COM-FSM Governance System

The College of Micronesia-FSM Board of Regents approved the Governance Policy at its December 2006 meeting in Pohnpei. The administration of the College has been working with the College Community members to develop the terms of references for the standing committees and councils as most of these committees had no terms of references. Given below are the overview, founding principles and main standing committees and councils.

The purpose of the College of Micronesia-FSM Governance Model is to ensure participatory decision-making. Its fundamental premise rests upon active and responsible involvement of all College employees: faculty, staff, and administration. The model also involves the active and responsible involvement of students. An inherent characteristic is a commitment made by the President, as well as members of all constituency groups, to engage in interactive communication. The Governance Model is the system of committees, and councils which address institutional needs and provide a conduit for the system communication. Through this communication, details of issues and policy matters shall be brought into a forum where full participation in the decision making process can be assured. This model presumes that there will be a timely response to all recommendations and resolutions.

The goal of the Governance Model is to engage the faculty and other appropriate college personnel in guiding the college to achieve its mission in providing "assistance in the development of the Federated States of Micronesia by providing academic, career and technical educational opportunities for student learning." Recognizing that everyone's time is valuable, it is important for each committee to have meaningful issues to address and for a structure to exist that will ensure committee recommendations are heard and appropriately addressed. Attendance at committee and council meetings is a must. Committee recommendations are forwarded through appropriate councils/cabinet and ultimately to the President or his or her designee for action. Operations under the Governance Model shall conform to the latest edition of Robert’s Rule of Order.

Founding Principles of the COM-FSM Governance System

• COM-FSM is responsible for developing its own governance system
• COM-FSM governance system acts in an advisory capacity to the president
• Governance systems should embody and support the college's mission and strategic plan
• Governance systems are ideally organized around the work of the college rather than around employee groups. Thus, the organization of the governance components should be such that form follows function.
• All college constituents should have a role in governing the institution.
• Governance system should support a commitment to diversity.
• Membership on college standing committees should be by selection and except in case of appointed administrative positions
• Governance systems should encourage and promote a wide range of opportunities to people to exercise leadership regardless of their official position at the college
• Governance systems should provide the support necessary to allow the participation of all constituencies.
• Governance systems should clearly define the relationships among constituencies
• Governance systems also provides efficiency and effective free and open access to information
• A governance system creates an archive of documents
• Governance systems effectively balance the need for timely, informed decisions with adequate time for participation in decision-making process.
• Governance systems should ensure clear and transparent decision-making

Note: Governance is not to be confused with the business of the college. Governance proposes policy where the business of the college involves the implementation of policies. For example, governance may recommend that hours for registration be extended during the first week of a semester, the business of the college is to assign work to specific staff members to cover those extended hours.

The main standing committees of the College of Micronesia-FSM are as follows:

1. Cabinet
2. Planning and Resources Committee
a. Assessment Committee
b. Auxiliary Services Advisory Committee
c. Endowment Fundraising Steering Committee
d.Facilities and Campus Environment Committee
e. Finance Committee
f. Information Communications Technology Committee
g. Personnel Committee
h. Staff Development Committee
i.Sponsored Programs Committe

3. Curriculum Committee
a. Learning Resources Committee
4. Student Services Committee
a. Financial Aid Committee
5. Admissions, Recruitment, and Retention Committee
6. Cooperative Research and Extension Committee
7. Accreditation Committee
8. Publications Committee

Directives from the COM-FSM BOR Meeting in Kosrae

The College of Micronesia-FSM Board of Regents recently concluded its meeting in Kosrae during the week of March 12-14, 2008 at Kosrae Campus. The meeting was a success. The actions and directives from the BOR meeting in Kosrae are attached for your information.

