Program Review Collaborative Hits Milestone
How are you doing? Or perhaps the more pertinent question is how do you know how you are doing?
That is the basis behind the Program Review Collaborative, which will celebrate its first anniversary this February. A joint initiative among ACUHO-I, ACUI, NASPA, and NIRSA, the venture connects campus departments with trained and skilled expert reviewers who provide external assessments to help inform strategic planning and future work. Thus far, the collaborative has partnered with nine institutions to conduct external program reviews, as well as one special project. Half of the reviews have utilized ACUHO-I members to examine housing and residential life programs.
Melissa Flowers, the Program Review Collaborative’s director, says that “many institutions are focused on making strategic preparations to better support an evolving student demographic by adapting programs, services, and operational models. Each institution has demonstrated notable strengths in specific areas while also identifying opportunities for strategic enhancement.” The Program Review Collaborative currently leverages the skills of nearly 100 professionals who have registered to be part of the reviewer pool. The reviewers come from a range of institutions and have at least seven years of progressive leadership experience with a minimum equivalent service as a dean, director, or above. Having a diverse group to pull from allows the collaborative to match an institution with an appropriate reviewer who understands its mission, culture, identity, and history as they evaluate processes with the proper context.
The combination of individual reviewers’ expertise and the profession-wide resources and frameworks of the participating associations provides a firm foundation for the review process. Information about becoming a reviewer, the process, and scheduling an external review is available online at programreviewcollaborative.org.
ACUHO-I President Kathy Bush Hobgood recently announced that two ex officio members will join the Executive Board for the 2025 term. Chandra Myrick, the assistant vice chancellor for student life at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will serve as the Student Success Director. Paul Riel, the associate vice president for auxiliary services at Boston University, will serve as the Executive Leadership Director.
The ACUHO-I Constitution and bylaws allow the sitting president to name up to two ex officio members, who are chosen to lend their expertise to specific topics that are deemed strategically important to the Association. Myrick will work in this role to identify new areas of knowledge and expertise as well as beneficial partnerships. In cooperation with the home office staff and additional ACUHO-I volunteers, she will explore the critical needs of stakeholders and identify areas for improvement. The goal will be to help housing and residence life programs re-establish themselves on their campuses by focusing on the breadth and depth of the residential student housing model, including a comprehensive and holistic view of the profession. Riel will also work with staff and volunteers as he explores opportunities for the Association to identify ways and means to ensure the positional viability and relevancy of the senior housing officer role on campus.
Welcome Home
ACUHO-I welcomes members who joined in November and December 2024.
Institutions
Bindura University of Science Education, Bindura, Zimbabwe
University of KwaZulu Natal-Westville, Congella, South Africa
Individuals
Elizabeth Rachel Roberts Ackman, Morrisville, New York
Ilko Drenkov, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
Jared Heath Kirby, Lynchburg, Virginia
