Minutes of the
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education
Executive Committee Meeting
Baltimore, MD
Four Points by Sheraton (BWI)
November 10-11, 2012
Members Present: Laura Dean, President
Douglas Lange, Secretary
Pat Perfetto, Treasurer
Matthew Weismantel, Member-at-Large
Deb Garrett, Member-at-Large
Pat Carretta, Member-at-Large
Dorothy Mitstifer, Editor
Marybeth Drechsler Sharp, Interim Executive Director
President Dean called the meeting to order at 1:39 PM. Executive Committee members spent a few minutes catching up with one another. She asked for any additional agenda items.
D. Lange provided the CAS Secretary’s report. The CAS minutes were distributed and comments were received – nothing substantive. He distributed the sales and inventory report. It is attached as Appendix A.
Interim Executive Director Sharp provided her report.
1) She has presented on CAS to graduate students from University of Maryland and Shepherd College.
2) Reservations have been made for the NASPA and ACPA conferences to staff a booth at the vendor area to promote CAS. CAS only attends the conferences during the years of the new releases of the new editions. The Executive Director will be deciding on give-aways for the conferences.
3) She completed the paperwork and registration activity to have the CAS Book of Professional Standards in Higher Education now listed in the ERIC database.
4) American Association for Employment in Education (AAEE) has become inactive with CAS.
5) CAS has been asked to be a member of the CHEA’s “CHEA’s International Quality Group.” Executive Director Sharp will visit with Judith Eaton and relay the content of the conversation with the CAS Executive Committee in February.
6) IACLEA requested that some of their assessment activities be listed on the CAS website in the resources tab. Executive Director Sharp will ask other CAS member associations for resources to be displayed on the CAS website.
P. Perfetto, CAS Treasurer, provided his report. Based on the current amount in the checking account of $116,540.03, he suggested that we invest a portion of the amount and keep approximately $60,000 in checking. M. Weismantel moved and D. Lange seconded that CAS draw down the checking account to $60,000 and invest the drawn down of approximate $56,000.
We received a request from TIAA/CREF to consider transferring the investment of CAS funds to TIAA/CREF. The management fees with TIAA/CREF are significantly less than the fees with Merrill Lynch ($3,000 with TIAA/CREF to $7,000 with Merrill Lynch). D. Lange moved and seconded that P. Perfetto continue conversations to move the investments from Merrill Lynch to TIAA/CREF.
P. Perfetto announced that D. Seville, our bookkeeper, has resigned as of December 31, 2012. P. Perfetto and M. D. Sharp will be looking for a solution. They will carry D. Seville out to lunch and present her with a gift certficate for her work for CAS throughout the years.
It was suggested that J. Wells be given a raise for her work with CAS. It was agreed to move her salary up to $20 / hour.
P. Perfetto moved and D. Garrett seconded that the Association of Higher Education Parent/Family Program Professionals be admitted to full membership into CAS. Motion approved.
The CAS Executive Committee recessed at 5:15 PM.
Day 2
November 11, 2012
President Dean called the meeting to order at 8:37 AM.
D. Mitstifer shared with the Executive Committee the Michigan Society of Association Executives rubric being developed to help executives in their professional development. Suggestions were made to use the rubric for developing a rubric for CAS’s Characteristics of Individual Excellence or for developing a rubric for the Board of Directors members.
President Dean reviewed and asked for Executive Committee input for the 6 month evaluation of CAS’s Interim Executive Director, Marybeth Drechsler Sharp. She was initially appointed for a 1 year appointment. Her next evaluation will be in 6 months – at the conclusion of the year. It was agreed to raise her salary during the next 6 months.
The Executive Committee reviewed the proposed revised Alcohol and Other Drug Programs standards and guidelines and approved them for the next step in the process. They will be sent to D. Mitstifer for final editing before being sent to President Dean for communication with the revision committee.
Executive Director M. D. Sharp has not seen any specific changes in process of orders. She will work in the future on the development of the CAS website.
M. Weismantel provided a report on the communication efforts he had with the CAS working committees and provided his thoughts on facilitating committee efforts. His report is attached as Appendix B.
President Dean commented that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find chairs for the revisions committees. Directors are being asked by their institutions or organizations to cut back on their outside committements.
P. Carretta reported that trainings have been conducted and planned for future CAS Board of Directors meetings.
D. Garrett distributed the priorities list for CAS outreach. She provided the Executive Committee with a “Sample Resources” packet that she is drafting and compiling as a way to help practitioners in the field.
D. Garrett presented a proposal asking for a CAS Practicum (Intern) Proposal asking for $1,000 per month. Her office will provide the office space and the supervision. M. Weismantel moved and P. Carretta seconded that CAS fund the proposal. Motion passed. The Proposal is attached as Appendix
President Dean provided an update on the CAS Strategic Plan. We have moved forward with addressing “administrative capacity” and will quickly be moving in January to address “product”. Next on the agenda CAS Executive Committee will address outreach, based on the the future of “product.” Parallel to addressing “administrative capacity” CAS will need to address “board capacity.”
