Let's Envision the Future!

The field of student affairs, and higher education in general, stands where it does today because of the dreams, the vision, the dedication and the will to act of those who came before us. Early in the 20th century The Student Personnel Point of View (which is “celebrating” its 75th anniversary in 2012) challenged those working in student services to consider the development of the whole student. Students’ growth and development was not just the domain of faculty, and “student personnel” staff were challenged to think about the ways in which they and the services they provided contributed to that development.

A little more than half a century later ACPA President Charles Schroeder led the conceptualization and publication of the Student Learning Imperative. That document challenged us again, this time to think about ourselves and our work as contributing not only to students’ development but as central to student learning.
Now, just under 20 years after the publication of the SLI, we’re looking to the future again. ACPA is looking to our members to join in identifying those dreams and visions that will propel us into the next decade. What does higher education require of us? What values should we be carrying forward? How do we frame this and tap into the will to act that will allow us to translate those dreams into our new reality?

Throughout the month of October ACPA is holding a series of visioning session “MeetUps” in order to tap into the creativity, knowledge and dedication of our members and friends. Some of these MeetUps are taking place face-to-face at a range of locations around the U.S. and North America. Some are taking place virtually, and some of those virtual MeetUps are timed to allow our colleagues outside the U.S. to participate. There’s still time to sign up by going to http://meetups.myacpa.org/howcanijoinanacpameetup.

Please join us in this opportunity to chart the course for student affairs. I look forward to hearing your dreams, visions and plans for the future!

Heidi

New Year

Happy new year! I hope the first days and weeks of the new academic year are going (or, for those yet to start, go) smoothly. I particularly hope that all of our colleagues on campuses in the eastern part of the U.S. sustained minimal damage and disruption.

I’m excited about all of the programs and initiatives we have for our members as we embark on a new year. Our Transfer Task Force is at work helping us to identify the most effective practices for engaging transfer students. The convention planning team is about to review the hundreds of convention program proposals that you are submitting. I can’t wait to hear the aspirations our members share through our “visioning session” MeetUps in October, as we move to lead and shape the profession in the coming decade.

I am also delighted to be introducing ACPA’s new, weekly e-community. I think this is going to be a great tool to keep ACPA members in the loop about association activities, professional development opportunities, and issues within the broader higher education world.

Let us know what you’d like to hear more about, so that we can make ACPA e-community the most vibrant and useful membership connection possible.

Heidi

Toronto to Tobago to Louisville to Mount Vernon

It’s been a whirlwind month full of ACPA travels and meetings. I had two opportunities to meet with colleagues outside the U.S. – first, with Greg Roberts, representing ACPA at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in Toronto, and then attending our CTLPA (Caribbean Tertiary Level CPA) conference with fellow Governing Board member Kathleen Kerr in St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. I was struck by both how similar and different student issues and student affairs are in these places that are relatively close to “the States.” In both Canada and the Caribbean region folks talked about how professionalization and helping others see our work as more than simply providing necessary services. Hearing the Honorable Fazal Karim, Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago give the opening keynote at the CTLPA was absolutely inspirational. The Minister spoke about the critical role that student affairs plays in promoting student learning and, ultimately, advancing society. I couldn’t help but think how incredible it would be for a U.S. secretary-level official to speak about the importance of student affairs at one of our conventions – can you imagine it?!

And then there were the conversations about student issues – engaging students in international study experiences, addressing mental health-related concerns, working with “the good, the bad and the ugly” of technology, fostering inclusion and responding to acts of intolerance, best practices in assessing student learning. Sound familiar? The issues and needs of students, and the great research that’s being conducted about students’ experiences and development, cross boundaries and miles.

After returning to the U.S., I got to visit Louisville, Kentucky, site of our 2012 convention, to meet with the convention planning team and for our annual Summer Leadership Meeting. What a great week that was! We had healthy, open, challenging and inspiring conversations about ACPA’s strategic goals, collaboration within and beyond the association, ACPA’s role in outreach and advocacy, and future meeting plans. We also used the time with this outstanding group of leaders to “beta test” the visioning sessions that I talked about in a recent e-card video to our members. I can’t wait to roll the process out for our full membership next month!

Finally, during my first full week back on campus Cornell College hosted the Student Social Justice Training Institute (SJTI). We had 47 students from 26 institutions around the U.S. visiting our campus in Eastern Iowa and learning about themselves, the dynamics of oppression and inclusion, and about how to make their campuses and communities (and maybe even our world) more inclusive and socially just. Somehow that seems like the perfect end to this month, because isn’t that why we’re doing this work in the first place – to help our students learn about themselves and the world, and grow in ways that will help them take that learning back into the world? As I said in my e-card, we really do great, and important, work!

Heidi