President’s Update
Kyle A. Pendleton
AFA President
July 2007
It is hard to believe that the summer is half over and that most of us, in less than a month, will be knee deep in back-to-school preparation, recruitment craziness, and all the fun that is start of another year of school!
I dare say that the AFA Executive Board and Central Office staff have been quite busy, in what many consider the “off-season” for fraternity and sorority professionals. June was an incredibly hectic month. In fact, it seems Linda Wardhammar, our Executive Director, and I spent more time together than apart for a six week period. So, in the spirit of the summer, I’ll “dive right in” with an update of Association business.
In early June, Linda Wardhammar, Mike Hayes and I attended a two day Coalition Assessment Project meeting. During our time together, representatives from the umbrella groups discussed the pilot campus visits, evaluated the written report process, and discussed the next steps as we move closer to full implementation of this initiative. Eleven campuses participated in the pilots in the spring and the feedback from everyone involved has been quite encouraging. The next steps include the National Association of State and Land Grant Colleges sending a letter to the presidents of their member campuses asking for participation in the next phase of the project. The plan is for 20 campuses to receive evaluation visits this fall and another 30 in the spring. With 50 campus visits planned for the 2007-2008 academic year, AFA is going to call upon our experienced volunteers to assist the Coalition by serving on visitation teams. A full description of the requirements to be a visitation team member is included on the 2008 Involvement Form.
Soon after wrapping the Coalition meeting, Linda and I headed to the AFA Foundation summer board meeting. Tony Smercina, of Charitable Partners, facilitated a workshop for board members on young professional giving programs. The Foundation is coordinating an educational program at the Annual Meeting aimed at educating AFA members on investment strategies and retirement planning. Finally, do not forget, the Foundation is currently accepting items for the Silent Auction.
The AFA Executive Board held our mid-year board meeting June 10th through 12th in Indianapolis. We again were lucky to utilize the meeting space of two of our interfraternal partners - Alpha Epsilon Pi and Sigma Kappa. We continue to be grateful for the hospitality of the inter/national offices in Indianapolis.
One highlight of the Executive Board meeting was continued board development. Each board member and Central Office staff member completed a Teams Dimension Profile followed by a guided discussion on how our preferred styles translate to the work we do for the Association.
Karleen Dietrich, AFA’s new Director of Programs, was able to join us for part of the meeting (her first official day on the job was July 2nd). With the addition of this staff position, a new organizational structure was voted on and adopted for the coming year. Many of the committees, workgroups, and projects traditionally managed by board members will now be coordinated by staff. This shift will allow the Board to focus on bigger-picture, strategic discussions rather than getting bogged down in the minutia of project management.
Our strategic plan discussion focused on assessing the Association’s current communications practices. We looked at how, when, and why we communicate to our membership, interfraternal partners, higher education associates, and the media at large. In the next few months, we will be conducting a communications/brand audit to determine the next steps in streamlining efficient, timely, and strategic delivery of our message.
Finally, I am writing this column on my flight back from the Fraternity Executives Association (FEA) summer meeting. It has been the practice for the AFA President to attend the conference and present a brief AFA update during the business meeting. This year, Linda and I were both invited not only to give the normal report, but also to present an educational workshop for the Director of Chapter Services track focusing on creating the “advanced” campus partnership between university and headquarters staff. Not only did the workshop go well, but we had an incredible four days of conversations and relationship building. In fact, I think we listened and learned quite a bit from the FEA membership on what the Association can be doing to better serve the AFA members that work for an inter/national fraternity or sorority. We are quite appreciative of Bob Biggs (Past President), Melanie Schild (President), Bonnie Wunsch (President Elect), Paul Lawson, Jeremy Slivinski and the rest of the FEA membership for their support as the partnership between our two associations continues to grow.
Now, we begin to turn our focus to the coming months that will bring the election of our 2008 officers, the launch of the First 90 Days program, and believe it or not, the Annual Meeting in Cincinnati. So, before we all get to crazy, relax and enjoy the last few weeks of summer!