Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night kept 100 State and Regional ACRAO officers, professional activity chairs, and other die-hard AACRAO veterans from attending the 2013 Leadership Meeting in Washington, D.C. They gathered to discuss competencies - for academic credit and for professional skill sets - higher education policy, enrollment trends, international education, admissions, and student services. Their labors marked the official beginning of program development for the 2015 Annual Meeting and the 2014 Technology, Transfer, and SEM conferences.
Following a rainy tour of Mt Vernon on Friday evening, attendees came together on Saturday for a Board of Directors-guided discussion on the state of the association and upcoming higher education policies. Moving forward, with documents developed in 2012 as a guide, the room was split up into registrars, admissions officers, and enrollment managers to collaboratively develop core competencies for each professional area supporting academic and enrollment services. Results of this discussion will be forthcoming, so look out for these and feel free to comment.
Afterwards, the State and Regional officers split off from the professional activity (PAC) chairs and coordinators for presentations on a range of topics, including: Strategic Planning (Paul Kyle), State Legislature Advocacy (Mike Reilly), Association Financial Management (Jason Miller), Social Media Engagement (Suzanne Levine), Legal Issues (Jim Goldberg), and Association Leadership (Brad Myers). These presentation files are available here.
The PAC chairs and coordinators put their heads together brainstormed what directions and topics were most important for the 2015 Annual Meeting, along with 2014 Tech, Transfer, and SEM. While it is a long way out, their early work and demeanor at this meeting will go a long way towards ensuring future meetings are up to the high standards demanded by our membership and the institutions they serve.
Hearty congratulations to all attendees who stuck it out through the end of the meeting on Sunday, despite the weather-related travel difficulties.
If you would like to get involved in future Leadership Meetings, feel free to apply to an AACRAO committee or to your state/regional association’s committees. It is the first step towards this level of involvement within AACRAO.