Greetings from our SASFAA President!
Janet Sain

Dear SASFAA Colleagues:

WOW, where did the summer go?! I hope each of you enjoyed a wonderful summer, took some time off for some fun and relaxation, and that fall registrations went smoothly with no problems! We could only wish! Haa,haa.

I am so excited about starting my year as SASFAA President and representing you on the NASFAA Board and attending your fall state meetings. In June, the 2004-2005 SASFAA Executive Board held its transitional board meeting in lovely St. Petersburg, Florida and had the opportunity to train with last year’s board. Many wonderful and exciting new ideas were generated for the benefit of the membership. Just to name a few:

• The creation of a new SASFAA Membership and Benefits brochure.
• The SASFAA Management Institute to be held on December 10-12, 2004 at the beautiful Grove Park Inn, Asheville, NC.
• The SASFAA Annual Conference to be held on February 13-16, 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia at the Hyatt Regency. The conference theme: "SASFAA Top Story: Directing and Producing Educational Opportunities" promises lots of interesting sessions, activities and speakers.
• A pre-conference workshop sponsored by the Diversity Committee on Leadership.
• The review of the Long-Range Plan with new goals and expectations to be set for 2006-2010.

After the board meeting, I had the opportunity to attend the New Aid Officers workshop in Tampa, Florida at the University of South Florida. The 125 participants had a wonderful learning experience centered on the ABC’s of financial aid processing. Utilizing a superhero theme created great teambuilding and camaraderie among the newbies. Kudos to Brad Barnett and all the instructors who made this a successful experience for all the participants.

Immediately following the New Aid Officers workshop, I traveled to historic Jackson, Mississippi to attend the SASFAA/SWASFAA Mid-Level Workshop held at Millsapps College. Under the guidance of Mary Givhan and her instructors from both regional associations, 47 attendees gained expert knowledge on advanced financial aid processing and leadership skills. This workshop will be hosted by SWASFAA in 2005. Stay tuned for more information in the near future.

Then it was off to “the most fun city in America”, Minneapolis, Minnesota to attend the NASFAA conference and board meeting. Dave Myette said his good-byes as the outgoing National-Chair while incoming Chair George Chin shared his vision for the 2005 year. SASFAA was proud to have incoming National-Chair, Dave Gelinas be the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Service Award and for NCASFAA to be the recipient of a NASFAA State Award. Highlights of the conference included luncheon speaker, Dr. Ben Carson, the many interest sessions, and all the different activities offered to the attendees.

Finally, our first official 2004-2005 Executive Board meeting was held at the Hyatt Regency in early August. The hotel is beautiful and very conducive to our conference needs. The board is well underway to providing many different opportunities for our members and I hope you take advantage of them all. Brent Tener, our conference chair, and his committee also met and already have a great program agenda set for our conference in February. A tentative agenda and more information about the conference will be available on the website hopefully by the time you read this newsletter. Karen Fooks, SASFAA Management Institute chair and her committee met as well and finalized plans for the December workshop. Details are available on the website now. Hope to see many of you there!

My current plans include attending several state meetings this fall to give the SASFAA Update and then the November board meetings for both NASFAA and SASFAA. Lots of beautiful places to visit and many great folks to meet! Have a wonderful Fall and see you soon!!!!!