2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE - WELCOME

On behalf of the ACSN Board, I deliver to you a BIG Texas welcome! 

Our ACSN 2016 Conference Planning Team perfectly summarized Texas when they came up for the theme for this conference.  We are going to spend the next few days thinking BIG! Being in a BIG state – Texas is larger than some countries! –we are going to think BIG. 

When the planning committee for this conference asked me for the traditional “Welcome from the President” for the program, I asked them for some fun facts about Texas and saw some interesting correlations for our organization. I learned that Texas actually has an official state pepper. How many states have an official state pepper?  But it seems appropriate for us that it a Jalapeno, as an organization, we are a bit spicy. No traditional green peppers for us! 

The armor-plated armadillo is the state small mammal.  As practitioners in a field that is still young and not always understood, we have had to develop thick skins as we have explained, justified, and defended our roles.  As we do our jobs, we engage with many strategic partners in many ways, sometimes going round and round! How appropriate that the official dance is the square dance! 

My favorite fun fact about Texas is that the name comes from the Hasinai and their allied tribes and means Friendship. While we come from schools that are structured differently and our call to serve alumni can vary, we know that we can pick up the phone and call someone who will understand!

Like the state large mammal – the longhorn, our conference is going to be BIG. We hope you go home energized – leaving here with BIG ideas, opportunities, and possibilities, knowing that this conference impacted you in a BIG way. Happy trails!

Cheryl Bonner

President, ACSN