ACAO 2025 Standing Committees

Membership and Communications 

Chair: Michael Quillen, Rowan Cabarrus Community College

The purpose of this committee is to oversee and manage communications between the association and its membership (in consultation with ACAO leadership), primarily aimed at recruiting and retaining members. Includes developing member communications that cultivate a distinctive ACAO identity and brand, developing strategies and materials to generate interest in joining ACAO. Members also will use professional contacts to encourage membership, report on membership, and make recommendations about dues. Members will work at generating communications materials and strategies directed toward building membership. The Membership Committee will also support marketing & communication efforts with the goal of ensuring the visibility of the organization to the public in multiple formats.  Goals of the committee are to maintain an active presence on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  Committee members can create their own posts or provide content to staff to post.  Provide updates as needed on the website for events, news, links, or other relevant data.  Provide staff content for generating a monthly or quarterly newsletter.  

Members: 

Nominating and Bylaws

Chair: 

The purpose of the Nominating and Bylaws Committee is to both, a) develop and manage the process by which candidates for the governing board are presented to the membership for election (this includes soliciting the membership for nominations and applications for board positions, developing a slate of candidates, and overseeing the election process and informing the membership of the results); and b) review ACAO's bylaws and bring any recommendations for change to the ACAO board of directors for consideration.

Members:

Professional Development Committee

Chair: Junius Gonzales, Montclair College

The purpose of the Professional Development Committee is to guide development, coordination and implementation of programming aimed at supporting professional development for chief academic officers. Professional development programming includes sessions or workshops developed alone or in partnership with other higher education organizations, as well as support for peer mentoring and networking activities.  

Members:

Finance Committee

Chair: 

The Finance Committee provides guidance to the board to ensure the financial health of the organization, according to sound fiscal policies.  The committee shall periodically review and revise investment policies, financial and audit documents and fiscal policies of ACAO and make recommendations to the board.

Members:

Digital Learning Committee 

Chair: Laura Niesen de Abruna, Metropolitan State University of Denver

The purpose of this committee is to provide information, training, resources, and support for CAOs who are interested in learning more about the potential of digital learning to increase student success. The committee is responsible for the vetting of products and services on the website. The committee will extend and disseminate the information generated by the thirty-two Digital Fellows who were part of the 2016 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant.  Their role moving forward will be to pursue new grants, contracts, and partnerships that will provide more opportunities for more CAOs to learn about the potential of digital learning to increase student retention and persistence to graduation.

(The purpose of the Innovation and Strategies Committee is to pursue innovative and entrepreneurial activities consistent with the mission of ACAO. Activities may include pursuit of grants and contracts or the development of new strategic priorities or partnerships that could enhance the academic enterprise across a range of higher education institutions.)  

Members: