JUNE 2004

SASFAA President's Annual Report continued...

Diversity Chair, Mary Givhan, worked very closely with her committee members and with the Conference Committee to develop and bring to the forefront issues related to diversity. The committee assisted with promoting a greater understanding, acceptance, and respect for all aspects of diversity. Under Mary’s direction, the committee addressed diversity issues related to our profession.

As part of the Annual Conference, the Diversity Committee was very implemental in assisting with our theme, “Access – the Key to Brighter Futures.” They assisted with the interest session track for diversity, secured a general session speaker for diversity, planned a tour of the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama, setup and maintained a booth in the vendor/sponsor area at the conference, and planned and implemented a FAFSA workshop for high school students from metro Birmingham.

Several suggestions were made by the committee:

  • Continuation of the financial aid workshop as a pre-conference activity.
  • Review the budget process to determine if conference related activities should be included in the committee’s budget.
  • Determine the effectiveness of setting and maintaining a Diversity Booth at the conference.
  • Work closely with the state presidents to get committee members from each state.

Electronic Services Committee Chair, Erik Melis, worked very closely and diligently with his committee. The committee was composed of 2003-2004 Board members – serving as a sub-committee for the re-design of the SASFAA web site and various other electronic concerns, i.e., enhance procedures for subscribing to and unsubscribing from the SASFAA listserv; identifying ways that the SASFAA Electronic Services Committee can assist SASFAA committees, SASFAA Board, or SASFAA membership in meeting associational goals and objectives.

The Electronic Services Committee provided global support for SASFAA's mission and many of its Long-Range Planning Goals by providing a mechanism for disseminating information to the membership through the web site and the various listservs. Specifically, the Electronic Services Committee supports the following goals in the Long-Range Plan directly: (1) "Disseminate information to enhance communications among members in a timely and cost-efficient manner" (done via the web site and the primary SASFAA listserv) and (2) "Apprise members of legislative issues affecting the profession, educate members of alternate approaches, encourage involvement on issues and advocate positions when reasonable consensus exists (done through the Legislative Relation Committee use of the Legislative Relations listserv to state representatives and through the primary SASFAA listserv).

Significant Activities and Accomplishments for 2003-2004:

  • Maintained updates on SASFAA web site hosted through Interland until transition to new ATAC hosting.
  • Worked closely with ATAC Corporation to come up with proposal for new web site design and structure.
  • Worked with Web Design Subcommittee to determine additional areas of functionality desired for new SASFAA web site.
  • After SASFAA Board approved new web site proposal, worked closely with ATAC to get new web site up and running in November 2003, in time for 2004 Conference information to be available through the new web site.
  • Worked with ATAC and Conference Committee to set up 2004 Conference mini site and provided ATAC with periodic updates as they were made available by Conference Committee.
  • Worked with ATAC and Sponsorship Committee to get sponsorship application available via web and to post new banner ads for sponsors.
  • Provided updates to ATAC for SASFAA web site including:
    • Newsletters and newsletter updates provided by Newsletter Committee
    • 2004 Summer New Aid Officer’s Workshop information
    • 2004 Mid-Level Workshop information
    • Budget updates
    • Updates to member state information
    • Calendar updates and updates to forms and meeting minutes
  • Worked with ATAC and Membership Committee to get membership information setup on web site and to get new SASFAA listserv and listserv subscriptions setup.

The Electronic Services Committee was also tasked with the development of proposed changes to the SASFAA P & P. These changes relate to the business process changes resulting from the new functionality provided by the web site. Although this endeavor was not completed, good work has begun and will continue into the 2004-2005 year.

Recommendations from the Electronic Services Committee include:

  • Work with the Web Design Subcommittee, Board members and committee chairs to develop and propose P & P manual change recommendations to account for the new functionality from the SASFAA web site.
  • Continue to work with committee chairs and the Board to get direction for future web enhancements.
  • Work with the Nominations Committee to see if we can do on-line voting for the 2005 SASFAA election.
  • Recommend to the SASFAA Board that the SASFAA camera be placed under the purview of the Newsletter Committee.

Legislative Relations Chair, Clark Aldridge, worked very hard with his committee to provide and communicate legislative updates to the membership – both within each of the nine SASFAA states and to the SASFAA membership. The committee was composed of representatives from all nine of the SASFAA states.

The committee supported their goal of communication and collaborations to include:

  • Facilitating alliances among the various sectors and diverse members of the
    financial aid community.
  • Disseminate information to enhance communications among members in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
  • Apprize members of legislative issues affecting the profession, educate members of alternative approaches, encourage involvement on issues and advocate positions when reasonable consensus exists.

Some of the accomplishments made by the Legislative Relations Committee include:

  • Participated in reauthorization panels at two state association meeting.
  • Provided articles for the SASFAA Newsletter.
  • Updated the SASFAA Board of Directors of legislative issues at each of the meeting of the quarterly meetings.
  • Provided updates to the membership on legislative and regulatory issues via the
    SASFAA and state listservs.

Several of the suggestions and recommendations made by the committee include deciding early are the compilation of the committee members, i.e., whether to utilize the state legislative chairs as committee members, and make contact with the members of the committee early to outline the goals and objectives of the committee.


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