A voice in our future

Time and time again, I’ve mentioned that our greatest asset at the School of Medicine is our people – our community. Often, when people hear the words “community engagement,” they think of efforts being made in our surrounding neighborhoods. But community engagement is much closer to home than you’d imagine; it’s built around our conference rooms, committee meetings and conversations where our people come together to solve problems, share ideas and shape the future.  

This commitment to listening and participation is reflected in our approach to shared governance. Across the university, faculty, staff and students have formal avenues to provide input and participation in the decisions that shape our institution. The faculty senate, staff senate and student government association serve as university-wide voices for their respective constituencies, helping foster the open dialogue and shared-decision making that are essential to a healthy academic community. 

Our School of Medicine’s approach to shared governance reflects that of the university-wide commitment, providing our faculty, staff and institutional leaders with meaningful opportunities to participate in decision-making. These groups ensure that the people closest to the work have a voice in how our school moves forward. From improving everyday processes to influencing long-term planning, shared governance reflects one simple belief: our strongest ideas come from our community.  

I’ve long believed that the best ideas don’t come from one office or individual alone. They emerge when people with different experiences come together for a shared purpose. That’s what shared governance means to me. It’s not just a structure or collection of committees; it’s our commitment to listening, learning and leading together.  

Our shared governance is a culture built on collaboration, transparency and mutual respect. It provides meaningful opportunities for our faculty and staff to share ideas, raise concerns and help shape decisions that can strengthen our institution. While each group serves a unique purpose, together they form a network of voices that help guide us toward a stronger future. 

For our faculty, that voice is represented through the faculty senate and faculty forum. These groups provide opportunities to discuss academic priorities, institutional policies and emerging challenges while fostering open dialogue with leadership. Their perspectives help ensure that decisions affecting education, research and clinical care are informed by those leading these efforts every day. Just as importantly, they also create opportunities for faculty and leadership to ask those difficult questions and consider different perspectives. 

Our residents and fellows have an equally important voice in our community through the House Staff Council. Graduate medical education is a unique experience and those who are navigating it every day have insights that are essential to improving the learning environment, clinical experience and culture in which our trainees work. Giving our house staff a meaningful avenue to share those perspectives helps us better understand their experience and identify opportunities to support their success.  

Our students also play an important role in shaping the School of Medicine. Medical students serve on student council as well as various committees, bringing firsthand perspectives on our curriculum, educational environment and student experience. Graduate students participate in policy discussions through their graduate program leadership teams and serve on our Graduate Council, while postdoctoral fellows contribute as members of our broader trainee community. Together, their perspectives help us understand what is working well, where we can improve and how we can continue preparing them for the evolving research enterprise and needs of the patients and communities they will ultimately serve. 

Our staff play an equally important role in advancing the mission of our school. Through the university’s staff senate and our own S.M.A.R.T. Staff Advisory Council, staff members are able to contribute ideas that can improve communication, strengthen workplace culture and identify opportunities to better support one another. Our staff share some of the most meaningful improvements by simply doing the work; they recognize the opportunity to make an everyday experience better for a colleague, a learner or the institution as a whole. 

As our work increasingly extends into digital spaces, we have also recognized the importance of ensuring those experiences reflect the needs of our vast audiences. The Digital Experience Committee, mirrored by the university’s DxG Board, brings together colleagues from UME, GME, basic science and clinical science departments to improve the accessibility, usability and effectiveness of our digital presence. These thoughtful digital experiences make it easier for people to connect with our mission and access the information they need.  

While each of these groups has a distinct purpose, they share a common goal: creating a culture where people feel empowered to contribute, ask questions and shape meaningful change.  

This does not mean every idea will become a policy or that every decision will reflect every perspective. Shared governance isn’t about reaching a consensus on each issue; it’s about creating an environment where diverse perspectives are welcomed, thoughtful discussion is encouraged and decisions are strengthened because they reflect the experiences of our community. It is about recognizing that authority and responsibility are strengthened when they are shared.  

Most importantly, participation creates ownership. When people understand that their experiences and ideas matter, they become more invested in the direction of our institution and the work we do together.  

The communities we serve outside of our campus rely on us to listen, adapt and work together. By fostering a culture where every voice has an opportunity to be heard, we strengthen our ability to educate the next generation of physicians and physician-scientists, and biomedical scientists to advance discovery and improve the health and vitality of our communities. The ideas shared around conference rooms today ultimately shape the care delivered in classrooms, laboratories, clinics and neighborhoods tomorrow.  

Shared governance reminds us that leadership is not confined to a title or an office – it’s a community responsibility. And when every member of our community has the opportunity to contribute, we are better equipped to fulfill our mission together.