5. In February, the Board of Trustees will finalize the Statement of Authority, Roles, and Responsibility and vote on Faculty Code changes. These changes could include suggested changes from July 2025 and July 2026. Business and Community Services Update Rob Ogburn, Associate Vice President, Federal Relations and Executive Director, Business and Community Services (BCS), provided an update on BCS. CWU Business and Community Services partners to create opportunities for communities in Washington State to create self-determined, sustainable futures for current and future generations of CWU students. They work with communities, government entities, industry, non-profit and education partners to bridge system gaps in our region and to support effective place-making. BCS was established in 2023 and is co-funded by CWU, private and non-profit foundations, and by the National Science Foundation. Six student employees engaged in home community and preferred career path projects over two and a half years. This project positions BCS student employees as future leaders in their communities. They receive training in development and use of BCS community place-making tools. In addition, these projects create post-graduation pathways to home community careers. Mr. Ogburn thanked Trustee Gillis and the National Science Foundation for initial prototype support of the Wayfinder tool. This is the first analysis tool in the U.S. to provide locally relevant decision data, modeling for academic program alignment to community needs, advising and career mapping, and workforce alignment/industry attraction. Within our state, some cities have a lower percentage of the value of a degree than the rest of the country. If we can give people a reason to see value in a four-year degree, this is potentially an enrollment opportunity. Another set of data that informs this is wages and cost of living. It is necessary to engage students and provide the tools, the processes, and the mechanisms to create a sustainable economy. Currently, regional economy is not sustainable for CWU graduates. However, if we can influence communities to create futures, the long run paths can look very different for place-based students and for CWU. BCS has a model for bringing these concepts together, which has three legs: community, education and workforce, and business and industry.
Some of the BCS activities to date include: • CWU/Partner Academic Program Analysis Support • Entrepreneurship and Tech Commercialization • Industry Engagement • Community Engagement • Federal and Student Projects Board Business • Terms of Current Board members • Chair, Chair-elect, Past Chair
• Current Committee Assignments • 2026-2027 Committee Assignments Board bylaws require that a chair and vice chair be elected annually. Elections were conducted and Jeff Hensler was voted in as board chair and Gladys Gillis was voted in as vice chair.
16 Board of Trustees Minutes July 16-17, 2026
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