AACRAO Elections Position Statement (Vice President at Large)
I am very grateful to be nominated for the VP at Large role because AACRAO is one of the leading higher education organizations trying to foster transformation and change within our rapidly evolving industry, and being able to support the Association's strategic growth is a critical role for the betterment of higher education as a whole.
I accepted the nomination for the VP at Large because I believe that my skills and experience at the national, regional, and professional level are appropriately situated to serve AACRAO and advance the goals and needs of the organization. As the Vice Provost of Strategy at the University of Phoenix I manage our portfolio of strategic work, which has included launch and design of our competency-based education programs, execution of our badging initiatives, implementation of a product model to support our technology needs, managing our EDTech partners and contracts, and providing thought leadership on emerging topics like AI. My knowledge of strategic trends and my vendor contacts that are germane to institutions of all types and sizes makes me a good candidate to support the AACRAO board with special projects and strategic initiatives.
If given the honor of being elected as the VP at Large I would look to further advance AACRAO's work in the educational technology space to advocate for the needs of registrars, SEM, admissions, and transfer professionals further. As the beating heart for many institutions, AACRAO membership should have an enormous voice in the institutional needs for the design and execution of technology to support our schools. To support this, I would look to establish more activities like the upcoming Convergence conference, where AACRAO and UPCEA have partnered to provide leadership on microcredential innovation. Additionally, as the VP at Large I would advocate for the Board's and membership's needs in a variety of arenas with corporate partners, higher education thought leaders, and technology vendors to ensure our needs are a consideration in the design or implementation of change in our fields - in addition to all other needs the AACRAO Board would require. As someone that comes from an institution that is focused on working adult learners through the use of new technologies I believe my unique perspective would bring something special and new to the board in this role, and I am excited for the opportunity to do so and help advance our Association.
AACRAO Bio
With nearly two decades of experience working with online and distance education students at the post-secondary level in admissions, registrar, and academic administration roles Marc Booker brings a unique perspective on the trends in higher education from a non-traditional student lens. As Vice Provost for Strategy at the University of Phoenix, Marc oversees critical path academic initiatives to improve the student experience such as learning platform implementations, curricular enhancements, and developing empathetic solutions to drive improved student outcomes through data.
Marc is actively engaged in the higher education community and in 2016 served as the President for the Pacific Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, and is currently a faculty member for the Association’s Leadership Development Institute. Since 2009, Marc also has been a regular speaker, contributor, and subject matter expert at national and regional conferences for AACRAO, PACRAO, CAEL, EDUCAUSE, and ACBSP sharing insight on various topics including leadership, process improvement, change management, prior learning assessment, transfer credit, and articulation. Marc has also contributed to several publications as a co-author for AACRAO’s Guide to Best Practices: Articulation Agreements (2019); writing a chapter on international admissions for the AACRAO International Guide (2016), and was a consultant and named contributor to the Transferability of Postsecondary Credit Following Student Transfer or Co-Enrollment (2014) study published by the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education. In 2020, Marc received a Hall of Fame recognition from Blackboard for his contributions in providing thought leadership and innovation in education.
Marc has extensive experience with finances and investments. Functionally, he served as both the President and also as Treasurer for PACRAO. During his tenure as PACRAO treasurer, he re-organized the Association's financial planning strategy and book-keeping processes to provide more clarity to membership and assist the PACRAO Board with understanding the P&L for their annual meeting and board expenses more clearly. In his professional role at work as Vice Provost-Strategy, he is responsible for building and allocating multi-million dollar annual operating plans on behalf of the academic division at my institution. This includes handling contract negotiations and relationship support for third-party vendors (LMS, EdTech, etc.) consisting of several multi-million dollar partnerships.
, | August 11, 2021 3:00 PM