AACRAO Board holds strategic planning meeting

In late June, the AACRAO Board of Directors held their annual strategic planning retreat in Denver. For three days, in a meeting room with a glorious view of the hotel parking lot, they examined over a year’s worth of data and ideas surrounding various meetings, resources, service lines, and professional competencies. AACRAO’s strengths and weakness were discussed in light of this data review, with the goal of setting a direction that will strengthen the association’s leadership position in the academic and enrollment services arena.

President Paul Kyle (Johnson County Community College) and Vice President for Admissions and Enrollment Management Luke Schultheis (Virginia Commonwealth University) began the retreat with a high level SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) of AACRAO based around specific areas related to programming, communication, inclusiveness, and positioning (both on professional standards and on policy and regulatory matters). Although the Board is comprised of some members who are aligned with specific portfolios and some who are not, discussion around AACRAO's resources and positioning was still broadly split into three main categories: admissions, registrar, and enrollment management.

The Board and AACRAO executive staff evaluated how well current resources serve both members and the profession. A recurrently identified weakness was a lack of nimbleness, accountability and positioning. The Board agreed that AACRAO must develop the tools and infrastructure necessary to take an active role in shaping practices and policies in the profession, but must also be quicker to react and provide guidance around new developments. Much of the retreat explored why this was the case, and how to realize it.

Significant questions facing the association include:

• How can AACRAO attract and help provide training to the next generation of academic and enrollment professionals, considering the large number of expected retirements in the registrar’s office in the next few years?
• Do conferences provide that venue, or do new means of sharing resources, networking, and professional mentorship need to be embraced?
• How can AACRAO ensure that standards around diversity are served by informed and continued discussion?
• How can our professional members grow their own influence on campus, and how can that be leveraged to push the association’s standards and practices in higher education?

Ultimately, the retreat left the Board and the AACRAO staff with some unanswered questions, as strategic planning sessions tend to do. However, the retreat did provide a foundation upon which AACRAO can build. Key points and areas of concerns will be prioritized in terms of procedural importance, and then implemented. That order will be determined in the coming months.

Stay tuned to AACRAO Connect for further details from the Board on these matters. And if you yourself want to get active, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved in the process – even serve on the Board! Nominations are open until July 31^st.

Edited 7.27.16