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Program Overview

A set of contemporary issues has been identified for the 2011 ACPA Convention. Program planners are strongly encouraged to develop sessions that help participants further their knowledge and understanding in these areas.  Additionally, central to the substance and structure of the ACPA 2011 Convention program are the ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies. We encourage presenters to incorporate these competencies into program proposals and sessions.

Program submissions for the 2011 Convention are due on Friday, September 10, 2010. Ancillary program requests are due Friday, November 19, 2010. If you would like additional information about program categories and contact information for 2011 Convention Program Team Members who can assist you during the program submission process, please go to the Program Categories page.

Contemporary Issues

• Evidence and Improvement
  During the past two decades, the assessment movement in higher education has gained momentum. Legislators, accrediting agencies, and the general public continue to demand evidence that our work is producing measurable and positive results. As professionals, we are responsible for developing programs, measuring performance, evaluating findings, and using results to improve our programs and services. How are assessment programs working on our campuses? How are we incorporating assessment into our work? How are we helping staff to view assessment as a useful tool rather than a burdensome requirement? How are we building cultures of evidence by establishing and measuring learning outcomes for our programs and services? What lessons have we learned about assessment practice, and how do we continue to build on these lessons?
• Leadership in Challenging Times
  We all know that change is constant in our lives. Each year, decade, and era has its own unique challenges. We are living through a time of significant change in our professional lives and the lives of our students. We are challenged by the many needs of students; the ever increasing expectations of parents, government and other stakeholders; ongoing budget constraints; and the globalization of higher education. What leadership must we provide on our campuses and in the broader student affairs arena to respond to these challenges? In what new ways might we envision our work, roles, partnerships, and organizational structures?
• Student Success
  As our student population becomes more diverse, so do the challenges to ensure that all students have the best opportunities to be successful. Each year, new students enroll at our institutions with varying needs and expectations. What have we learned about our students and their experiences that can help us re-think or re-frame our work to better meet student needs? In what ways can we acknowledge and tap into the experiences of students who are coming to our campuses from military service or from other life experiences that differ from those of the majority? What support services do we need to develop and refine to encourage students to take reasonable educational risks, manage their complex responsibilities and pressures, and gain new perspectives? What are we doing that might be hindering the success of our students?  What are the new "best practices" for fostering student success?

Professional Competencies

• Advising and Helping: addresses the skills related to providing counseling and advising support, direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance to individuals and groups.
• Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER): focuses on the ability to use, design, conduct, and critique qualitative and quantitative AER analyses; to manage organizations using AER processes and the results obtained from them; and to shape the political and ethical climate surrounding AER processes and uses on campus.
• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: includes the awareness, knowledge, and skills to create learning environments that are enriched with diverse views and people, and to create an institutional ethos that accepts and celebrates differences among people and helps to free them of any misconceptions and prejudices.
• Ethical Professional Practice: pertains to the skills and abilities needed to understand and apply ethical standards to one’s work. While ethics is an integral component of all the competency areas, this competency area focuses specifically on the integration of ethics into all aspects of self and professional practice.
• History, Philosophy, and Values: involves knowledge and skills that connect the history, philosophy, and values of the profession to one’s current professional practice. This competency area embodies the foundations of the profession from which current and future research and practice has grown. The commitment to demonstrating this competency area ensures that our present and future practices are informed by an understanding of our history, philosophy, and values.
• Human and Organizational Resources: include skills and knowledge in the selection, supervision, motivation, and formal evaluation of staff; conflict resolution; management of the politics of organizational discourse; and the effective application of strategies and techniques associated with financial resources, facilities management, fundraising, technology use, crisis management, risk management and sustainable resources.
• Law, Policy, and Governance: includes the skills and knowledge relating to policy development processes used in various contexts, the application of legal constructs, and the understanding of governance structures and their impact on one’s professional practice.
• Leadership: addresses the knowledge and skills required of a leader, whether it be a positional leader or a member of the staff, in both an individual capacity and within a process of how individuals work together effectively to envision, plan, effect change in organizations, and respond to internal and external constituencies and issues.
• Personal Foundations: involves the ability to maintain emotional, physical, social, environmental, relational, spiritual, and intellectual wellness; be self-directed and self-reflective; maintain excellence and integrity in work; be comfortable with ambiguity; be aware of one’s own areas of strength and growth; have a passion for work; and remain curious.
• Student Learning and Development: addresses the knowledge and understanding of concepts and principles of student development and learning theory. This includes the ability to apply theory to improve and inform student affairs practice, as well as understanding teaching and training theory and practice.

ACPA Equity and Inclusion Statement

ACPA - College Student Educators International actively promotes and recognizes principles of fairness, equity, and social justice in relation to, and across intersections of race, age, color, faith, religion, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, social class, economic class, ethnicity, gender identity/expression, and all other identities represented among our diverse membership.

By appreciating the importance of inclusion, we acknowledge that the collective and individual talents, skills, and perspectives of members, constituent groups, and partners foster a culture of belonging, collaborative practice, innovation, and mutual respect. ACPA seeks to empower and engage professionals, scholars, and partners in actions that productively contribute to accomplishing the goals of our association.