Program Setup
Peer Leadership
A program serving as an innovation in higher education, the Bailey Scholars Program seeks to practice paradigms on the cusp of advancement. In an effort to further the work of the program and empower the members of the community, the program became peer-led in the Fall of 2005. This concept of peer leadership allows the entire community to develop the direction of the program. Each member of the community holds the opportunity and responsibility for the governance of the program. Through this opportunity, all members hold ownership of the program, rather than the staff of the program.
Nielson, J. (2004) The myth of leadership creating leaderless organizations.
Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, a division of CPP, Inc.
Current Administrative Structure
The Bailey Scholars Program moved, administratively, to the Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS) Department as of July 1, 2005. The program remains a College of Agriculture and Natural Resources funded endeavor, but the CARRS department serves as our department of administration. The following is the letter of intent for the administrative move:
This memorandum delineates the proposed administrative affiliation to be entered into between the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program and the CARRS Department.
The Bailey Scholars Program, currently existing as an independent program administratively affiliated with the Deans Office of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, will become administratively affiliated with the CARRS Department.
The Bailey Scholars Program will retain its independent budget.
The Bailey Scholars Program will not receive annual budget reductions that are greater than the budget reductions sustained by the CARRS department as a whole in any fiscal year in perpetuity.
The Bailey Scholars Program will independently choose its administrative staff and faculty conveners.
The Bailey Director or his/her designee will report to the Director of CARRS on behalf of the Bailey community of scholars.
The Bailey Scholars Program will retain its undergraduate specialization in connected learning as a program offered by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to undergraduate students across the university, and will be solely responsible for determining any future changes to its specialization, its curriculum and structure.
The Bailey Scholars Program will continue to involve both faculty and students from across the college and beyond in its program, and particularly in its courses.
The Bailey Scholars Program will be independently responsible to balance its budget without creating debt for the CARRS department.
The Bailey Scholars Program and CARRS will seek to build collaborative relationships with one another for the common good.
Bailey and CARRS may elect to share administrative or academic staff or services by common agreement, with cost sharing and responsibilities to be negotiated.
Bailey scholars and CARRS department members may elect to serve on one another’s boards, committees, or task forces, if invited, to engage in collaborative work, share ideas, or support one another’s scholarly endeavors.
CARRS department faculty and students will continue to be invited to be involved in the Bailey Scholars Program and participate in its activities, including convening Bailey courses (faculty with an ongoing involvement in Bailey), and attending Bailey learning events, such as Wednesday lunches, the Summer Colloquy on Teaching and Learning, or circles of engagement.
The administrative affiliation will begin on July 1, 2005, for a trial period of not less than one year, and will continue by mutual agreement until either party expresses in writing its intention to terminate the relationship, with three months notice.
The Bailey Community Council
The Bailey Community Council (BCC) serves as the governing board for the Bailey Scholars Program. It serves as the forum for our peer led program to bring forth discussion items, initiate change, and chart a course for the leadership of the program. The Senior Director and the Student Director reports to the BCC. The following are the articles of establishment for the BCC:
BAILEY COMMUNITY COUNCIL (BCC)
(established April 2004)
Purpose: BCC is a space for conversation and deliberation about issues in The Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program. It is a reflection of Bailey's organizational design, which includes shared decision making, a networked form of leadership, and open discussion of issues. As a governance body, BCC enables populist voice and connects the Bailey membership with those responsible for administering the program.
Characterization: The BCC is a space for deliberative democracy, that is, for rendering keen insights and judgements on issues of importance to members of the Bailey community. To perform these functions, BCC members will look at issues from multiple perspectives; operate in an open, transparent way; engage respectfully; and honor diverse voices. Among its most important functions is deciding how to engage others in conversations about issues facing the Bailey community.
Membership: BCC participation is voluntary. At least one representative of the various core courses--ANR 210, 310, 410--will be encouraged to participate each semester (when offered). BCC representation will be also sought from each of the following constituencies: Bailey undergraduate students (member(s) at large), Bailey staff, Bailey faculty, Bailey graduate students, the "community" (Lansing area and beyond), Bailey ad hoc groups, Bailey alums, and Bailey parents. Different and multiple people can represent the same constituency group at the same time (on a rotational basis or otherwise).
