Friday, 13 November 2015 - 11:25am

[image: ACPA/NASPA Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators, Visual Representation of the Intersection of the 10 Competency Areas.  Social Justice and Inclusion is a Professional Competency.]

Dear ACPA Community,

This is the second in a 4-part series of blog posts providing an update on President Gavin Henning’s five commitments that were published in his blog entitled We Must Do Better.  It can be read at: http://www.myacpa.org/blogs/presidents-desk/we-must-do-better

These are the commitments we have made to our members and to ourselves as leaders:

  1. Continuing dialogue that provides voice to our members as well as pathways for collaborative problem solving
  2. Examining our own shortcomings as culturally competent leaders
  3. Partnering with allied organizations to create opportunities for coalition building and professional development
  4. Seeking opportunities to advocate for policies that best support our students and campuses, and
  5. Exploring structural barriers to full inclusion of our members

Today, I would like to highlight our progress in:

(3) PARTNERING WITH ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS

We believe that we can improve equity & inclusion when we create and sustain partnerships with others who share our core values and who represent groups and individuals who are not dominant. 

All of us have to reach outside of the people and places that have formed our close-knit communities of influence and interaction and this means we have to be really effective in partnering--the cooperative, coordinated and collaborative relationships that exist between two or more independent persons or groups to (1) increase administrative efficiency and/or (2) programmatic impact through shared, transferred or combined services, resources or programs.

What can these partnerships look like on campuses and between our association and peer groups?  One of my favorite guides for defining effective partnerships was developed by The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.  They define cooperation, coordination and collaboration and suggest ways we can measure whether we are partnering well. 

  • Cooperation – Mutually beneficial administrative and program relationships that may include sharing information, students, professionals, space and other resources. Also includes relationships in which organizations agree to work on projects together.
  • Coordination – Deeper relationships built upon compatible goals (outcomes), joint planning, division of roles and resources and consistent communication channels in which accomplishments are mutually acknowledged. Partners recognize the value in the relationship and develop a supportive partnership infrastructure.
  • Collaboration – The deepest of organizational relationships, where documented expectations and a structure to achieve goals beyond those any individual partner could achieve are in place. Organizations have established long term, ongoing operation of coordinated or cooperative activities and have demonstrated continuity and long-standing trusting relationships. 

Here is a list of current partnerships in alphabetical order:

AFA (Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors)
ARAMARK
ASCA (Association for Student Conduct Administration)
ABCC Association of Black Cultural Centers
Diverse (CHEE) in publication of Best Places
ACUTA (Association of College and University Technical Advancement)
Association of Higher Education Parent/Family Program Professionals (AHEPPP)
ASHE (Association for the Study of Higher Education)
Campus Labs
Campus Pride
CAMPUSPEAK
Diversity Collegium Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmark Project
Erik Qualman & What Happens on Campus Stays on YouTube, co-produced with our Task Force on Digital Technology
Experient
Foliot Furniture
Forrest T. Jones and Company
Higher Education Forum-The Economist
Johns Hopkins, publisher of Journal of College Student Development (JCSD)
Kevin O’Connell & The Niche Movement
KSQ Architects
Lead365, host for the upcoming Global Student Summit in Montreal
M. Stoner, Higher Ed Live & Student Affairs Live and our own Tony Doody & Heather Shea-Gasser
Minority Male Community College Collaborative National Consortium on College Men of Color
Morgan State University (HBCU)
myPROfolio from our friends at Moodle
NASPA/ACPA Taskforce for Professional Competencies*
Naylor Broadcasting & WorkerBee TV, hosts of ACPA Video On Demand
National Council on Student Development (NCSD)
National Indian Education Association (NIEA)
NODA-Association for Orientation, Transition, Retention in Higher Education
Expanding the Circle 2015 Summer Institute
On Campus Marketing (OCM)
The Parity Portfolio, The Matterhorn Group, Morgan Stanley
Partnership for Healthier America (PHA) & 26 ACPA Member Colleges/Universities who formed the inaugural cohort honored by First Lady Michelle Obama in DC
Peter Lake, host for the upcoming Title IX Beyond Compliance CEU seminar in Montreal
Pivot Planet (our new mentoring/content expert matching platform in development)
Public Identity
Public Policy Consortium
RoomSync
The Salesforce Foundation & Fonteva (our new AMS/CRM platform due to release this fall) replacing MemberMax
Saint Louis Community College Corporate College, host of MMI
Saint Louis University host for our series on Racism in the Academy
Skyfactor
Stetson University College of Law
Stylus, publisher of many ACPA researchers and scholars*
Teamworks
University of Vermont-Legal Issues in Higher Education Conference
We End Violence producers of Agent of Change Sexual Assault & Violence Prevention Software
Wiley, publisher of About Campus
William Spelman Executive Search

Through partnerships such as these ACPA is able to amply our message regarding equity and inclusion in higher education.

With deep respect,

Cindi Love
Executive Director