Record of Business Transacted by the Association and the ACPA Leadership Council

Dear ACPA members,

It feels quite unusual to be writing this submission for ACPA’s Developments publication for the month of March and to have the ACPA Annual Convention already concluded, but here we are!  To be honest, it was a gift for the ACPA Annual Convention to occur earlier in 2025 than usual because our community needed time and space together after what many have experienced as an ongoing series of attacks at our purposes, our identities, our humanity, and our livelihood this year. For those who were not able to be with us in Long Beach for the ACPA25 Convention, I hope you have also taken the important time of attending to your health, safety, wellness, and well-being. This year’s convention theme, “Take a Breath, and Begin Again” is likely going to be a centralizing mantra for many of us for the unforeseeable future.

In one issue of Developments per year, I provide a record of the business transacted by the Association as required by the ACPA Standard Operating Procedures. We shared highlights of the past year at the ACPA25 Convention Annual Business Meeting, yet we know that some of our members may not have been able to be present with us for those updates. Following each Annual Convention seems like an appropriate time to provide this briefing as ACPA members typically think about their professional involvement and connection from convention to convention each year. It is my honor to offer this reflection on ACPA’s most recent year as a summary of the business actions and decisions taken by ACPA governance and International Office for the period between the 2024 Annual Convention in Chicago through the ACPA25 Annual Convention in Long Beach, held 16-19 February 2025.

March 2024

  • The 2024 Annual Convention was held March 18-21 in Chicago, Illinois, and welcomed 2,276 attendees. The city of Chicago was a significant place for hosting this Centennial Celebration as it was the place where ACPA’s founders met for the first time 100 years ago in 1924, and where the Association held this event for the 25th and 50th There were no Bylaws proposals introduced at the 2024 Annual Business Meeting in Chicago.
  • The conclusion of the 2024 Annual Business Meeting on March 20 marked the implementation of the first phase of a new governance model, transitioning from the previous Governing Board to the ACPA Leadership Council. The staggered approach to introducing the new governance structure was divided into two phases with the full model now in place as of February 2025.The new Leadership Council structure intends to respond to the evolving ways in which the Association attends to making volunteer leadership more attainable, sustainable, and innovative.
  • While at the 2024 Annual Convention, the final set of proposals from the Future Conventions Task Force was accepted with the intention of implementing a 3-day annual convention structure beginning in 2029. In addition, governance leaders also approved a revision to the Standard Operating Procedures related to the nominations and elections process and timeline to respond to the shortened time available to new leader selection between the 2024 and 2025 Annual Conventions.
  • The ACPA International Office launched the membership loyalty campaign, recognizing nearly 2,100 members who have been members for 5+ years.

April 2024

  • In the April Leadership Council meeting, LaTecia Yarbrough was appointed to complete the remaining one-year term for a Member-at-Large position vacancy.
  • Vice President of Equity & Inclusion, Jasmine Lee, provided the annual summary of bias incident reports received to the Leadership Council, which included only 1 submission between the 2023 and 2024 Conventions related to convention hotel accessibility concerns.
  • A revised budget and proposed registration rate and policy changes for the 2025 Annual Convention in Long Beach and the 2026 Annual Convention in Baltimore were presented to and approved by the Administrative Council during the April meeting.

May 2024

  • The new governance structure and policies suggest an every-other-month meeting schedule for Leadership Council meetings, so the full Leadership Council did not convene in May. Leadership Council meetings were also not held in July 2024, September 2024, or December 2024.
  • The Administrative Council approved a restated budget for fiscal year 2024, proposed changes to the Annual Convention guest rates and policies, and a 3-year joint membership incentive campaign with the Caribbean Tertiary Level Personnel Association (CTLPA) during their May meeting.
  • Based on a proposal from CTLPA leaders, the Administrative Council also approved discounted rate structures for most ACPA professional development events for attendees from outside of the United States for the following 3 years.

