Higher education is going through an enormous transformation. Learning is no longer confined to four walls within traditional brick and mortar buildings.  From Massive Online Open Courses to predictive modeling of higher education, we are only beginning to understand the needs of the changing landscape of higher education.  Students bring experiences and expectations to their education that must be met with an open and inviting environment. They see themselves as consumers of education; innovation and creativity is required to change how we do business in order to meet their ever-changing needs.

 

We must build capacity among student affairs educators to use data to make informed decisions, to define what it means to be an engaged member of today’s community, and to demonstrate learning at every turn.  Ultimately, student affairs must articulate the impact we have on preparing students to meet the demands of employers and the global society in which they are already engaged.

 

The 2014 NASPA Annual Conference theme addresses these challenges by inviting individual and collective exploration of how student affairs professionals will lead, innovate, transform and define learning, and examine the nature of our work as we move rapidly into the next phase of higher education.