2022 ACSR Business Meeting in Review

“Building Capacity, Community, and Inclusive Leadership” was the theme of the ACSR Business meeting held this year at the AACTE Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Chapter leaders from around the country gathered to connect and to discuss the pressing issues impacting the education profession in their state. 

John Blackwell, in his last official act as chair of ACSR, led a discussion about the ways AACTE state affiliates have sought to build leadership capacity and the resources that have aided their efforts.  Afterwards, Robin Fuxa of Oklahoma State University and incoming ACSR chair-elect, continued the conversation with a panel discussion, which included the participation of Tara Haskins of Eastern Washington University, Adria Hoffman of Virginia Commonwealth University, Beth Kubitskey of University of Michigan (Flint), and Stacy Leftwich of Rowan University.

Haskins described the intentional ways the Washington state affiliate works to grow leadership and encourage participation, including the deliberate varying of representation in leadership, promoting a intentional focus on diversity in leadership, and working to achieve an equitable nomination and voting process.

Hoffman shared details about the Virginia affiliate’s conference that focused on equity, excellence, and innovation in teaching.  The conference was organized as an opportunity to involve doctoral students more deeply in the chapter’s work and to network with Holmes Scholars. 

Kubitskey, former Midwest Representative and Michigan affiliate president, spoke about how MACTE focused on building leadership capacity by describing which strategies worked best for the chapter, which strategies were the most challenging to implement, and what strategies the chapter plans to implement in the future. 

Leftwich, the New Jersey affiliate president, described how NJACTE focus on fostering the capacity of emerging leaders, with an emphasis on promoting an equal balance of public and private EPPs in the chapter’s executive board leadership, including social justice among the themes of its standing committees, and centering annual events on diversity-supportive goals.

The business meeting concluded with project presentations by the winners of 2021-22 State Affiliate Support Awards.  Afterwards, participants were asked to break into discussion groups to share best practices about leadership capacity building in their states. 

Blackwell closed the meeting with an expression of gratitude to Past ACSR Chair Kate DaBoll-Lavoie of New York and outgoing Midwest Representative Beth Kubitskey, for their years of service to ACSR.  He also welcomed Robin Fuxa to her new role as ACSR chair-elect and introduced Anne Tapp to attendees as the new ACSR chair before encouraging everyone to join him in Washington DC, in June for the State Leaders Institute.

To learn more about ACSR governance, visit aacte.org.


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