June 2024

  • Based on the May motion from the Administrative Council, the full Leadership Council voted to approve the proposed fiscal year 2024 Association Budget restatement, setting new revenue and expense goals for the calendar year.
  • During late 2023-early 2024, the Association hired EdPros to conduct a disability accessibility audit of ACPA’s programmatic and digital activities. A summary of recommendations and future actions was accepted by the Leadership Council for implementation during the June meeting.
  • The Leadership Council tasked the Vice President for Membership, Gudrun Nyunt, with creating a task force to consider how the Association might further recruit and engage graduate students in the future.
  • All Association volunteer and staff leaders participated in a mid-year virtual All-Leadership Summit on 21 June. Over 100 leaders joined for this opportunity to dive deeper into Association planning and strategy.

July 2024

  • In July, the Administrative Council approved expanded eligibility criteria for registrations for the 2024 Paul Shang Aspiring Executive Officers Institute connected to the rebranding of this professional development experience to individuals beyond traditional student affairs/services functions.
  • During this month, the Administrative Council initiated numerous contractual, financial, and legal discussions that are reported below as they were actualized in later months.

August 2024

  • Aja Holmes was selected and announced as the chair of the 2026 Annual Convention to occur in Baltimore, Maryland (31 March – 2 April 2026).
  • A resource frequently utilized by volunteer leaders, the ACPA Leadership Manual, was approved to be renamed as the ACPA Entity Leadership Manual, to focus the intention of the resources contained in this document.
  • The Leadership Council approved a number of Standard Operating Procedures changes proposed by the Bylaws & Policies Council, including: authorizing the Volunteer Training & Development Council to make future changes to the ACPA Entity Leadership Manual, relocating the Association Alcohol Policy into the Standard Operating Procedures, and enacting the policy of requiring Internal ACPA Chapters to no longer maintain external bank accounts, and various policy changes related to ACPA publications.
  • The Administrative Council approved the fiscal year 2023 tax documents 990 and 990-T as prepared by Petrella Phillips, LLC certified public accountants.
  • The 2024 Leadership Council elections were held to identify leaders to begin their terms in governance leadership in 2025. Elections for member voting were held earlier this year than usual, given the early dates of the 2025 Annual Convention.

September 2024

  • The Administrative Council approved the proposal to present to the Leadership Council for the 2025 fiscal year Association budget.

October 2024

  • Activities connected to celebrating ACPA’s 100th Anniversary Year concluded on October 21, the annual “ACPA Day,” with a dinner event in Washington, D.C.
  • The 2020-2024 Association Strategic Plan was timed to conclude with the anniversary celebrations, and highlights from this plan were shared with members via weekly email from late October through December 2024. This plan focused on five core pillars guiding Association strategy and efforts since 2020: Celebrating 100 Years of ACPA, Attending to Our Current and Future Membership, the Generation and Sharing of Transformative Educational Experiences, Maintaining and Increasing Our Strengths in Research & Scholarship, and Association Leadership and Presence.
  • The Leadership Council approved the fiscal year 2025 Association budget as proposed by the Administrative Council.
  • As part of the 2024 Nominations & Elections Process the Leadership Council made the following appointments for the 2025-2026 governance year: Nicole Whitner as Nominations & Elections Chair, Nicholas Lamar Wright as Racial Justice Strategies Chair, Zak Foste as Research & Scholarship Chair, and Mike Kutnak as Universal Design Strategies Chair.
  • A partnership agreement with the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals was signed in October, creating programmatic opportunities for both organizations connected to the 2025 and 2026 Annual Conventions.
  • The Administrative Council offered, negotiated, and completed a contract extension to Chris Moody as ACPA Executive Director through December 2031.
  • 2024-2025 ACPA President Rachel Aho collaborated with the ASHE President Jeni Hart in hosting the 2024 ACPA/ASHE Presidential Symposium on the topic, “Backward and Forward: Reflection, Action, and Inspiration for Scholarship and Praxis,” during which we hosted a panel of thoughtful leaders in discussing individual and collective perspectives on free speech, activism, anti-DEI legislation, and career sustainability.
  • In October and November 2024, ACPA offered six virtual Community Conversation events for ACPA members to spend time preparing for and processing the 2024 US Presidential Elections.

