As we think about the governance of higher education in light of recent challenges to tenure and academic freedom in Wisconsin, some may wonder:  What is the governance structure of ASHE? And, who makes decisions about ASHE?  

ASHE's Executive Director, Kim Nehls, is an excellent manager of ASHE's day-to-day operations, but "the board of directors is responsible for setting policy" (per ASHE's Bylaws). The board is comprised of nine elected (voting) members and several ex officio (non-voting) members. Although Board members confer with each other and the Executive Director (Kim) throughout the year, most policymaking activities occur twice annually:  at the June and November board meetings.  

The board accomplished a great deal at its most recent (June 23 - 24, 2015) meeting. The board: discussed reports presented by each of ASHE's councils, the graduate student representatives (Jill Jones and David Nguyen), the Nominating Committee (chaired by past-president Caroline Turner), and Site Selection Committee (chaired by Audrey Jaeger); considered the activities of ASHE's newly established Committee on Position Taking; and provided productive feedback on my plans for the 2015 conference.  The board also engaged in fruitful conversation (led by Lisa Lattuca, the new chair of ASHE's publications committee) about ASHE's current and potential future publications.  

The board also took action, approving:

• The summer 2015 budget report prepared by (ex officio and volunteer) Budget Chair, Jeff Sun. 
• Recommendations offered in the final report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Embargoes chaired by Board member Linda Sax. Per the new embargo policy, papers and presentations will be embargoed until the date and time of presentation at the ASHE annual meeting. Authors may communicate with the media about their papers in advance of the conference, but media coverage of the paper is embargoed until the date and time of the presentation. 
• A new Conflict of Interest Policy. Consistent with the legal requirements of not-for-profit organizations, all members of the board as well as many ASHE committees (e.g., Awards, Dissertation of the Year) are now required to formally acknowledge that they have read, and will adhere to, the policy.
• The AERA-ASHE Joint Resolution on Tenure and Academic Freedom in Wisconsin.

One recurring theme present in various board discussions was the importance of connecting the work of ASHE and its members to policymakers and practitioners. