Commission Corner: CASHE Update

Commission Corner: CASHE Update

Rebecca Shepherd
Chair, Commission for Academic Support in Higher Education

Founded in March 1977, the Commission for Academic Support in Higher Education has overcome a variety of obstacles. As a Commission that came out of dormancy a few short years ago, we are slowly working toward becoming a valuable professional resource for the ACPA membership.

The announcement of the 2014 Convention theme to “Reinvent” was taken to heart by the CASHE Directorate. In April the Commission completed a Task Analysis, where we asked Commission members to let us know what they need from the Commission. Responses overwhelmingly indicated that more training and information opportunities in the area of Assessment, Evaluation, and Research are needed (71%). The second most requested (56%) competency was in the area of leadership development. To help meet the needs of our membership, CASHE is in the process of developing new opportunities for the ACPA membership. The Commission hopes to have several webinar opportunities available throughout the 2013-14 school year.

During this past academic year, our Commission noticed that the Professional Competencies for Student Affairs Practitioners (2010) has become a focal point for ACPA professional development. Specifically, the “Advising and Helping” competency lends itself to Academic Advising – a popular presentation topic at Convention. However, the competency levels are geared toward psychological services as well. As a Commission, we have initiated a goal to critically analyze and review each of the ten competencies to ensure they are representative and inclusive of all ACPA membership. While we expect this to take some time, CASHE is happy to announce we have teams working on two competencies: “Advising and Helping” and “Leadership”. Our goal is to make recommendations for future editions to ensure ACPA is inclusive of primary functional areas within the organization. If you would like to get involved in the review of the Professional Competencies, please feel free to contact Rebecca Shepherd.

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