An Introduction to the 2013-2014 SCASFAA Executive Board

SCASFAA,

It is my honor to serve as your President for the 2013-2014 year.  I am writing today to introduce you to the current SCASFAA Executive Board and to give you a preview of what we are working on this year.  The SCASFAA theme this year is “Together We Serve,” as we focus on the community of SCASFAA members and how we can all learn, teach, and grow as financial aid professionals together.  Each year, it takes many hands, eyes, and ears to carry out SCASFAA’s mission of providing critical training, in addition to personal and professional development opportunities and developing future leaders.  If you are planning to volunteer for one of our many committees, THANK YOU!  Our officers and committee chairs are looking forward to working with you and hearing your ideas.

I am always happy to hear from SCASFAA members and would like to invite each of you to contact me if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions.  Please feel free to email scasfaapresident@gmail.com at any time.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Your 2013-2014 Executive Board members are listed below.

Past President: Sarah Dowd, Tri County Technical College
As your Past President, Sarah chairs the Nominations and Elections Committee.  Her committee’s goal is to seek and review candidates for elected officers to serve the Association during the 2014-2015 year, and to oversee the elections process.  Sarah will communicate with the membership this fall about the nominations process, so start thinking about who you would like to nominate (and yes, you can nominate yourself!)

President-Elect: Kenneth Cole, University of South Carolina, Lancaster
As your President-Elect, Kenneth will spend this year gaining knowledge and learning procedures which will assist him during his year as President.  In addition, Kenneth will be spearheading a special project this year, which will focus on increasing the effectiveness of transitioning duties between officers and committee chairs during each year-end transitional process.

Vice President: Kevin Delp, Bob Jones University
Kevin Delp and the Professional Development committee have already begun work to plan a Fall training (New Aid/Intermediate Aid Officers) workshop, in addition to the Leadership Symposium in the Spring.  This year, the Leadership Symposium will focus on developing leadership traits and skills for the mid-level financial aid professional.

Secretary: Ellen Chiles, Clemson University
As your Secretary, Ellen is responsible for recording and distributing minutes of each Executive Board meeting, in addition to the Business Meeting minutes from the annual conference.  She will also work closely with all officers and committee chairs to ensure their reports are completed and submitted in a timely manner prior to each Executive Board meeting.  Ellen will also continue to update SCASFAA’s Policies and Procedures manual as revisions are made by the Board.

Treasurer: Deborah Williams, Piedmont Technical College
Deborah has spent the past year working with the immediate Past Treasurer, Violette Hunter, to learn the ropes of the position and will be spearheading the budget process for the 2013-2014 year.  Her goal is to efficiently and accurately maintain the SCASFAA budget and to process payments in a timely manner.  Deborah will also maintain and balance the Association’s bank accounts and all other financial records.

Treasurer-Elect: Melanie Gillespie, Southern Wesleyan University
Melanie’s job this year will be to shadow Deborah Williams in order to learn the duties of Treasurer.  She will be handling all incoming payments (membership dues, sponsorship payments, workshop and conference registration fees).  She will also work with Deborah to conduct regular reviews of the Association’s financial activities.

Member at Large: Michelle Upchurch, Limestone College
As Member at Large, Michelle and her committee will provide information about the benefits of SCASFAA membership and will be responsible for welcoming new members who join the Association throughout the year.  In a SCASFAA first, the Member at Large will also be heading up the Peer Support Network committee this year.  Michelle will be updating the peer support directory and actively publicizing its availability, which will allow her to evaluate the effectiveness of this tool at the end of the year.

Advisory to CHE: Violette Hunter, University of South Carolina TRIO Programs
In this role, Violette will maintain an open dialog with the SC Commission on Higher Education on issues important to the SCASFAA membership and will provide guidance and input, as needed, on potential regulatory issues that may impact the financial aid community.

Annual Conference/Program: Kevin Perry, Coastal Carolina University
Kevin is already hard at work planning the details of the 2014 Annual Conference, which will be held March 30 – April 2, 2014, at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel.  He and his committee are planning a fun and informative training-based conference, and the Executive Board is looking forward to seeing you there!  Be on the lookout for more information in the future.  Mark your calendars and plan to attend!  

