Commission for Commuter Students & Adult Learners 

COMMITTEE DESCRIPTIONS

1. Adult Student Task Force

   The Adult Student Task Force exists within Commission for Commuter Students and Adult Learners to help maintain a focus on the needs of adult students. The Task Force encourages networking among professionals working with older learners, including sharing all aspects of relevant research and practice. Through ACPA programs and publications, members hope to show leadership with regards to the concerns of non-traditional students in higher education. The chair of this task force is responsible for chairing a task force meeting at the National Convention. An annual report is submitted at the National Convention.

    

2. Affirmative Action Committee

The Affirmative Action Committee is charged with the implementation and review of the Commission’s affirmative action plan. While the committee provides educational support, each directorate member is responsible for integrating affirmative action goals into his/her area of responsibility. The functions of the Affirmative Action Chair include the following:

• recruit affirmative action committee members;
• review affirmative action plan;
• educate the directorate and commission membership regarding the plan;
• monitor progress toward the affirmative action goals; and,
• submit an annual report.

       3.  Commission Awards Committee

This directorate responsibility involves the coordination of the five individual awards and five program awards that are given at the ACPA National Convention. The duties of the Commission Awards Chair include developing a timeline for publicizing the availability of the awards, selecting judges, choosing the award winners, designing and ordering awards, plus preparing the award ceremony festivities. An annual report is due at the National Convention, which includes award recipients and contact information.

      4.  Convention Carnival

The head of the Carnival coordination is responsible for the design and implementation of the Commission booth at the ACPA National Convention. Coordinating with the National Clearinghouse for Commuter Programs (NCCP), developing a theme (if desired), securing give-away items/decorations and obtaining a work schedule for the carnival table are the major responsibilities of the coordinator. (While ideas are generated throughout the year, the bulk of the work happens between January and the convention.)

    5. Emerging Issues

The purpose of this position is to serve as a liaison between Commission for Commuter Students and Adult Learners and the ACPA Governmental Relations Committee. This chair will provide Commission members with "how – to’s" for contacting legislators and will contact members when legislative issues arise which may be of relevance or interest to commuter students and adult learners. The Governmental Relations Chair should be prepared to attend a session on Governmental Relations during the ACPA Convention and be placed on the ACPA Government Relations mailing list.

    6.  National Convention Sponsored Programs
          Committee

The function of this committee is to select the six ACPA National Convention programs to be sponsored and the three co-sponsored programs by the Commission. Timing and follow-up are the critical issues for this area of responsibility. Two peak times for this committee are late August to mid-September (to select programs by ACPA’s deadline) and in January (to coordinate dates, times and locations of the Commission programs, business meetings and other related events). The ability to stay organized and juggle the coordination of information between several groups is important – either by yourself or having support staff available.

7. Newsletter

   The Commission publishes three newsletters a year—a fall issue, pre- convention issue and a post-convention issue. The newsletter Editor solicits and edits articles from commission members includes the Commission Chair’s Notes from the Chair, formats, prints, and sends the newsletters. The newsletter Editor is also responsible for submitting relevant Commission items to the ACPA Developments Editor in time for each deadline.

8. Nominations and Elections Committee

   The Nominations and Elections Chairperson is responsible for keeping records regarding the names of the commission’s officers/directorate members. (S) He prepares and mails the request for directorate nominations and contacts the eligible individuals with a request for biographical information to use in the ballot. After this information is received, the ballot is prepared, mailed and all returned ballots are tallied. The chair notifies the new members of their election and sends this information to the Commission Chair.

9. Membership and Recruitment Committee

   The Membership and Recruitment (M & R) Committee is responsible for contacting new Commission members to welcome them as new Commission members and see on which committees/task forces they would like to serve. The M & R Chair works closely with the chair of the State Network System Chair to maximize participation of all Commission members. The chair of this committee is in contact with the ACPA Director, Core Council Member Services and Interests and should be prepared to attend a session for Membership Chairs during the ACPA convention.

10. Research Committee

    The Research Committee is charged with two responsibilities, the first one being to raise awareness that research is being done in the areas of commuter students and adult learners. The second responsibility is to take on short-term research projects related to our constituencies, collaborating whenever possible. It would be helpful for the Chair to have an interest in research plus contacts with other professional organizations because research is a collaborative effort.

11. Assessment

    Every three years the Commission conducts a self-study project for the purpose of evaluating programs, reviewing Commission goals and determining if the needs of the membership are being served. The chairperson for the self-study project has the following responsibilities: 1) form a self-study committee; 2) develop an evaluation plan; 3) solicit information regarding the survey with other directorate members; 4) conduct the self-study; and, 5) make recommendations and submit a report.

12. Liaisons to other ACPA commissions/standing committees, ANTSHE, NASPA National Network for Adult Learners/Commuter Student and Distance Learning, NACA, AFA Commuter Greek Committee, CAEL, NACADA, and other relevant organizations.

    Liaisons share information between committees, commissions and organizations and help to identify collaborative opportunities and facilitate the sharing of resources.