NCPEA past-president
As we head into the final half of
the final month of 2014, I thought it appropriate to use this month’s NCPEA
Talking Point to reflect on the year’s work of the executive board on behalf of
our member professors. Each summer
conference includes a keynote presentation by the executive director and the
current president summarizing the state of the organization. The purpose of this address each year is to
provide members with the highlights of initiatives that elected members,
NCPEA’s consultants, and the executive director have prioritized as topics of
emphasis during the previous regular meetings of the executive board, as well
as ongoing work on the day-to-day business of NCPEA.
First, this serves as a reminder of
recent initiatives of past presidents and the continued work on those important
topics. Fenwick English (University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill), who was recently re-elected to the NCPEA
Executive Board (EB), focused on expanding the voice of professors from
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions,
and Native American Tribal Colleges and Universities during his
presidency. The executive board
continues to work on this then-presidential initiative with the leadership of
two current affiliate members, professors Mariela Rodriquez from the University
of Texas at San Antonio and Tawannah Allen, Fayetteville (NC) State
University. A recent recommendation to
the EB included seeking to extend the role of the current affiliate members
beyond the original 3-year period, while identifying prospective affiliate
members representing professors from all institutions to facilitate future
transitions with training for board service.
An initiative of past-president
Carol Mullen (Virginia Tech) was to advance the work of NCPEA as an
international organization encouraging worldwide college and university
professors of educational administration to prepare leaders for service in schools
around the world. Rosemary Papa
(Northern Arizona University) was selected as the first NCPEA International
Ambassador and serves as an affiliate member.
This work continues under Rosemary’s leadership with action to pilot a
partnership between NCPEA and the Flagstaff Seminar: Educational Leaders
Without Borders. This collaboration
includes EB members serving as a sub-committee to advise and monitor the
partnership during the three-year pilot.
In a recent email to over seventy professors, Rosemary invited members
of FS:ELWBs to prepare to “increase co-hosting responsibilities” with the NCPEA
Executive Board in Washington, D.C. (2015), Detroit, Michigan (2016), and San
Juan, Puerto Rico (2017). The EB worked
on a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organizations during 2014 to
prepare for the first joint conference at the Sheraton Pentagon City, August
1-7, 2015. Dr. Papa concluded with, “Part
of our strategy is to ensure some funds are generated to help scholars
world-wide to attend.” The EB approved a
line item within NCPEA’s 501 (c)(3) non-profit budget, so donations can be made
to fund support for increased participation from professors around the world,
in addition to extending NCPEA membership to international professors based on
the World Bank ratings for individual countries.
“Established in 1947, the
National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) continues
its commitment to serve the interests and needs of professors of educational
administration and practicing school leaders.” NCPEA has historically
been a professional organization for individual members and to serve to benefit
its members as teachers, scholars, and leaders in service to others. To this vision’s end, the NCPEA Executive
Board has worked to expand the promotion and tenure opportunities and to extend
the reach of ideas of our member professors through NCPEA Publications, our
sponsored, peer-reviewed journals and NCPEA Press, sponsored, peer-reviewed
books. The EB continued the work to
create “industry-standard” publications through approving a reorganization of
the executive director’s responsibilities and charging Brad Bizzell from
Radford (VA) University, as NCPEA director of publications to work with Jim
Berry, NCPEA executive director, to propose software and hardware upgrades to
accomplish this goal. This represents an
important future direction for the organization and acknowledges the work that
Ted Creighton, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech, accomplished in positioning
NCPEA’s publication arm.
As an organization of and for member professors, NCPEA continues to
recognize the work of its members’ shaping the field of educational
administration through the annual Living Legends Award. The EB recently expanded this recognition of
selfless service through a periodic and timely Distinguished Service
Award. NCPEA board members participate
with past recipients of Living Legends awards to identify a professor deserving
of this level of recognition and encourages nominations to be sent to the
executive director for the Distinguished Service Award.
“The
mission of NCPEA, as a professional academic organization, is to advance the
field of educational administration, both in leadership and management, through
research, teaching, and service, as a means to prepare aspiring and practicing
educational administrators.” The NCPEA Executive Board completed its
strategic planning session at the summer conference in Camarillo, California,
hosted by CAPEA and Gary Kinsey from California State University Channel
Islands, in preparation for the long-range planning for membership held every
five years. The Whithers Session
provided members with an opportunity for input and information for NCPEA’s
direction from new initiatives identified in 2014, ahead of the next Washington,
DC Summit held every five years on the “5’s and 0’s.” One sub-committee is actively meeting to work
on membership proposals ranging from institutional membership (see the upcoming
NCPEA December Newsletter from Jim Berry) to student ambassadors and current
practitioners – who may be transitioning to professorial roles. Another initiative, leading to an EB
sub-committee, proposed an inaugural application process to grant a total of
$5,000 to quality proposals seeking to implement the mission and vision of
NCPEA to “advance the field” and “serve the needs” of educational
administrators and professors (see the upcoming newsletter). The EB identified this as a strategic
initiative aligned to our non-profit status with the Internal Revenue Service. This is a tangible way to give back to the
field a portion of revenues from the annual conference and our publications through
recognizing and encouraging deserving work to improve the preparation of future
leaders and the professional development of current leaders aligned to the
NCPEA’s mission and vision. Hopefully,
this grant amount will continue to grow as NCPEA members expand their reach
through presentations at our conferences, publishing through our journals in
NCPEA Publications, and books in the NCPEA Press.
The work of 2014 culminated officially with our final meeting of the EB
on December 15th and it will continue into 2015 under the leadership
of NCPEA president Carleton Holt (University of Arkansas). But we know that it actually continues
immediately day-to-day with the quality and consistent work of Jim Berry, our
executive director from Eastern Michigan University. On behalf of the NCPEA Executive Board, thank
you for you work to serve the organization, its members, and others in your
roles throughout the United States and the world. We are committed to the quality preparation
of educational leaders and this work is best accomplished through professors in
programs who seek to be accountable to those that we serve with and to those we
serve. The National Council of
Professors of Educational Administration is a great place to learn, to share
what we learn with our colleague professors, and to use what we learn and share
to better prepare aspiring and practicing educational administrators. May you be blessed throughout the upcoming
holiday season and have a prosperous New Year 2015, one in which you and our
organization thrives.
