Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance

Colorado State University, Iowa State University, Kansas State University, Texas Tech University Michigan State University, University of Missouri, Montana State University, University of Nebraska North Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University, South Dakota State University

Alliance Leadership Culture

From its initiation, the Great Plains IDEA has organized itself into a culture where administrative leadership is shared, where policies are designed to facilitate academic innovation, where faculty participants provide academic leadership, and where both alliance and institutional interests govern decisions. The notion of shared governance is so pervasive in this alliance that formal memoranda of agreement about program and alliance participation were initiated only after effective working agreements were informally arranged and tested. In this alliance, agreement on principles precedes agreement on policies.

In 2002, ten universities approved Alliance Bylaws, and a Memorandum of Agreement for Alliance management. With this step, the Alliance leadership team formalized a working relationship initiated in 1994. The membership of the Great Plains IDEA Board of Directors which serves as the alliance leadership team is now composed of Human Sciences academic administrators from11 universities in 11 states.