing fiscal and budgetary matters, fund development, and working effectively with faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
In accordance with RSA 188-F, NHTI is managed below the level of President by three Vice Presidents, defined in the New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules as the Vice President of Academic Affairs [VPAA], the Vice President of Student Affairs [VPSA], and the Vice President of Continuing and Corporate Education [VPCCE], all of whom report directly to the president, as do the Associate Vice President of Enrollment and Retention, the Chief Financial Officer [CFO], the Director of Academic and Administrative Computing, the Director of Communications, and the Director of Information Technology System Integration. In addition, with suggestions from the campus community and approval from the Commissioner, the President selects and maintains the Institute Advisory Board, which, though it has no legal authority, provides valuable counsel to the President.
All institutional activities, including governance, emanate from the school's mission as expressed in its Mission/Values/Vision Statement, which was created and agreed upon by all Institute personnel in 1996 and re-confirmed in 2005 (see Standard One). The internal organizational design is illustrated by two documents: (1) The NHTI Organizational Chart, which conveys responsibility and reporting relationships; and (2) the Governance Model/Wheel (Figure III.B), which illustrates the shared governance structure and the interrelationships among academic departments and administrative offices.
The central organizational part of the Wheel is the Institute Leadership Team [ILT], which is comprised of all Vice Presidents and Associate Vice Presidents, the CFO, the Director of Communications, the Director of Institutional and Alumni Development, the Director of Academic and Administrative Computing, the Institute Form President, the Forum Faculty Representative, and the Student Senate President. ILT oversees alignment of institutional activities with the Mission/Values/Vision Statement. Because all areas of the institution are represented on the ILT, it provides the President and administration with a mechanism to respond to the concerns, needs, and initiatives of the faculty, students, other administrators, and staff.
The Governance Model/Wheel places the individual at its hub, thus offering multiple avenues for addressing concerns and chartering teams. For instance, an element of NHTI's Governance System is the Institute Forum, which meets at least four times each academic year and as issues of concern arise, and provides all staff, administrators, and faculty an opportunity to discuss institutional issues. In addition, any individual on campus can approach a sponsor (i.e., any member of the ILT) with an initiative to form a team. If ILT approves the charter, the sponsor communicates on behalf of the team with ILT. Team recommendations are then submitted to the ILT for approval through the team sponsor.
Within the NHCTC System, two students, rotated from all the System colleges, serve on the Board of Trustees. At NHTI, the Governance Model makes provisions for consideration of student views and judgments in those matters in which students have a direct and reasonable interest. Student involvement in shared governance at NHTI includes various team memberships (as appropriate) and participation in bodies such as the ILT, Student Senate, the Institute Judicial Committee, and the Residence Hall Councils. The Team Charter structure ensures student participation on teams whose goals directly affect students.
The President assesses the institution's vitality and effectiveness by reviewing key data such as budget and enrollment numbers. The assessment is a collaborative effort achieved through regularly scheduled meetings with the ILT and the President's Vice Presidents Council, which includes the Vice Presidents, the Associate Vice President of Enrollment and Retention, the CFO, and the Director of Communications. Further input is garnered through Institute Forum, department reports, and institutional research. Allocation of resources is determined with input from additional constituencies such as Department Heads, the Vice Presidents, the Institute Technology Team [ITT], the CFO, Institute Advisory Board, and other departmental managers.
In order to keep the campus informed regarding activities of the major institutional governing bodies, the ILT and Institute Forum, SLT, and the Board of Trustees distribute minutes of their meetings campus-wide; copies are maintained in the President's Office and in the library. Minutes of all other chartered team meetings are distributed to team members and are available to others upon request. Regular communication is further enhanced by the distribution of the weekly campus newsletter, Campus Comments. Additionally, through regularly scheduled meetings with their departments, Department Heads keep faculty abreast of issues that are addressed in Department Head Council meetings.
The Vice President of Academic Affairs oversees all curriculum development, with initiation occurring most often at the faculty level. Through the academic departments, faculty are responsible for building, revising, and improving curriculum. Faculty has input into curriculum issues through the Curriculum Committee, a campus-wide group chaired by the VPAA. This committee meets with heads of departments that are proposing curriculum changes as well as reviews written proposals that are required in a predetermined format. Review by ILT provides alternate views of curricular decision making: cost, program expansion, evaluation, credits, etc. New certificate programs require approval by the Commissioner, and additions and deletions of degree programs require Board of Trustees approval.
New academic policy is generated through the Office of Academic Affairs, though the impetus for these changes can come from virtually any element of the governance structure, including Institute Forum, Academic Standards Committee, and other teams that deal with academic issues. The VPAA typically queries faculty about proposed changes, shares the results with Department Head Council, and then submits the proposed changes to the ILT for review and acceptance.
