CBT: The College Brain Trust

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The College Brain Trust has assembled an experienced and nationally recognized team to provide board of trustee and governance training to community colleges across the United States.

CBT’s consultants are able to provide board training during on-campus workshops or using video conferences. The training is based on accepted and recognized principles of effective community college board governance. In addition, the consultants can assist boards in identifying strategies that respond to the standards for board governance established by regional accreditation commissions.

Board Training Curriculum
The topics that can be covered in the workshop and video conferences include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• Accreditation standards and role of board
• Board roles and responsibilities
  • Overview of legal responsibilities and authority, community representation and advocacy, fiduciary stewardship, policy and policy-making, , monitoring institutional effectiveness,
• Principles and strategies to ensure institutional autonomy
  • The board as bridge and buffer to the community and government
• The role of the Board in policy development
  • College decision-making process, definition of policy, board policies and board policy manual, monitoring policy implementation.
• The definition of governance and distinction between governance and management
  • Differentiating Board roles and administrative roles in the areas of college operations, financial oversight and management, personnel, public relations and others.
• Principles and strategies of effective governance
  • Board goals, education, and evaluation; ethics and code of conduct; leadership, communication, and relationships among board members
• The Board/CEO relationship and the Board/Chair CEO relationship
  • Nature of the partnerships, communication protocols, expectations and goals, CEO evaluation.
• The role and responsibility of the Board Chair
  • Authority, duties and responsibilities.

• Board training based on the needs of the college and board as well as the topics identified above under “Board Training Curriculum”
• On-campus workshops and/or video conferences
• Identification of Board performance goals that include strategies or concepts to that respond to the accreditation recommendations
• A report by the College Brain Trust consultants that includes the following:
  • Summary of identified needs, if any, for revising or rewriting selected Board statements and policies such as:
    • communication protocols,
    • standards of practice/code of conduct,
    • board roles and responsibilities,
    • board role in policy-making, and
    • board self-evaluation.