Louise Lonabocker, Seattle, Washington - 2001
From the moment the Annual Meeting began last year, I felt a
sense of commitment and excitement that had been absent in recent
years. Professional Activities Committees were here in full force and
hard at work before the conference began, the program committee was
developing creative ideas for the Seattle conference and thinking ahead
to Minneapolis, the Seattle LAC was proposing ideas for local speakers
and generating enthusiasm for Seattle, the Role of the Registrar
workshop was offered for the first time, the meeting was flawless thanks
to a very dedicated local arrangements committee, and AACRAO had been
awarded a major contract from the United Negro College Fund to
administer the selection process for the Gates Millennium Scholarship.
Since I had identified member collaboration as one of my goals for the
year, I felt we were off to a great start.
At the end of the last fiscal year, Jerry Sullivan’s
two-year contract was coming to an end. The Board approved a new
contract and at the end of June, I breathed an enormous sigh of relief
when I opened the mail and saw Jerry’s signature on the new three-year
contract. Jerry’s contributions to AACRAO in his first two years were
beyond our expectations and we are both pleased and fortunate that Jerry
agreed to continue as the Association’s Executive Director.
In July we learned that Val Mead, AACRAO Vice President
for Registration, Records and Information Technology, had accepted a
position with Cars Information Solutions as an Implementation
Specialist. In her two years on the Board, Val led Group III in program
and project planning, was a member of the Inter-Association Task Force
on disciplinary dismissals and was the first project leader of the Role
of the Registrar team that led to the design and implementation of the
very successful workshop. For this we are forever grateful to her.
Upon receipt of Val’s resignation, the Nominations and
Elections Committee reacted quickly and effectively in recommending the
appointment of Linda Finley as Interim VP for Registration, Records and
Information Technology. Linda with just two weeks notice joined us for
the July Board meeting and crammed about six weeks of reading into two.
Mike Allen simultaneously agreed to keep the momentum going on the Role
of the Registrar project and took on the role of Project Leader. We are
deeply grateful to both Linda and Mike for their extraordinary service
this year.
During last year’s Annual Meeting I began to hear some of
the past presidents talk about AACRAO’s Centennial in 2010 and I asked
Stan Henderson to put his ideas in writing. His enthusiasm for this
project was evident in his two-page proposal, rich with ideas like
Centennial projects, oral and written histories of the Association, a
Centennial logo, and AACRAO Centennial moments. I subsequently asked
Stan to chair a Centennial Task Force and I’m very pleased that he
agreed to do so. The task force was formed and is already at work
researching documents, planning activities and developing a timeline.
In recent years, outsourcing has played a key role in
helping many of us to operate more efficiently and effectively. As a
result of a recommendation from the AAU Registrars, interest in an
Outsourcing Task Force was solicited in the fall via the Data Dispenser
and a committee was formed to address issues related to the feasibility
and the management of outsourcing services such as certification of
enrollment and graduation, financial advisement and accepting transcript
requests. Ken Servis from the University of Southern California is
chairing that Task Force, which met in February. The task force has
already generated a significant amount of content and we look forward to
the written paper that will provide guidelines for all of us as we
consider outsourcing selected services. Thanks to Ken Servis and the
task force for undertaking this important work.
In September I invited a group of small college leaders
including former chairs and members of the Small College Issues
Committee, to attend a meeting at the AACRAO Office in Washington to
exchange ideas and discuss the unique needs of small colleges. The Board
is made up of members from medium and large institutions yet 54 percent
of our institutional membership represents colleges with enrollments of
less than 2500. The group discussed AACRAO membership benefits,
volunteerism, leadership, networking, member recruitment, non-dues
revenue opportunities, training designed for small colleges, and the
challenges that would be faced by small colleges in the years ahead. An
action plan was developed and published in the Data Dispenser.
In October during the meeting of the administrative and
finance subcommittee of the Board, a day of Strategic Planning was held.
During this session the group, which included four members of the
association examined trends in association governance, brainstormed the
strategic issues faced by the association, reviewed AACRAO’s current
programs and selected the key issues that will help to determine where
new programs and services are developed in upcoming years. I want to
thank Eliott Baker, Stan Henderson, Christin Kerlin, and Glenn Munson
who gave up a fall weekend and joined us in our strategic planning
session. The Board has since developed three hours at each of its board
meetings to continue strategic planning and develop strategic
initiatives such as the proposed change in the bylaws for a Vice
President for Information Technology.
On the International front, I attended Canada’s ARUCC
annual meeting in June in New Brunswick, Canada. AACRAO has also formed
an affiliation with the Association of Tertiary Education Management
representing Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea
and Asia and continues its affiliation with the Association of
University Administrators in Great Britain. We welcome the
representatives of those groups as well as the representatives from the
Russian Project and from Arab AACRAO to this Annual Meeting.
The Data Dispenser has undergone significant change in
recent years and now offers monthly updates from the Executive Director
and the president, synopses of recent course cases, industry updates and
regulatory initiatives.
Continuing on the theme of member collaboration, two
inter-association appointments were approved in December. Harold Pace,
University of Notre Dame, will be AACRAO’s NCAA Division I
Inter-Association rep and Jeff vonMunkwitz-Smith, University of
Connecticut, will be AACRAO’s Inter-association rep to Educause and
CUMREC.
In February the incoming committee chairs were invited to
Washington for the third annual leadership conference. Attendees heard
about AACRAO accomplishments, initiatives, goals and finances. They
began to develop plans for projects, publications and programs for the
upcoming year. At this meeting Eliott Baker suggested the appointment of
a task force of recent Nominations and Elections chairs to review the
Nominations and Elections process. Thanks to Beverly Lewis from the
University of California at Santa Barbara, who has agreed to chair this
task force.
In February a charge was developed for a Task Force to
revise the Academic Records and Transcript Guide. Patrick Miller will
chair a task force to revise the Academic Records and Transcripts Guide.
Steve Gawkoski has been our College and University
editor for the past four years. Upon receipt of Steve’s resignation,
Betty Huff, University of California at Santa Barbara was asked to
accept the position as Interim Editor. C&U will continue to print
refereed articles and will be enhanced with additional content
In conclusion, I would like to thank my colleagues at
Boston College for their patience, support and assistance and thank all
of your for giving me this opportunity. It’s been the highlight of my
professional career, an opportunity for professional growth and a chance
to work with some extraordinary people.
It’s now my pleasure to turn the podium over the Jerry Sullivan for the Executive Director’s update.