NASPA Supporting, Expanding, and Recruiting Volunteer Excellence (SERVE) Academy

Announcing the 2018-2020 Cohort.
class photo for 2018-2020 serve cohort
class photo for 2017-2019 serve cohort

Meet the 2017-2019 Cohort.

Meet the 2016-2018 Cohort.

Program Description:

The NASPA Supporting, Expanding, and Recruiting Volunteer Excellence (SERVE) Academy is a year and a half long program for mid-to-senior level professionals who want to gain knowledge about, and strategies for, enhancing their NASPA leadership and volunteer experiences and fully experiencing their professional association. For the duration of the program, the selected participants, representing the diversity of the NASPA membership, will gain additional knowledge and skills centered on executive development, mentorship, association management, and volunteer service. Their experience will also include a semi-structured mentoring relationship with a past NASPA leader. Potential topics for the SERVE include:

  • Association Governance and Non-profit Management
  • Association Finance, Strategic Partnerships, and Fundraising
  • Member Services, Member Engagement, and Component Relations
  • Professional Competencies, Content Development, and Online Learning
  • Research and Policy Initiatives and Activities
  • A leadership assessment (e.g., DiSC/Emotional Intelligence/Leading from self, others)
  • Leading with and for your peers

The cohort who completes the NASPA SERVE Academy will be able to:

  • Gain deeper knowledge of association management and NASPA’s role in higher education
  • Expand network of colleagues to collaborate with in leadership and association experience
  • Explore ways to be involved more deeply in NASPA as a member
  • Define leadership for self and how to lead a set of peers
  • Identify individual plans for future volunteer leadership goals

Benefits of Participation

Being selected to participate in this Academy has many inherent benefits. Some of the more tangible benefits are listed below:

  • In-Person Orientation and Overview at the NASPA Office in Washington, DC from September 24-26, 2019, with all expenses covered
  • Registration waived for the 2020 and 2021 NASPA Annual Conferences
  • Mentorship with a past NASPA Board of Director Member
  • Individual opportunities to network with key professionals in the field
  • Recognition in the field as a member of this select group

Questions

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the program, please feel free to contact staff contact Nathan Victoria.

Application Process

Applications are now open for the 2019-2021 SERVE Academy class. Applications will close on July 18, 2019.

More Information

Member Spotlight

Jenn Wells

I learned just as much from my fellow participants as I did from the leaders that were on our faculty panel. It was an invaluable, inspiring moment to know that the face of leadership in our profession could truly be changed by a different way of approaching leadership.

Jenn Wells

Assistant Dean and Director of Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment
Scripps College

Michael A. Baston

For so long, making the case to support the work of student affairs has been a struggle in both large and small institutions. This is in part due to the fact that our work has not always been undergirded with the level of peer review and guidance necessary to move forward with focus and quality execution strategies. NASPA provides opportunities for reflective practice that fosters greater insight.

Michael A. Baston

President
Rockland Community College

There are days when I feel overwhelmed by the contemporary crisis of contempt, in which dehumanizing others is a tool for political gain or the basis on which to enact violence. But I have to hope that this isn’t a permanent state, that, with our support, the students on our campus will be able to chart and build a future full of better possibilities. In a very real sense, we are educating students aspirationally.

Monica Nixon

Assistant Vice President for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice
NASPA

202-719-1195
mnixon@naspa.org

Tiffany J Davis

We will continue to embrace the responsibility of advancing inclusion and equity in higher education. We will remain a diverse reflection of talent and positive representation for the next generation of higher education's leaders. And we will use our collective capacity to amplify traditionally underrepresented and historically disenfranchised voices in the profession.

Tiffany J. Davis

Past NUFP Board Chair

Clinical Assistant Professor & Higher Education Master's Program Director
University of Houston

Learn More