Communications: Allison Keck, Greenville Technical College
Did you know SCASFAA has a blog?  The SCASFAA Scoop (http://www.scasfaa.blogspot.com) replaced the Palmetto Pages newsletter a few years ago.  Allison will be in charge of disseminating information to the membership through the use of the blog.  If you have any information you need to share with other SCASFAA members, like job openings, staffing changes, marriage or birth announcements, please send an email to scasfaanews@gmail.com and look for it on the SCASFAA Scoop!

Consumer Relations: Josephine Brown, Trident Technical College
As Consumer Relations chair, Josephine will be in charge of coordinating the College Goal SC event in February, and she will be looking for plenty of volunteers to serve as site coordinators and workers during the event.  College Goal SC is a wonderful outreach project and serves hundreds of South Carolina students and their families.  We hope you will consider being a part of this event!

Counselor Relations: Donna Quick, Columbia College
Donna is continuing her role as Counselor Relations chair this year and hopes to be able to provide financial aid-specific training to the high school guidance counselor community at a variety of locations throughout the state.

Electronic Services: Missy Perry, Piedmont Technical College

In this role, Missy will be responsible for maintaining and updating the content on the SCASFAA website.  This has become a manual and time-consuming process since SCASFAA moved away from ATAC a few years ago.  Missy will be working to make sure all information is up to date and that there is a consistent look and feel throughout the website.  In addition, she and her committee will coordinate the audio-visual needs of the Association for the annual conference.

Financial Planning: Nancy Garmroth, Spartanburg Community College
Nancy has agreed to serve SCASFAA this year in an ad-hoc committee chair role.  She will rely on her past experience as SCASFAA and SASFAA Treasurer to assist as a financial planner for SCASFAA during 2013-2014.  Nancy plans to monitor reconciliations on a monthly basis, perform financial reviews, and make recommendations for investments.  She will also be reviewing the Policies and Procedures manual and making recommendations for changes where needed pertaining to fiscal procedures.  

Global Issues: Traci Singleton, The Citadel
Traci and her committee will be providing important information concerning current topics of concern on our college campuses.  This information will be published on The SCASFAA Scoop, so make sure you are signed up to receive email updates from the blog.  Global Issues is a very diverse, and sometimes sensitive, area and includes topics such as mental health, disabilities, religious and cultural differences, homeless students, affirmative action, equality issues, and many more!  This year, SCASFAA will focus on providing current and relevant information concerning mental health and disabilities among our student population and how that impacts you as a financial aid administrator.

Legislative Relations: Ken Bernard, Central Carolina Technical College
As the Legislative Relations chair, Ken will ensure that policy and regulatory updates affecting the administration of student financial aid, both federal and state, is shared with the SCASFAA membership on a regular basis.

Long Range Planning: Elizabeth Milam, Clemson University
Are you aware that the SCASFAA Executive Board adopts a Long Range Planning document every five years and that each year’s Board is responsible for carrying out tasks assigned to it throughout the Long Range Plan?  The current Long Range Plan ends in 2014, so Elizabeth and her committee will take on the important task of drafting a plan which will guide Association decisions for the next five years.

Site Selection: Carolyn Sparks, Wofford College
Carolyn has been charged with the task of securing a site for the 2016 Annual Conference (SCASFAA’s 50^th anniversary!)  She and her committee will solicit proposals from several potential sites and will review each location thoroughly before making a recommendation to the Executive Board.  As a past Conference Chair and an active participant on the site selection committee in the past, Carolyn knows which questions to ask!  

Sponsorship: Nikki Merritt, Coastal Carolina University
Nikki and her committee will work closely with organizations that have an interest in supporting SCASFAA’s mission and goals.  She will provide all potential sponsors with information regarding sponsorship packages available and will coordinate the exhibit area for the annual conference, in addition to other needs of SCASFAA’s sponsors throughout the year.

Thank you all for this opportunity to introduce you to the SCASFAA Executive Board.  I am so excited about working with such a dedicated and energetic group of volunteers, and I thank them for their service.  I hope to see you all during at least one SCASFAA event this year!  Again, please do not hesitate to email scasfaapresident@gmail.com if I can answer any questions or if you have any suggestions or comments for the Executive Board.

Yours in Service to SCASFAA,

Katie Harrison

SCASFAA President, 2013-2014