[Oasfaa] FW: [SWASFAA Team Chatter] SWASFAA Resolutions for the New Year

[Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC)]

Here's something to brighten your day in what has probably been a crazy 2 weeks.  And by the way, don't you just love coming back from the relaxing time off around the holidays to enjoy the launch of the Spring term?  C'mon, I know you do!  Andrew's new blog post is at http://swasfaa.org/b/general/newyear/.

The SWASFAA Board is meeting in Arlington on January 26th and 27th.  As your Delegate to the Board, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments that I can take to the meeting, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks, and enjoy that giant ball of fire in the sky.  In case you'd forgotten how the sun makes you feel, go outside, turn your face to the sky, (close your eyes, of course!), and soak up some much needed vitamin D.

Thanks!

Mendy Schmerer, M.Ed.
Assistant Director
Office of Student Financial Aid
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
1106 N. Stonewall, Rm 301
Oklahoma City, OK  73117
(405) 271-2118, x 48817 (p)
(405) 271-5446 (f)
Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu 
http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/ 

 Become our fan on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/OUHSCFinancialAid 

-----Original Message-----
From: SWASFAA Team Chatter [mailto:blog at swasfaa.org] 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 1:02 PM
To: Schmerer, Mendy M. (HSC)
Subject: [SWASFAA Team Chatter] SWASFAA Resolutions for the New Year

SWASFAA Team Chatter has posted a new item, 'SWASFAA Resolutions for the New Year'

Dear SWASFAA Friends:

This year all my New Year’s resolutions revolved around SWASFAA projects. It’s not that I don’t have other ambitions, but my personal goals are the same thing year after year: exercise regularly, work hard, travel to a foreign country that I will one day own, and don’t kill anyone no matter how much I think he or she deserves it. I decided a while ago that these should be lifestyle choices; therefore, I no longer bother to call them “resolutions”.

But since I will only be SWASFAA president through 2015, I felt it was appropriate to make a few SWASFAA-related resolutions to help keep me on track:

	I resolve to increase the number of webinars that SWASFAA provides. Last year we offered a free webinar to our members, and even though I was worried that the technology wouldn’t work well, in the end everything went smoothly and we got a lot of positive feedback. This year I want to offer at least three webinars to the SWASFAA membership. Now that we have proven that we can do it, we need to take advantage of the technology.

	I resolve to bring back Mid-Level Training, which will focus on training for counselors and other financial aid administrators who have been in the industry for at least five years. During the lean years, SWASFAA had to cut back on some of their training events because we needed to be conservative with our resources. We still want to stretch our funds as far as they will go, but I’m ready to take some risks. Furthermore, NASFAA has agreed to subsidize certain NASFAA credential exams as long as we use trainers who are credentialed in their subject area. We want to take advantage of this offer, which expires on June 30th, so we have to act fast. More details are forthcoming as soon as we work through the weeds, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for April 28-30.

	I resolve to communicate, communicate, communicate. I would so much rather be accused of over-communicating than under-communicating. I also resolve not to try to do everything on my own. SWASFAA has a very strong board and dedicated committees who can help me to get the information in the hands of the membership. I’m going to blog as regularly as my schedule allows, and hopefully you’ll see lots of information on the listserv and the SWASFAA website. People need to know what’s going on in our association.

	I resolve to have fun. This one shouldn’t be too hard, because I really enjoy being involved in SWASFAA. Everyone has been so supportive and generous, and they tolerate my sense of humor even when they’re not sure if it’s appropriate. But sometimes I take things way too seriously. I have to stop and remind myself to relax. Fortunately, I have enough friends who will keep me in check when I go overboard.

So those are my New Year’s resolutions for SWASFAA. We will send out much more information in the weeks to come about the training opportunities for 2015. In the very near future, you will get an email about how to renew your membership for 2015. If you have any thoughts or comments, please feel free to leave them in the comments section or email me directly at ahammontree at francistuttle.edu.

You may view the latest post at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__swasfaa.org_b_general_newyear_&d=AwIDaQ&c=qRnFByZajCb3ogDwk-HidsbrxD-31vTsTBEIa6TCCEk&r=-Lnq0C7sCiFyP0whbJJ3dxf5JnVjhYZXejVPgZDRGLk&m=W-RCXmIvCVdRpeyj9ZXRxTHy1V59D319tPuGp9ny9CI&s=ws9DCdDDw0_0beRrjmI4IZ7jvEl5akBAcQYigzb4kP0&e= 

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