Institutional Advancement and Effectiveness
Policy 3.2 Avenues of Communication
Adoption Date: January 27, 2016 - Revised
The college district depends directly upon the effectiveness of employees as it seeks to continually improve its quality of service to its community. The effectiveness of employees is directly related to their attitudes relative to maximized motivational and environmental conditions. In order to maximize effectiveness of college employees, there must be an integration of college and employee goals. In an effort to insure wholesome motivational and environmental conditions and to create an atmosphere for integration of college and employee goals, the college provides certain avenues of communication. An informed and involved employee can be more effective in his/her respective assignment. The following practices as well as others not listed are implemented to fulfill this principle.
INTERNAL
Continuous Quality Improvement
The college provides avenues of input for employees through the Continuous Quality Improvement Process. Employees are encouraged to submit CQI enhancement requests. Request forms are available on the HC intranet under Forms/Documents. The requests are forwarded to the administrative cabinet for review and appropriate action. In some instances, CQI teams will be formed to address certain enhancement requests. Membership on a CQI team is voluntary. Responses to CQI requests are posted on the intranet. CQI enhancement requests relating to a specific employee are shared with the cabinet member for distribution to the employee and supervisor.
Communication Schedule
The college president annually schedules meetings with various employee groups on each site as needed and quarterly All-District virtual meetings to solicit input, provide information, and answer questions. Responses are provided as appropriate.
Presidential Roundtable
The college president schedules a meeting each semester with students on the various sites to solicit input, provide information, and answer questions. Each meeting begins with a summary of actions relative to issues presented in the previous meeting.
Faculty Senate
In the fall of 1984, a faculty senate for the college district was organized. Based on state law, the Faculty Senate was dissolved in August 2025 and replaced with a Faculty Senate following state-mandated guidelines. The Board-approved Faculty Senate Constitution is included in the appendix of this handbook.
Student Government Association
Students are encouraged to become involved with institutional governance by expressing their thoughts and feelings about college policies, procedures, and activities. This is accomplished by participation in the Student Government Association (SGA).
The Student Government Association (SGA) consists of all presently enrolled students of Howard College. While all students are invited to attend SGA meetings, the representative voting bodies of the Student Government Association are the Student Senates: one at Big Spring, one at San Angelo, and one at SWCD. Each Student Senate consists of the following members:
- Four officers elected by members of the Student Government Association on respective campuses;
- One freshmen representative elected by members of the Student Government Association on respective campuses; and
- One sophomore representative elected by members of the Student Government Association on respective campuses.
Through this Senate, students are given an opportunity to promote student government and to develop and manage a well-rounded program of student activities. The Senate also acts as an intermediary between students, the faculty, and the administration.
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