Data on Pell Grant

fsas The Federal Pell Grant authorization as of February 18, 2008 for school year 2007-2008 is at $6,219,395 as compared to $2,259,123.00 same time during the school year 2006-2007 and this is due to timely submissions of Pell documents from students. As of February 18, 2008 about 1,987 students (83%) out of 2,396 students system-wide have been awarded Pell Grant during Fall Semester 2007 and about 1,124 students (55%) out of 2,033 students have also been awarded Pell Grant during Spring Semester 2008.

Number of High School Students in the FSM that Took the COM-FSM Entrance Test this Year

Four different recruitment teams visited all high schools in the FSM States of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap and administered the College Entrance Test (COMET) to 1,712 high school seniors. The Student Support Services Department with the assistance of some faculty members have started correcting the tests. The Admissions, Recruitment, and Retention Committee (formerly Admissions Board) will use the results of the COMET to admit students to the five COM-FSM campuses during Fall Semester 2008.

We Make a Difference

This edition of the President's Update is featuring the Partnership BA Degree Program in Elementary Education between the University of Guam and the College of Micronesia-FSM National Campus .

An agreement was made between the University of Guam (UOG) and the College of Micronesia-FSM (COM-FSM) for the mutual benefit of both institutions of higher education to offer the Partnership BA in Elementary Education at the COM-FSM National campus. This program is designed to address the needs of students who sought baccalaureate degree in education. With the cooperation of these two institutions, this program began offering courses in the summer of 2007.

Since the program is being offered at the COM-FSM National Campus, the other costs such as room & board are based on the COM-FSM rates.

PICTURES

ENROLLMENT
We have about 40 students fully admitted into the program. These are in-service and pre-service students who have completed or nearly completed the third-year certificate program in education. Some of the students are ready to do their student teaching and internship during fall 2008. Following are the enrollment we have per semester.

SIS (Student Information System) Workshop

OAR has requested an early implementation of the SIS to coincide with the end of the spring 2008 semester. There are a number of reasons for this request:

• The SIS database development is progressing rapidly
• The National OAR is finding the SIS database's ability to generate IDP and GPAs is highly accurate
• Concerns over lateness in generating academic suspension and other critical lists is of high concern
• The SIS System is a mission critical activity for improvement of the college

The early implementation of the SIS will require a new timeline for training and process development. A SIS training/Process development session is scheduled for the week of March 17 - 21, 2008 in Pohnpei. The training will:

• Provide training of trainers for use of the SIS database
• Conduct planning sessions for development of processes and procedures to implement the SIS System. This could include:
• Revision of the registration process
• Development of roles and responsibilities for obtaining and entering grades in the SIS database
• Impact on advising students
• Other items vital to the successful implementation of the SIS System

Funding has been identified to bring in one person from Kosrae Campus, Chuuk Campus, Yap Campus and FMI. The person selected should be able to train others and act as a resource as the SIS database is being implemented at each campus. He/she will also assist in the SIS database training at his/her campus. The person also needs to be able to comment and advise on the development of processes and procedures to implement the new SIS System. Training will be provided at each campus at a later date. IT and IRPO with the assistance of Vice President Ringlen are coordinating the training/development session. Generally, mornings will be devoted to training on the SIS database and afternoons to the SIS system development. The major implication for the new SIS System is the SIS database will allow direct access, entry and review of student and college information at each campus in real time. The SIS system includes the database, and goes far beyond just implementation of the database. The new SIS system will require improvements in processes and procedures and identification of roles and responsibilities to maximize the impact of the SIS system on improving the college. If properly implemented the college can expect:

• IDP completed updated at the end of each semester
• Term GPA and cumulative GPA to be calculated and available as soon as grades are entered into the system (this requires processes and procedures that ensure grades are collected and entered into the system immediately)
• Improvement in advising capacity
• Improvement of students knowledge of where they stand academically
• Faculty and staff will have access to mission critical information at their work area
• Other improvements from campus access to real time information on students, schedules, course loads, etc.

The SIS System training/development process is designed to improve the implementation process and ensure immediate impact of the SIS System on improvements at the college.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the directors of IT or IRPO.

Thank you.