Letter from the President

Hello PennACE friends,

I hope that everyone’s fall semester got off with a bang and that everyone is enjoying the busyness of fall recruitment season. I know for myself, my office has had so much going on that it is hard to keep up with all of the job fairs, on campus interviews, tabling events, and classroom presentations, while making time for student appointments and just simply staying on top of the flood of emails. As we all have a lot going on and we are all out there doing the great work of serving students, it is important to step back and take time to reflect on our work and the direction we are moving in.

Over the last year, my institution, Kent State University has adapted a new branding strategy and slogan termed “Discovering Purpose.” Many of our initiatives and individual department visions and missions are now aligned with helping students discover their purpose. The push for this initiative at Kent State has me reflecting on my time as president of PennACE.

My goal for PennACE this year, with the support of my executive board is to reflect and rediscover the purpose of PennACE. The executive board met at State College in August to begin this work, looking at our former strategic plan and brainstorming for the future. We have another board meeting planned for January where we will sit down and do the work of rediscovering our purpose through our strategic plan. All of this will come together to be shared at our annual meeting and conference that I am already looking forward to in May. Along the way, we will all have the opportunity to reflect on our own work and purposes at roundtables, planned by our Professional Development committee in January.

So as you continue the great work that you do in your busy schedule, take time to reflect on why you do what you do and how you can do it better, just as PennACE is doing as an organization this year.

Best,

Julie Novotny