Hello ACPA Members and Development Readers,
My name is Dr. Kelvin E. Rutledge, and I use he/him/his pronouns. I’m honored to serve as the 87th President of ACPA—College Student Educators International. As an association whose vision centers on creating the most community-driven association in our field, I’m excited to hold space for how professional development, research, scholarship, and emerging ways of doing and being can advance us towards this mission. For over 15 years, I’ve been part of this association and feel deeply connected to my identity as a practitioner-scholar. I look forward to ways Developments can bring our collective field into conversation and dialogue, offering fresh insights and perspectives to improve our campuses, classrooms, and spaces where transformation occurs.
During the 2026 Annual Convention, I shared my Presidential Charge for the association entitled Building Our Mosaic of Transformation Together: Charting our Collective Journey toward Tomorrow. A mosaic is an image created by arranging small pieces of similar material and setting them in a binding agent to make a larger product. This year, I hope our members and collaborators, our programs and experiences, our research and scholarship, and so much more will serve as the small pieces that make up the mosaic of the higher education we need not only for today but for the next century of this profession. Through this charge, I hope to provide the association with four overarching intentions we can all hold for this year. Whether you are a practitioner, an involved leader or champion, or a talented scholar, I hope you find yourself within the following intentions:
- The association will continue to boldly transform higher education through building a portfolio of programs, experiences, and opportunities towards our collective vision
- The association will invest in its membership to innovate and bolster our profession for the better.
- The association will steward strategic approaches that shape our future strategy for the years to come.
- The association will continue to hold that dreaming, imagination, and discussion over what could happen in our future should be centered as mission-critical work
As I developed these intentions, my overall goal was to develop invitations for members to consider what ACPA could do, what members co-construct with us, and most importantly, continue to steward what higher education can and should be for those of us here today and for those who will inherit our field after us in the future. ACPA is a member-driven association, and many of our members are creating educational programs, unique in-person and virtual experiences, and imagining ways to drive creativity in our profession. I invite you to consider the possibilities of how we may impact our field together.
To our contributors and readers of Developments, thank you for the ways this space will champion the essential research and scholarship that many individuals need for their daily practice and praxis. I wish you well, and hope this upcoming season is positive, restorative, and joyful.