Board looks to streamline committee organization

The CU Board of Regents continued its progress toward reducing the number of regent committees from seven to four.

Last fall, the regents reviewed and approved the committee charters and the scope of activities to be undertaken by those committees.

At the board's regular meeting June 15 at UCCS, Patrick O’Rourke, vice president and secretary to the board, presented the draft of the next steps, including an annualized plan they can use as a starting point to develop the work of the committees.

The four proposed committees are governance, audit (an existing committee), university affairs and finance. The tasks of current committees – athletics, laws and policies, capital construction and academic affairs – are incorporated more strategically in the new structure.

Using the current Audit Committee structure, the plans under regent review would enable members to set out an agenda to work on over the year, identify what the priorities are for the period of the committee year and be able to check off completed tasks.

“These are the major activities that we see the various committees performing on an annual basis and using that as a framework to move forward,” O’Rourke said. “This gives you the idea of what we think these committees are going to be doing, and the basis on which they’re going to be doing it.”

The board will review the documents and provide feedback by the first week in July. The feedback will be reviewed and compiled for further consideration at the board’s July retreat in Estes Park.

O’Rourke also discussed the retreat agenda with the board, including a session on “Higher Education in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) World.” The workshop will include a thorough examination into what elements of VUCA most apply at CU and how regents can be prepared to lead with stability and act with speed and flexibility. Other sessions include “Governance as Leadership, Reframing the Work of the Board,” and review and discussion of the Strategic Vision Framework. The draft agenda can be found here.