From One Dupont Circle

Welcome back to the beginning of another exciting academic year on the thousands of campuses and virtual networks across the globe. Our more than 8,000 members are once again ready and eager to assist students with their learning objectives for the coming year.

Here in the nation’s capital, all has not been slow over the summer. Let me highlight a few important issues:

• Congress is still debating the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Given the diversion of attention to the nomination of a new justice of the Supreme Court, it is not clear if the HEA will be a topic of consideration in the Senate. The House is schedule to bring it to the floor of the full House sometime in September. The Act…“Which provided to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance to students in postsecondary and higher education”
• The NCAA Executive Committee banned 18 Colleges from holding postseason events unless they discard American Indian nicknames and mascots. This has been an issue of high school and college sports for many years. We applaud the action of the NCAA in support of dignity and respect of all peoples.
• The Association of Governing Boards has issued their top ten public policy issues facing higher education for the coming year. You will find them listed later in this issue of Developments. These are the issues that should receive attention from Presidents and Governing Boards as they plan for the future.

The Association’s leadership remained focused on five major areas for this year:

• The Certification Task Force continues to review the feasibility of developing a certification program for our profession.
• The Governance Task Force continues to examine the current governing structure and recommending a more “nimble” structure to carry the Association into the next decade.
• The Generation and Dissemination of Knowledge Core Council continues to strategize on improving research in the field.
• The Professional Development Core Council and the Educational Leadership Foundation are looking at the multicultural competencies needed in our profession.
• The State and International Divisions continue efforts to strengthen and expand our divisions throughout North America and beyond.

There are many other programs underway that are designed to enhance your learning and knowledge of the profession and the field of higher education around us. Please check the website periodically for updated and new information.

In addition, our Convention Planning teams for 2006 and 2007 are well underway for the next two annual conventions. The 2006 Convention Planning team, under the leadership of Boyd Yarbrough is doing an excellent job creating a wonderful professional development experience in NEW Indianapolis! The Summer Leadership Meeting 2005 was held in Indianapolis, and you are in store for a truly exciting experience. In addition to outstanding speakers and programs, a lot has changed in Indianapolis since our last convention ten years ago!

The 2007 Joint Meeting between ACPA and NASPA is also underway for their planning in Orlando, Florida. Jill Carnaghi (ACPA/NASPA) and Michael Segawa (NASPA/ACPA) are leading this “every decade” event. We are proud that our two associations will be celebrating this forty year old tradition (1977, 1987, 1997, and 2007). If you are interested in assisting with this monumental undertaking, please contact either Jill or Mike.

Our national office has several personnel changes and I would like to share those with you:

• Peter Brown has been promoted from Assistant Executive Director to Associate Executive Director.
• Rita Bowers has been hired to replace Drew Williams as Coordinator of Marketing and Public Relations.
• Ron Campbell has been retained as Director of Corporate Relations.
• Michael Hernandez has been hired to replace Ramanand Nukala as Coordinator of Web Development and Technical Services.
• Shilo Lillis joined the office as Administrative Assistant.

I want to thank Anthony Kraft for serving as our talented undergraduate intern in the national office this past summer. Tony worked on a variety of research projects, primarily targeted at Senior Student Affairs Officers.

We hope you enjoy the new format of this publication and many thanks go to Richard Stevens as Editor for this progress. Thank you Richie!

Until next time,

Greg