The Academic Standards Team, which is comprised of representative faculty, staff from student support offices, and the Office of Academic Affairs, reviews students' academic performance at the close of each semester and makes decisions regarding students' academic status. Students may appeal those decisions to this body. Academic concerns are also brought to Department Head Council, Institute Forum, and program Advisory Boards.
Off-campus, continuing education, alternative delivery, evening, and weekend programs are clearly integrated and incorporated into the governance model. The Comparing Alternative Mechanisms for Equivalent Learning [CAMELs] Team, chaired by the Vice President of Continuing and Corporate Education, develops policies and procedures to ensure the academic integrity of courses offered in alternative formats (on-line, hybrid, condensed time format, etc.). The VPCCE oversees the Division of Continuing Education [DCE] and the Business Training Center [CTBD] and is also a member of the ILT. All DCE/CTBD staff and all adjunct faculty have the opportunity to participate in governance via the Institute Forum, according to the Forum's Constitution. In addition, DCE/CTBD staff and adjunct faculty may serve on teams and committees. The VPCCE also oversees the Cross-Cultural Education Office, which offers ESOL courses and other types of cross-cultural education, as well as activities of the Coordinator of High School Initiatives/Outreach. These latter efforts include the college's participation in the System's Running Start Program, in which high school students earn dual high school and college credit in NHTI courses taught in the high schools by qualified high school faculty partners.
The institution has periodically evaluated the effectiveness of its internal decision-making processes, using the results for its improvement. For example, as described above, the current Governance Model was developed as a result of an evaluation process begun by the (former) Faculty Forum and continued by the Governance Team after the reorganization of the NHCTC System. Proposed models were brought before the Forum for input prior to the adoption of the current Model. In addition, the Constitution for the Institute Forum was developed and later amended in 2003 following several all-inclusive meetings with various campus constituencies. Both the Governance Model and the Institute Forum have been in place for eight years. In July 2005, the ILT, the GOATs, and the Institute Forum officers held a summit to re-affirm lines of communication and decision-making within this structure.
Components of other internal evaluation processes include annual academic and nonacademic departmental reports, team updates, strategic planning, and periodic review of the Governance Model and the Mission/Values/Vision statement. These, as well as other assessment processes, are guided by the GOATs in conjunction with ILT.
Appraisal
New Hampshire Technical Institute [NHTI] realizes its mission and purposes through its organizational design and governance structure. With the oversight of the New Hampshire Community Technical College [NHCTC] System and Board of Trustees and within the operation of its own governance model, NHTI is able to create, encourage, and sustain an atmosphere that nurtures academic accomplishment.
The current 25-member NHCTC System Board of Trustees provides a broad representation of state-wide affiliations and advocates for student, business, and industry interests. The Board meets with the Commissioner and college presidents regularly and has established committees such as finance, legislative, and strategic planning, which are very active and involved. Every year, the Board of Trustees prioritizes a six-year strategic capital plan that outlines capital expenditures needed by NHTI and the other colleges in order to accommodate students' future needs. The Board has procedures in place to evaluate the Commissioner of the NHCTC System but currently does not have a system in place to evaluate its own effectiveness; the Board feels it is too early to assess its own effectiveness, since it has only recently begun setting up sub-committees and taking on tasks. The Board did, however, play a significant role in the passage of legislation resulting in the uncoupling of the colleges and the exemption from equipment and hiring freezes, both of which were pieces of legislation they wrote, supported, and lobbied for last year in the legislature.
The NHCTC System office continues to have direct involvement with NHTI in areas such as budget (operating and capital), purchasing, professional development, information technology, human resources, and policy development. There is still the perception that there is redundancy with approval and paper processing in some of these areas, especially purchasing of equipment and goods. Because the System office is located on the NHTI campus and because the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner are former NHTI administrators, NHTI has very good communication with the System. The President is a member of the Commissioner's System Leadership Team [SLT]. The Vice President of Academic Affairs [VPAA] is a member of the Deputy Commissioner's System VPAA group, which reviews academic policy and development. There are times, though, when NHTI does not have the autonomy to act in its best interest. For example, the decision by the System administrators to implement a "System-wide academic calendar," whereby all colleges would start and end each semester at the same time, has created logistical problems for NHTI, the largest college in the system. In administrative areas where there is less shared governance, there is less satisfaction. For example, the Institute lacks control over the hiring process of new faculty and staff and must abide by salary levels established by the NHCTC System office and State of New Hampshire Division of Personnel Rules. Often, salaries are not commensurate with candidates' experiences or reflective of demand within a field. With increased autonomy within the system, NHTI's administrative structure could be more effectively managed and controlled.