Meeting Frequency and Agenda: BCC will meet bi-weekly. Any person, group, or entity can bring an issue to the BCC for deliberation. The BCC will also identify agenda items over which it will deliberate. Meeting times and agendas will be announced in advance and meeting minutes will be posted publicly. Sessions will be open to all in Bailey.
Organization: BCC will operate with a sense of responsibility to the broader Bailey community. Members will organize deliberately and operate systematically, responsibly completing tasks and fulfilling roles. Major organizing tasks include fixing terms of office for each member (semester-length appointments is a suggested minimum), agreeing on term limits (serving for no more than an academic year at a time is suggested), assuring continuity in membership over time (managing the flow of incoming and outgoing members), deciding how major tasks will be accomplished (and by whom, including preparing and posting meeting agendas and summarizing and sharing meeting minutes), and selecting a leadership model for governing itself (shared leadership with a chairperson or convener is recommended).
Engagement Options: Dialogue at meetings; virtual dialogue in the Bailey community; special meetings and forums to discuss matters of interest; memos and other materials designed to state a position or stimulate dialogue; meetings with administrators and others about issues facing Bailey; referenda in Bailey about issues facing Bailey; and any other option that BCC believes fits (appropriately and respectfully) the nature of issues being addressed.
Accountability: BCC will function with integrity and complete its fiduciary responsibilities with distinction. There will be periodic performance assessments so that members of the community will have an opportunity to comment on BCC's performance record.
Program Membership
Beginning in the fall semester of 2005, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Scholars Program officially opened its membership to include all university undergraduates. Previously, only those undergraduate students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources were allowed membership in the program as an option for an academic specialization in Connected Learning. As students moved through their academic course of study, at times they would move to a major outside of the college. At this time, they would have to relinquish membership in the program. Other times, interested students from other colleges would inquire about the program, but were unable to join. In order to remain a space dedicated to inclusiveness and multiple perspectives, we became a university-wide specialization for undergraduates at Michigan State University.
Organizational Structure
As previously mentioned, the Bailey Scholars Program is administratively located in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS) in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. David Wright, the current Interim Chair of the CARRS department holds fiduciary responsibility for the program. However, we are a stand-alone program in the department, and responsible for our own governance, administration, and leadership.
Previously, the administrative staff of the program consisted of a Director and an Academic Learning Coordinator. In the reorganization process completed by January of 2006, the Bailey Community Council combined the roles of Director and Academic Learning Coordinator into one position, the Senior Director. This Senior Director reports to the Bailey Community Council and also to the Department Chair of the CARRS Department. The Senior Director is responsible for the management of the program, whereas the Bailey Community Council continues to serve as the forum for peer leadership of the program.
Along with the formation of the Senior Director position, the BCC created a Student Director position. This position aims to provide a student the opportunity to gain practical leadership and management training. The Student Director assumes the same decision-making power as the Senior Director, and is not supervised by the Senior Director, but together the two partner to ensure the management of the program is carried out successfully. The Student Director also reports to the BCC. The responsibilities of the Student Director are derived from the learning interests of the student as set out in their Learning Vision Statement.
The program Secretary reports to the Senior Director, but is responsible for working with the entire program community.
Bailey has two student workers that report to the Senior Director for office assistance, but also responsible for working with the entire program community.
Each course in the Bailey Scholars Program has faculty and graduate fellow conveners. These courses are supervised by the conveners assigned to each course. The conveners report to the Senior Director.
Faculty and staff members from across the institution are encouraged to participate in the Bailey Scholars Program. These members serve in multiple roles from conveners to performing research to other items associated with the program. These faculty members report to the Senior Director.
Graduate Fellows are an integral piece to the Bailey Scholars Program. These individuals are provided the opportunity to gain skills in an innovative place in higher education during their graduate course of study. They gain skills through serving the program in a number of capacities according to their learning interests and career goals. These graduate fellows report to the Senior Director.
Opportunities arise for undergraduates in the Bailey Scholars Program to serve the program in paid opportunities. These range from student conveners, recruitment work, to other special projects as needed by the community. These students report to the Senior Director.
Please click here for a PDF of our administrative structure.