November 2024

  • In the November meeting, the Leadership Council received an update and provided feedback to the Task Force working on proposed revisions to the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies for Student Affairs Educators.
  • The Leadership Council approved three additions to the Standard Operating Procedures: 1) Documenting the intentions for a future schedule of Association financial audits, 2) adding and updating the Volunteer Travel and Reimbursement Policy to the SOPs, and 3) outlining the circumstances for when the Association should initiate discussions to consider relocating a future Annual Convention site already under contract(s).
  • Following several years of increasing collaboration, a partnership agreement with the National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS) and the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) was fully executed in October, committing all three organizations to financial, personnel, and logistics support for the following 3 years.
  • The Administrative Council approved changes to the Professional Development Event Registration and Cancellation Policy to take effect with the opening of registration for the ACPA26 Annual Convention in Baltimore.

December 2024

  • The Administrative Council reviewed and approved changes to the ACPA Personnel Policy Manual, the resource articulating employment policies for the ACPA International Office staff.

January 2025

  • In January, it was announced to the membership that the 2029 Annual Convention will take place in Indianapolis, Indiana and the 2030 Annual Convention will be hosted in Anaheim/Disneyland, California. These annual gatherings will occur after the 2026 convention in Baltimore, Maryland, the 2027 convention in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the 2028 convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
  • The open call for volunteers for general members to join the 2025-2026 Working Councils and Task Forces of the Leadership Council was distributed and appointments to the various groups were made.
  • A multi-year partnership agreement with the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS) was signed in January, creating membership and conference opportunities for both organizations in advance of ACPA’s 2027 Annual Convention in Toronto.
  • The Leadership Council approved updates to the Standard Operating Procedures to incorporate new positions and structures related to the second and full implementation of the new governance model. The new SOPs were approved to take effect on 18 February 2025 at the conclusion of the 2025 Annual Business Meeting.
  • The Administrative Council approved proposed updates to the ACPA Accounting Procedures Manual, the document articulating financial and accounting policies and procedures for the work of the ACPA International Office staff.

February 2025

  • The 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 Leadership Councils met in-person in Long Beach, California in advance of the 2025 Annual Convention. In addition to strategy sessions regarding some of the issues and concerns facing higher education and the Association, the Leadership Council accepted the report from the Labor Acknowledgements Task Force following nearly two years of work on these recommendations. 2025-2026 ACPA President Jonathan A. McElderry was charged by the Leadership Council with appointing a task force to implement various components of the report.
  • The 2025 Annual Business Meeting of members was held on Tuesday, 18 February 2025 at the Long Beach Convention Center. Those in attendance represented a quorum of the membership, as defined in the ACPA Bylaws. A video honoring the memorial, retirement, and anniversary resolutions to be recognized at this Convention was displayed, and the resolution was presented to and approved by the membership.

Not specific to any month, Vice President for Volunteer Leadership Amanda Mollet shared during the 2025 Annual Business Meeting that the previous year was particularly strong for the 52 ACPA entity groups, providing connection and spaces of tremendous meaning, growth, and community within the Association. ACPA’s entity groups are led by more than 400 volunteer leaders who hosted 65 professional development events, which engaged nearly 2,000 participants across the previous year. All this activity is in addition to the numerous Institutes, webinars, and other special events organized by both volunteer and staff leaders throughout 2024 and early 2025. Congratulations on a tremendous year to all who were involved in leading, supporting, or attending to these amazing contributions!

The past year in ACPA will be one that lives on in history as we celebrated the Association’s 100th Anniversary. Despite the chaos and disruption facing higher education at the start of 2025, I invite you to join me in balancing the fears and anxieties with the moral optimism that we have been through tough times before and will emerge stronger. Turning 100 means we have a century of knowledge, wisdom, scholarship, and progress that supports us and propels us forward.

Questions or feedback on any of these decisions or updates may be sent to cmoody@acpa.nche.edu. A summary of the highlights from 2025 since the ACPA25 Convention will be shared at the 2026 Annual Business Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland on 1 April 2026, and I hope you will join us there as we become more anchored, grounded in our roots, true to our core values, and unwavering in our purpose.

ACPA 2026 Annual Convention
30 March – April 2 2026
Baltimore, Maryland
Be More Anchored