[Oasfaa] SWASFAA Board Meeting

Fri May 9 13:37:59 CDT 2014

Your SWASFAA Board met in Arlington, Texas on Monday, April 28th and Tuesday, April 29th.  Oklahoma is well represented this year on the SWASFAA Board, with:

Andrew Hammontree, President
Me, Delegate At Large and Leadership Development Chair
Lori Boyd, OASFAA President
Audra Main, Conference Chair
Scott DeBoard, Training Chair

Not to mention several others from the state serving on committees!

Andrew's responsibilities as President keep him busy.  He has been actively blogging about his travels to the other SWASFAA states' conferences and NASFAA Board meetings and other SWASFAA activities.  If you haven't signed up to follow the blog yet, I highly recommend that you do at http://swasfaa.org/b/.  Andrew is going to continue to keep us informed, but the various committee chairs are going to begin posting updates on their committees' goings on as well.

SWASFAA's goal is to increase communication to the membership, so be prepared for additional activity on the SWASFAA listserv, on the blog, and on the SWASFAA Facebook page.  The SWASFAA Facebook page has changed and the old Facebook page won't be active for much longer, so you'll want to make sure you like the new page.  The easiest way to find the right one is to first visit www.swasfaa.org<http://www.swasfaa.org> and then click on the Facebook icon towards the bottom of the page.  You'll want to stay in the loop because soon we are going to have some specific details about upcoming events, several of which are brand new initiatives that SWASFAA feels is important to offer to its members.

Each state, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, provides a state report during the meeting.  This is the opportunity for the state Presidents and Delegates at Large to share with our colleague the things in our respective states that have been keeping us busy.  We tend to borrow conference presentation ideas from one another, ruminate over common struggles such as reduced state funding, frustration over ED reporting issues, and various other things that tend to make the life of an aid administrator difficult, and we collaborate and connect in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible if we weren't involved.

Details about a new "Best Practices" webinar will be forthcoming, as will details regarding a Leadership Institute we are going to offer just prior to the annual conference.  You will want to make sure your institution's membership is current, as only SWASFAA member schools are allowed to register for events.

Conference planning is well underway, so if you have any topic suggestions, presenter ideas, or would like to volunteer to moderate a session, I know Audra Main<mailto:audra-main at ouhsc.edu> would love to hear from you.

The Board will meet again in September, via conference call.  If there are any issues you would like for me, as your Delegate At Large, to take to the SWASFAA Board between now and then, please let me know.  One of SWASFAA's chief concerns is that it act as a resource for the members, and that in doing so, a sense of community is fostered and nurtured.  If, at any time, you feel moved to get involved with OASFAA, SWASFAA, or NASFAA, there are always opportunities, so don't be afraid to ask what they are!

It can be so easy to forget how much goes on outside of our own office walls, so just like with OASFAA activities, the SWASFAA Board meetings are a great reminder of how active our colleagues are in NASFAA, SWASFAA, and state level activities, working in a myriad of ways to better the lives of our students and to ensure that ours continues to be a profession in which we are all proud to serve.  While ours can be a frustrating, sometimes thankless job, great things happen in financial aid.  Even on the difficult days-or rather, especially on the difficult days-remember that, and take pride in what you do every day.  Remember that as you see students graduate this time of year.

Thank you for what you do, and enjoy this rare, beautiful day!

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<mailto:Mendy-Schmerer at ouhsc.edu>
http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/SFA/

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