APLU 2023 Council and Commission Summer Meeting Roundup

APLU council and commissions recently completed their summer meetings. APLU councils convene university leaders with comparable titles, working in similar positions, to address critical issues and expand their knowledge base within their professional area of expertise. APLU commissions convene individuals, regardless of position and from multiple disciplines across the universities, to address critical issues and expand their knowledge base in areas of common interest. The councils and commissions’ summer meetings provide a forum for discussing issues they’re dealing with on campus. Learn more about highlights from the summer meetings below.

Commission on Economic & Community Engagement, Duluth, MN, June 4-6. The Commission on Economic and Community Engagement (CECE) held its summer meeting at the University of Minnesota Duluth around the theme of Cracking the Community Connection Code. Topics discussed included inclusive innovation, developing pathways for community engagement, developing innovative ecosystems, and exploring models to sustain engagement efforts.

Transforming Institutions Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, June 12-13. APLU convened a diverse group of stakeholders ranging from faculty, administrators, STEM Education Center staff, and directors, to policymakers for the Transforming Institutions Conference around the goal of identifying and tackling the critical challenges to institutional change, with a focus on transforming undergraduate education. Read a more detailed recap.

Commission on International Initiatives and Council on Research Summer Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 25-28. The Commission on International Initiatives (CII) and the Council on Research (COR) held a joint summer meeting centered on topics related to international research. The meeting was held at Dalhousie University and brought nearly 200 senior international officers and senior research officers together to discuss how to build strategic international partnerships, advance international research amid growing federal compliance requirements, engaging with indigenous communities to advance Western and indigenous research, and on sustaining the research talent pipeline.

Council on Student Affairs Summer Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, June 25-27. The Council on Student Affairs Summer Meeting centered on meeting the needs of modern students. The agenda encompassed discussions on aiding students with social development challenges, reorganizing divisions after the pandemic, establishing connections between student affairs and student success initiatives, as well as strategies for staff recruitment, hiring, and maintaining retention.

Council on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Summer Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, June 25-27. CDEI co-located its summer meeting with the Council on Student Affairs. The councils held two joint sessions to discuss and share examples on how they respond to flashpoints and how they work together at cabinet levels on initiatives and support each other in their work. CDEI also focused on the research enterprise, continuing supporting access, equity, and inclusion for all, and engaging academic diversity officers to support both depth and breadth of institutional equity and inclusion initiatives. This time in community helped the council generate a robust agenda for the APLU Annual Meeting.

Council on Strategic Communications Summer Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, July 16-18. The Council on Strategic Communications held sessions on storytelling in the digital age, crisis communications planning, public university partnerships that address Grand Challenges, as well as an address from Utah Governor and National Governors Association Chair Spencer Cox on disagreeing with civility.

Joint Council on Academic Affairs and Commission on Information, Measurement, and Analysis Summer Meeting, Davis, CA, July 16-18. The Commission on Information, Measurement, and Analysis (CIMA) and Council on Academic Affairs (CAA) held successful co-located summer meetings this year on at the University of California-Davis. Joint sessions included Changing the Public Perception of Higher Education, which included remarks from APLU President Mark Becker, and Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges. These sessions provided opportunities for CIMA and CAA members to share the most relevant and critical issues at their institutions while also engaging in small group discussions.

IChange Network, Los Angeles, CA, July 18. The Institutional Change Initiative of the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance met to discuss the implementation, adaptation, and assessment of their action plans. Members met in regional-based groups to discuss particular challenges related to their contexts, and aggregate strategies for navigating their work in constrained environments.

Aspire Summit, Los Angeles, CA, July 19-20. The NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Aspire Alliance hosted a national summit on Systemic Change for an Inclusive and Diverse Faculty at UCLA’s Luskin Center. The keynote address was by Dr. Kecia Thomas, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and co-author of the National Academies report on Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEMM Organizations. The closing speaker was Mitchell Chang, Interim Vice Provost for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at UCLA, who shared some of the milestones within the field of Asian-American studies, the importance of data and evidence in the work that we do, and emerging findings from UCLA’s Faculty Forward Initiative.