There being no further business, D. Lange moved and P. Perfetto seconded that the meeting be adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Douglas K. Lange, Ed.D.
CAS Secretary
(CAS Seal)
Appendix A
November 8, 2012
TO: CAS Executive Committee
CAS Board of Directors
FR: Douglas K. Lange, CAS Secretary
RE: CAS Marketing and Sales
Out of an initial order of 5,000 CAS Professional Standards of Higher Education books in August of 2012, we have 3,340 books remaining. We have sold over one-third of the initial order.
CAS purchased 600 CDs with the initial release of the revised book in August of 2012 and all 600 were sold by the end of October. CAS purchased an additional 200 CDs and there are 189 CDs remaining that should carry CAS through the spring of next year.
CAS sold 59 copies of Frameworks for Assessing Learning and Development (FALDOs) in PDF version with little to no marketing efforts.
Individual SAGs have been available and there have been 394 sold through the CAS store or directly ordered from the CAS Executive Director.
Two mailings were made to over 20,000 professionals to generate the strong sales of over $250,000 since April of this year. During the remaining part of this fiscal year, two mailings will be made – a postcard to the attendees of the NASPA and ACPA national conferences encouraging them to visit the CAS booth, and an end-of-fiscal-year mailing to Deans and Directors of higher education institutions in early April.
The CAS brochure is currently being edited and re-printed to be available in early December.
Appendix B
Finding Greater Support and Assistance for CAS Committees
Issues and Concerns in Developing “Ringer” Members of Committees
1 The idea of training and appointing a “ringer” member to a CAS committee, with extensive revision/writing experience in relation to Standards, is a bit problematic since this has actually been the focus in finding and appointing Chairs of our committees.
2 Having a committee “ringer” that is not the Chair could very well undermine the management of the Committee and also place the this person in a very awkward leadership arrangement with the Chair.
3 If the “ringer” is not satisfied with the progress or the direction of the committee how do they handle that situation effectively if they are not the Chairs?
4 There are no training processes in place currently for these members and it might be far more effective and important to invest our limited resources in enhanced training and support of both our Chairs and Expert members of the committees.
5 Additionally each committee experience is rather unique and not particularly conducive to a one-size fits all direction. Some committees have engaged and support Expert Members with solid connections to the professions, others do not or have issues with other member of the profession. Some associations a willing to work collaboratively and supportively of a CAS Committee and other feel quite strongly that we are creating “their” standards and may even work at cross purposes to the Chair and committee.
6
Another Possible Direction
The most difficult part of the process has been getting the committees off on a solid footing and moving forward. The training program (although abbreviated this year due to the appointment issues) has helped but it is not the total solution. I have begun to wonder if a annual CAS Committee gathering might work better and would include all Chairs and committee members. Perhaps there could be one day devoted to this effort at each November meeting (although I wish it could happen sooner) with the additional time saved from the new protocol process for review of standards. Not only could we provide an overview of the process but the committees could begun/continue their work in an environment where there is immediate support and assistance for questions and concerns.
1 The Chair training could be changed into a introductory overview of the process for all Committee members.
2 Training options could be provided for committees working on revision and those working on new standards.
3 Training options could also be provided for committees at different part of the process - those starting out and those bringing the standards to a final draft and about to work with the Exec Committee and bring the standards before the Directors
4 Experienced Chairs could present a short segment on what processes have worked well for them and look at successful implementation efforts including the Wiki, communications with and development of experts, working with the professional association and how to be an effective “expert” member.
5 The Chairs would already have their committees in attendance to start work on their process.
6 A one day meeting would not only get the committees off to a great start but would also allow many of them to complete almost their first 6-9 months of work immediately and could GREATLY speed up the process.
7 Committee members would gain the knowledge necessary to support their Chairs.
8 Questions, concerns, process and procedure issues can be dealt with immediately and effectively.
Appendix C
CAS Practicum (Intern) Proposal
Timeframe: June 1, 2013 – July 31, 2013
Compensation: $2,000 ($1,000 per month provided by CAS)
Free room and board (provided by ASU-Beebe)
Responsibilities: The CAS Practicum (Intern)’s major role is to provide research and writing report support to CAS Board member who is the Vice Chancellor for Student Services at Arkansas State University-Beebe. The practicum student’s chief job duties will include researching and organizing information already available on each CAS research topics. Topics may include: final report format for the program review process, use of rubrics for each functional area, establishing and training the teams, gathering evidence and data, using the evaluation scale, process for single function vs. division-wide approach, process for single campus vs. multi-campus approach, list of experts, suggested timeline, advice for CASOs
Prepare draft of information to be reviewed by members of the Executive Committee
Prepare draft of Tool Kit or Training Book for publishing (copyrighted by CAS)
Other duties assigned
Requirements: Complete one year of a master’s program in student affairs, counseling or higher education administration
Knowledge of CAS
Good writing skills
Capacity to work independently and with direction
Strong qualitative and quantitative assessment skills
Ability to receive academic credit from their institution for the experience
Supervised by: Deb Garrett, Vice Chancellor for Student Services
Arkansas State University - Beebe