Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.08
Liaison Tess Esposito
Submission Date March 1, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Dayton
PA-3: Participatory Governance

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.25 / 3.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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?:
No

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which students are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:

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


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

A brief description of the bodies and mechanisms through which staff are engaged in governance, including information to support each affirmative response above:

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.


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? :
No

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:

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


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:
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The policies and procedures:

Local residents and other external stakeholders also have the opportunity to contribute to institutional decisions through the Board of Trustees, the highest governing body of the University. The University of Dayton’s governing Code of Regulations ensures that community stakeholders are participants in university governance, strategy, and operations. This participation is written into University policy in the Code of Regulations [https://www.udayton.edu/legalaffairs/governingdocs/code-of-regulations-page.php]. 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 partners 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.

When the University of Dayton applies for changes to the city's zoning code for land-use changes, the community and external stakeholders have the opportunity to provide input through the city's public notice and comment periods. For all projects where earth will be disturbed, the University also must apply for an NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permit. Members of the public may review permit applications in order to familiarize themselves with permits that may affect them. The community has the opportunity to provide comments on the draft permit either in writing or at public hearings. The written policies guiding this input are a City of Dayton policy and a State of Ohio policy.

As part of a recent industrial site clean-up on land acquired by the University, public notices and public comment periods with the Ohio EPA and US EPA provided community members and external stakeholders opportunities to provide input on land use planning and capital investment projects involving the reclaimed site. The written legislation requiring public input comes from the State of Ohio and the U.S. EPA. It is the policy of the institution to follow all state, local, and federal legislation.

Government and Regional Relations: "The University of Dayton’s government relations office fosters strong relationships with local, state and federal officials — on issues ranging from student financial aid to economic development initiatives." https://udayton.edu/president/administration/government-relations/index.php


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 Yes
Civil society (e.g. NGOs, NPOs) Yes

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):

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 a Project Manager position as a liaison to engage external stakeholders in land use planning for a newly purchased Fairgrounds (OnMain) property adjacent to campus. This project manager is 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/)

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/alumni/advisory-councils/bac.php
Libraries: https://udayton.edu/libraries/about/committee.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


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives 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


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.