CCC | Steering Committee Role & Function

Vision:
The Campus Climate Council envisions a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse that recognizes, values, celebrates, and achieves equity amongst individuals in the University Community.  A community where individuals foster, respect, and share responsibilities for the mission

Mission:
The Council will foster an inclusive, collaborative, social justice approach to achieving equity across the entire campus.  We champion intellectual and personal growth, intercultural understanding, and respect within the greater La Crosse community, and beyond.

How does the Campus Climate Council function as a Steering Committee?
A Steering Committee is the key body responsible for the issues associated with the goals that are essential to ensuring the delivery and the attainment of the mission and vision.  This includes helping to determine priorities for the Campus Climate Office including but not limited to approving the budgetary strategy, monitoring risks, timelines, making policy, and assessing requests for changes to the scope of the council’s charge.

The membership consists of:

  • Campus Climate Coordinator
  • Members of the elected Leadership Team
  • Representatives of the Key Stakeholders
  • Experts from within the university
  • Experts from community

The Campus Climate Coordinator is an ad hoc member of the Campus Climate Council which provides support, guidance and the executive oversight of progress.  The coordinator will normally attend meetings of the Steering Committee to speak to their reports and answer any questions raised by members.  An additional resource (such as a project team member or administrative staff) may attend to assist the coordination. 

What does the Campus Climate Council do?
Collectively, a Steering Committee’s role is to:

  • determine priorities
  • take on responsibility for the feasibility of initiatives and achievement of outcomes;
  • ensure initiatives align with the agreed requirements of the key stakeholder groups;
  • provide those directly involved in the project with guidance on business issues; ensure effort is appropriate to stakeholder expectations;
  • ensure that strategies to address potential threats to the project’s success have been identified, and that the threats are regularly re-assessed.
  • address any issue which has major implications for the mission and vision of the Campus Climate office.
  • keep the project scope under control as emergent issues force changes to be considered;
  • reconcile differences in opinion and approach and resolve disputes arising from them.

What role do individual members perform?
Individual Steering Committee members are not directly responsible for managing project activities, but provide support and guidance for those who do.  Thus, individually, Steering Committee members should:

  • understand the strategic implications and outcomes of initiatives being pursued through the Campus Climate Office.
  • appreciate the significance of the project for all stakeholders and represent their interests;
  • be genuinely interested in the initiative and the outcomes being pursued in the project;
  • understand and communicate the issues of constituent group’s issues to other CCC members;
  • understand and communicate the issues of CCC member’s constituent group issues to one’s individual unit/committee;
  • be an advocate for the projects outcomes by being committed to and actively involved in pursuing the project’s outcomes; and
  • have a broad understanding of Campus Climate issues and approach being adopted.

In Practice, this means they:

  • ensure the project’s outputs meet the needs of the key stakeholders;
  • help balance conflicting priorities and resources;
  • provide guidance to the leadership team and the Coordinator;
  • consider ideas and issues raised;
  • foster positive communication outside of the Committee regarding the project’s progress and outcomes; and
  • review the progress of the project.

What happens during each meeting?
The Leadership team usually will conduct the meeting according to the agenda, ensuring that all members are encouraged to provide input throughout the meeting and that any decisions or recommendations are adequately resolved and confirmed by the members.  A basic agenda would include:

  • confirmation of minutes from the previous meeting
  • reviewing the status of action items from previous meetings;
  • report on the status of any project(s) by the project leader(s);
  • discussion on other documents to be considered (if any);
  • report from consultants (if any);
  • any other business; and
  • confirmation of date, time and venue for next meeting.

Steering Committee members have the opportunity to raise any issues not previously discussed at the meeting under the item Other Business. The Chair will arrange for the meeting to be minuted.

What happens after each meeting?
Within a week of the meeting, a copy of the minutes of the meeting should be circulated to all members.

What should the Coordinator be doing?
The Coordinator should be busy managing the office according to the agreed mission/vision.   

The Leadership team should meet with the coordinator on a more frequent basis to follow up on continuing projects and to discuss new directions.  The Steering Committee can expect the Coordinator to objectively report to them on the status of project(s), including any problems or issues that require their attention/direction.

Submitted by Leadership Team on December 8, 2006 (Last Revised 2/12/07)

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