Dear Colleagues,
I continue to be blown away by the dynamism, enthusiasm, and generosity of the NACUA community. All of these characteristics and more were on full display at our 2022 Annual Conference—my first as your President and CEO. No one knew quite what to
expect for our first in-person Annual Conference since going online during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but our members, friends, sponsors, and supporters came through for one another and for the institutions we serve. At a bit over 1,400, our conference
attendance was comparable to pre-pandemic numbers. Please see a few of the photos that capture the spirit of the event better than words by clicking here.
Our opening plenary panel featured Dr. Meghan Gerhardt, an expert on harnessing the positive power of multi-generational workforces and author of Gentelligence: A Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce. Three members
engaged Dr. Gerhardt in a conversation about the implications of her finds for campus counsel. Many thanks to Mark DiVincenzo, Lucy France, Brandyn Hicks, and Art Lee for their participation. Another Conference highlight was an extraordinarily
timely Supreme Court update by University of California Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. Complimentary recordings of the Opening Plenary session and Dean Chemerinsky’s update are available here and here.
I am particularly pleased – and grateful to my staff colleagues and several volunteer leaders – for stepping up to help us respond to two major legal developments in real time. Thanks to Hope Murphy Tyehimba (Johns Hopkins), Patty Petrowski
(University of Michigan), and Josh Richards (Saul Ewing LLP), we were able to do a live “pop-up” briefing on the Title IX Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The NPRM was published on June 23, 2022, the Tuesday before the Conference began.
The briefing was held the afternoon of Tuesday, June 28.
Also, we hosted a discussion group about the implications of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision for campuses. The decision was published on June 24, 2022, the Friday before the conference began, and the session was
held on Wednesday, June 29 – less than a week after the decision was issued. Many thanks to Therese Leone (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) and Natasha Baker (Novus Law Firm) for sharing some preliminary insights and facilitating an issue-spotting
conversation. A briefing on this same topic is taking place on August 10, with a post-event recording being available by the end of this week.
As I indicated in my State of the Association, remarks thanks to a top-notch board, amazing volunteer leaders, and a professional team that is relentlessly committed to excellence, the state of our association is strong, vibrant, and thriving.
I wish you all the best in these waning weeks of summer and look forward to seeing many of you at various NACUA Workshops, webinars, meetings, and events throughout the year ahead.