The collegial governance of Tidewater Community College is founded on the belief that the internal constituencies of the institution-- administration, faculty, classified employees, and students-- are to be genuinely represented and have a meaningful voice in the decisions affecting the operation, policy development, and strategic planning of the college. The purpose of the Tidewater Community College Governance Structure (as described below) is to define the roles that board members, administrators, faculty, classified staff and students should play in shared responsibility and cooperative action. The design of the governance system adheres to two basic operating principles-- that peoples time is a precious commodity which should not be wasted, and that people do their best work when there is a high expectation that their work will matter.

Mutual trust, good faith, support and commitment to the institution and its students are essential to the success of shared governance. Because shared governance is intended to serve the entire college, it is incumbent upon all constituent groups, committees and task forces to ensure that representation from all areas of the college be fair, timely and inclusive.

The governance structure grew out of a specially appointed team that worked on it during the 1998-1999 academic year. The structure went into effect in the fall 1999 semester.

Purpose

The purpose of the Tidewater Community College Governance Structure is to define the roles that trustees, administrators, faculty, classified staff, and students should play in shared responsibility and cooperative action.