A Note from Southwestern Region VP Ann Wright

Region VP Ann Wright

In November, the Southwestern Regional Office’s Higher Education team, Julie Esau and Michelle Overstreet, presented a session at a meeting of the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers in Lubbock, Texas. Their presentation, titled “Beyond the Test,” provided collegiate personnel a comprehensive overview of the valuable programs, tools and services that the College Board offers to support college readiness.

This month, 400 school and district leaders will travel to China for the Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters–sponsored program Chinese Bridge Delegation: Taking the Next Step. Thirty-eight educators from Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma will be among those enjoying this educational trip, accompanied by Kay Wilson, our region’s senior educational manager. By offering specifically tailored workshops and school visits, the Chinese Bridge Delegation will help guide participants as they strengthen and expand their currently existing AP® Chinese programs.

Preparations are well under way for the 2010 Southwestern Regional Forum, scheduled Feb. 3–5, 2010, in Austin. The SWRO is excited to provide relevant and thought-provoking sessions that will offer you the opportunities to

understand the latest tools and resources to effect change within your community;
discover proven strategies for improving AP programs in your region;
hear from keynote speakers Deborah Jewell-Sherman, senior lecturer of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education;
understand partnership possibilities that the College Board anticipates for school districts with respect to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act;
learn about the College Board’s highly anticipated new college readiness assessment tool — ReadiStep™;
gain insights into your profession to keep you at the top of your game and earn valuable CEUs; and
network with peers — exchanging ideas and participating in the dialogue that transforms our future.

We know you will enjoy the Texas Capitol area and the great entertainment and food Austin has to offer. You can get further information and register at the Southwestern Regional Forum website.

The SWRO is also delighted to offer higher education personnel a special opportunity to participate in free preconference sessions, starting at 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 3, 2010. Sessions will include an Advanced Student Search workshop, a Federal Student Aid Reform presentation and a Recruitment PLUS™ Regional User meeting.

Finally, while summer may seem far away, the SWRO encourages high school and college admission counselors to mark their calendars and “save the date” for the Admission and College Counseling Institute, which will be hosted July 19–23 by Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. We hope you will join us!

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College Board Hosts Big 12 Schools for Boulder Education Policy Event

The College Board Advocacy group teamed up with staff members from the Midwestern, Southwestern and Western regional offices to host an event for the schools of the Big 12 in Boulder, Colo., Oct. 27–28. The program, “What the New Era of Education Reform Means for Higher Education,” immediately followed the annual meeting of admission, enrollment, financial aid, student services and other professionals from the Big 12 — a college athletic conference composed of 12 schools from Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. Attendees learned about the latest news from Capitol Hill on policy related to admission, financial aid and college completion, with a focus on how these developments can advance the participating institutions’ goals. College Board staff shared exclusive data for Big 12 institutions and facilitated a conversation on how these data could be used to advance enrollment and completion objectives of particular concern to Big 12 institutions.

After a welcome from Southwestern Regional Vice President Ann Wright, the group heard from Sandy Baum, College Board senior policy analyst and co-chair of the Rethinking Student Aid study group, who gave a talk titled “Rethinking Federal Financial Aid: Moving Closer to Meaningful Reform.” David Longanecker, president of WICHE and former Clinton administration undersecretary of education, spoke about demographics and shared insights into President Obama’s $2.5-billion College Access and Completion Innovation Fund and stimulus spending. A major part of the event involved Big 12 data presentations by Arthur Doyle, College Board vice president, and Julie Esau and Leslie Larocca, both senior directors for higher education in the Southwestern and Midwestern regions, respectively. For the first time, university attendees were able to view data across the conference along with information specific to their schools.

“We were pleased to have representatives from most Big 12 universities at this gathering,” said Wright. “All of the attendees stated their appreciation for such a high-level conference, saying also that they had no idea that the College Board had so many valuable programs.”

The next morning, Bruce Walker, vice provost for special projects at The University of Texas at Austin and head of the College Board’s Task Force on Admissions in the 21st Century, offered an update on his group’s work, which included a video clip from the movie Apollo 13 that demonstrated how to deal with a crisis using only the tools you have on the table — equating the space crisis with the current crisis in admission and financial aid. “The symposium was excellent and we look forward to participating in more regional forums with the College Board,” said attendee Christy Crenshaw, director of undergraduate admissions at Oklahoma State University. “I think all of our admission counselors as well as our admission management team will benefit greatly.”

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Events & Workshops

Click here to see events and workshops in the Southwestern Region.

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