NHTI's President, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Associate Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs have all been recently appointed to their jobs, yet with the Institute's sound administrative structure, the President is able to delegate tasks appropriately, support the Governance Model, and respond to the concerns, needs, and initiatives of the campus community. Having inherited a fiscally sound institution, the President has further strengthened its financial health and potential for growth through a leadership role in an active fundraising campaign for the construction of a new Academic/Career and Allied Health Education building. The President attends legislative sessions, seeks advice from representative "experts" regarding campus issues, confers with the Institute Advisory Board, and regularly consults and informs interested parties via Institute Leadership Team [ILT] meetings. Additionally, she has created a Vice Presidents Council, which facilitates communication with the Vice Presidents and key members of her staff. The President's accomplishments thus far have contributed to an atmosphere of growth and creative vision.
The Governance Model, in place since 1996, is effective in many ways; it encourages open communication, providing the environment for an exchange of ideas that promote excellence in teaching, learning, and scholarship. Representation of each organizational component, including students, is assured. Forming and participating on teams is open and accessible. Many standing and ad hoc teams meet regularly. At the start of each academic year, a list of teams and their "openings" is circulated, further ensuring open participation. The Employee Handbook, currently under revision, lists the current teams, and charters are maintained and available for review in the President's Office and in the library. A climate of cooperation and openness allows people to express ideas and opinions freely.
In the academic arena, many teams chartered under the Governance Model have continued to increase the effectiveness of the college and help ensure the quality of NHTI's academic programs. The Professional Development Team, through strong advocacy and management of the process and distribution of funds, has increased the utilization of professional development funds by both faculty and staff. The team has also allocated funds to sponsor workshops developed and presented by another successful team, the Teaching and Learning Team. This team has worked to increase teaching effectiveness through mentoring newly hired professors and by presenting well-attended, lively workshops held on campus and made available to all faculty and staff. Additionally, those funded by the Professional Development Team share new insights through the Teaching and Learning Team's annual "poster sessions" workshop.
Additionally, there have been increased procedural efforts to ensure that programs and courses delivered through the Division of Continuing Education and through alternative formats undergo the same system of review as those traditionally delivered. One problem area here, however, is in courses offered through the Running Start program, where NHCTC system credits are received for ostensibly identical courses taught in area high schools by high school teachers. Despite recent implementation of quality control procedures developed at the System level, some Institute faculty find it difficult to maintain oversight of all areas of the curricula and are increasingly concerned as the NHCTC System seeks to expand this program.
Through focus group data, the Institute has periodically reviewed its organizational structure and system of governance. The May 2005 data indicates there has been continuous improvement since 2001 in areas such as the development of systems of evaluation of all administrators, team charter development and refinement, and the expanded use of communication channels for informing constituents and for decision-making. Agendas and minutes from decision-making bodies such as the Board of Trustees and ILT are either e-mailed to all employees or made available through Campus Comments; the difficulty many now have is how best to deal with the overload of information. Those who manage to stay apprised of what is happening feel "part of the process." Another difficulty with our highly functioning team structure is that some team members are concerned that the accompanying work takes time away from what they were hired to do, whether they are staff or faculty. Efforts need to be made to ensure that the work done by teams is distributed equitably. Still, the majority of the data indicates the members of the Institute appreciate the effectiveness of the above-mentioned improvements and are generally satisfied with the governance structure.
Projection
The President and the Vice Presidents will continue to represent the interests of New Hampshire Technical Institute [NHTI] to the New Hampshire Community Technical College [NHCTC] System Office, the NHCTC System Board of Trustees, and the legislative body of the State of New Hampshire. NHTI will maintain strong communication with the NHCTC System Office and will continue to advocate for increased autonomy within the System and will provide input as appropriate to the periodic evaluation of the NHCTC System Board of Trustees.
The President of NHTI will continue to respond to the concerns, needs, and initiatives of the campus community, confer with the Institute Advisory Board, maintain liaisons with business and industry through the state, and represent NHTI to the legislature of the State of New Hampshire.
NHTI will continue to ensure that all constituencies are included in the Governance Model, to work within and periodically evaluate this model, and to support the teams chartered therein. The college will continue to ensure that its Governance Model realizes the Mission/Values/Vision of the college.
The Vice President of Academic Affairs and the Vice President of Continuing and Corporate Education will work together to ensure that there continues to be close cooperation between day faculty and Department Heads and faculty teaching for the DCE, CTBD, Cross-Cultural, and Running Start programs to ensure academic integrity.