Happy New Year SAPAA KC!

Happy New Year SAPAA KC! As your Co-Chairs (Christina and Jemilia), we are excited to welcome the new year with you. 

 

As with any new year, it is important to use some time for reflection. In this spirit, we were able to interview previous co-chairs of SAPAA, Marguerite Bonous-Hammarth (M) and Leanna Fenneberg (L) to reflect on their experience with SAPAA. Here is part one of our two part series for of this interview:

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Q: What inspired you to get involved with the SAPAA KC?

M: I always found a home at NASPA and colleagues were always tremendously encouraging about participation in NASPA activities.  I also benefited from working with great colleagues in the KC – specifically Christopher Lewis and Shannon Gary  -- and I found the KC service very rewarding, so I volunteered often and in various areas.

L: Partnerships between Student Affairs and Academic Affairs are vital to supporting student success and holistic learning.  I was drawn to the SAPAA KC to learn more about effective partnership literature and practice models, connect with colleagues who are committed to partnership work, and contribute leadership to advance powerful partnerships.

Q: What inspired you to get involved with the SAPAA KC?

L: I initially served on the SAPAA leadership team as a Co-Chair for Research & Scholarship.  After serving in that role for four years, with an incredible co-chair, Marguerite Bonous-Hammarth, our commit to partnership work and to the SAPAA KC made stepping into leadership for the KC almost inevitable.  Working with a co-chair who you personally and professionally respect and with whom you share a similar vision makes the work all the more inspiring and impactful.

M: I realized that the KC leadership was a natural progression of the work I was engaged in within and beyond SAPAA.  While I envisioned that the role would encompass many areas of the KC, I found this exciting and aligned to the work at my home campus.  I also was encouraged by the volunteerism that I had experienced through NASPA, and I realized that I would benefit from talented individuals who abounded in SAPAA and other KCs for these collaborations and initiatives.

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Actively engaging with NASPA, and more specifically the SAPAA KC, takes on many forms. Being co-chairs for the knowledge community has been extremely rewarding for current and past chairs. All of us got our start within SAPAA by engaging with the KC on an individual level ultimately leading to more leadership opportunities.

As a SAPAA member you are able to engage by consuming knowledge through our blogs, Synergy newsletters, or webinars. You can also more actively engage by participating in one of our committees or working groups. Finally, you can consider serving SAPAA KC by volunteering to take on a leadership role when openings become available. 

As you take the time to create your resolutions for this new year, we hope you will consider taking a step to be more involved in SAPAA. You not only will get the chance for professional development, but you will be able to make stronger connections with colleagues in NASPA who share similar passions for the partnership work between student affairs and academic affairs.