Policy

Student Accident and Illness Insurance Committee

Mission: Provides recommendations on the health insurance plan offered to domestic and international students attending MnSCU institutions.

Meeting Info: Meets at least once a year; usually convenes early in the spring semester at a Twin Cities area MnSCU campus.

Representative: Vacant

Assessment for Course Placement Committee

Mission: Makes recommendations to the Office of the Chancellor on Assessment for Course Placement policy and procedure, and assessment tools like Accuplacer.

Meeting Info: Meets quarterly. Typically, the committee meets at a MnSCU campus in the Twin Cities.

Representative: Vacant

Joint Policy-Technology

Minnesota Online Council

Mission: Minnesota Online is comprised of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities institutions to serve learners by advancing and facilitating the delivery of online products and services for its member institutions.  Minnesota Online was established to be an internal “innovative enterprise” within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system for the development and operation of e-learning.

Meeting Info.: Meets monthly in St. Paul.

Representative: Travis Johnson + one vacancy

Students First

Mission: Six individual but often interdependent projects comprise the Students First program: single search, single application, graduation planner, single registration, single bill/single payment, and shared services. The overarching goal of Students First is to make it possible for a student to access system curriculum and resources more easily.

Meeting Info: There are six focused workgroups that meet on an intermittent basis throughout the year.

Representatives:

• Single Application- Kevin Alger 
• Single Registration- Vacant 
• Single Bill/Pay-Vacant 
• Single Search- Vacant 
• Graduation Planner- Vacant 
• Shared Services- Cory Rahn 

Awards Committees

Board of Trustees’ Awards for Excellence in Teaching Review Committee

Mission: Annually reviews nominations and recommends three finalists for the Board of Trustees’ Excellence in Teaching awards. The award is an honor bestowed upon MnSCU faculty to acknowledge and reward exceptional individual professional accomplishment, and to encourage ongoing excellence, in teaching.

Meeting Info.: Meets three to four times per year, plus participation in the awards ceremony, held in the Spring.

Membership: MSCSA has three student representatives who are appointed to two or three year terms.  Nathan Hanson will continue to serve his two-year term, and there are two other terms open, both two-year and three-year appointments.

Diversity Awards Advisory Committee

Mission: Annually reviews nominations and chooses recipients for awards to schools with unique diversity initiatives and programming within MnSCU.

Meeting Info: Meets 5-7 times annually, plus the awards event itself.

Representative: Vacant

Technology

Cross-Functional Advisory Committee

Mission: Provides constituent input to the Enterprise Investment Committee, the group that determines which IT projects (non-infrastructure) receive system funding for planning and implementation.

Meeting Info: Meets quarterly.

Representative: Vacant

Information Management System Advisory Council

Mission: To advise the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs on academic requirements pertaining to the operation of current and future instructional management systems (e.g., Desire2Learn) used by Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Meeting info: Meets monthly.

Representative: Vacant

Academic Technology Committee

Mission: Makes recommendations on academic or instructional technology applications, other than the Instructional Management System, piloted, adopted, or licensed for the system.

Meeting Info: Meets quarterly.

Representative: Vacant

Fundraising

MnSCU Foundation Board

Mission: Makes decisions on the centralized, system-wide fundraising and development strategy for MnSCU.

Meeting Info: Meets quarterly in St. Paul.

Membership Info.: Scott Formo will continue to serve the second year of a two-year term through the 2010-2011 academic year.

Hey You- Interested in policy-making? Care about IT on your campus? Academics? Transfer? Represent MSCSA students on a system-wide committee this year!

1. What is a system-wide committee, anyway?
A system-wide committee is typically a governance committee implemented, structured, and chaired by MnSCU staff from the Office of the Chancellor.

2. What is MnSCU and the Office of the Chancellor?
MnSCU stands for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, which is the public higher education system that includes all of Minnesota's public two-year colleges and four-year universities (with the exception of the University of Minnesota). The system is managed by a central office in St. Paul, called the Office of the Chancellor. The system is governed by the Chancellor, who acts on behalf of the Board of Trustees.

3. What function do these committees serve?
Committees have a variety of focuses and purposes, but most groups identify issues and develop recommendations for policy changes. These recommendations often make it to the Board of Trustees, who approve changes. Many of these committees are directly responsible for constructing procedures that affect campuses, and obviously, students.

4. What do committees focus on?
The committees listed here focus on everything from transfer credit requirements to D2L issues, and more.

5. What kind of time commitment is involved?
The time commitment varies by committee. Some groups meets every month, and some groups meet only once a year or only if necessary.

6. I attend a school outside of the Metro area. Can I still serve?
Of course! As an MSCSA committee representative, MnSCU will reimburse you for your mileage to and from meetings. Additionally, if you have a busy schedule and wish to stay on your home campus, every college is equipped with ITV, so you can attend MnSCU committee meetings from almost anywhere!

7. How do I get appointed?
Please consider potential responsibilities before you apply to be an MSCSA committee representative. Make sure you are committed to attending meetings and reporting back to the association about the discussions of the committee. We are very fortunate that we are given so many opportunities for involvement at the system-wide level, and it is essential that MSCSA student committee members represent the association professionally. This means attending meetings, or letting the MSCSA office and the committee chair know if you can't make it or need to resign as a representative.

That being said, we encourage anyone who is interested in these committees to apply for an appointment. The process is easy- simply send a letter of intent to the MSCSA President Tyler Smith detailing your reasons for wanting to serve. All appointments will then be ratified by the Governing Council at the next monthly meeting.

If you would like any additional information, please contact Director of Public Affairs Jessica Medearis at (651) 297-5877 or by email.

The MSCSA staff has developed one-page issue briefs that have universal appeal to all students. If you are new to our organization or want a quick, easy way to get your fellow students up to speed on higher education issues, please print and share these MSCSA Insider Policy Briefs as widely as possible.

• Capital Investment or Bonding
• Students First Initiative
• Tuition and Fees: Effective Consultation on Campus
• Credit Transfer: Be a Resource Expert!

If you have questions about these MSCSA Insider Policy Briefs or have ideas about other topic areas, please contact the MSCSA office at 651-297-5877 or by email.