NASPA Region V Two-year and Community Colleges
website!
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the
NASPA region V web page. NASPA has been an active and effective organization in education
but has traditionally dealt with concerns and issues involving four-year institutions.
This network was created to hear and address the concerns of two-year and community
colleges. I am committed to this idea.
I am Joanna F. Blount. I am a newcomer to NASPA in
many ways. I was nominated for and received the Rising Star Award in 1992. This award
still hangs on my wall, even seven years after the fact. The award also included
membership to NASPA and the opportunity to attend the NASPA conference. I am sure it was
an excellent conference and included much useful information. But I was so overwhelmed
with the information and the fact that many of the sessions dealt with issues only of
interest to four-year institutions. I found myself asking questions that started with
"at the community college…" Quite often the question that followed did not
receive a definitive answer. Only occasionally, was a suggestion or a resource offered for
additional information.
Like many of you, I looked elsewhere for practical
answers to my questions and concerns. I also looked for a forum in which to broadcast some
answers I’d learned through trial and error. So, once again I turned to NASPA. I
attended a national conference and found a greater emphasis was placed on areas of concern
to both two and four year institutions. A network was being created to ensure that two
year schools were being heard AND represented in the programs! NASPA publications are
beginning to reflect what two-year schools have known all along: there are lessons to be
learned from the community colleges. An excellent publication that reflects this attitude
is Life at the Edge of the Wave, published by NASPA.
I am excited to be a part of this organization that
is changing to meet the needs of its constituency. I ask that you join me in making the
Region V Two-year and Community College Network a success. I want to hear what the issues
are, resolutions that you have found, information that you’d like to share with the
rest of us, frustrations you encounter and good news, too. Please contact me about signing
up for the listserv, joining the organization, or just to share.
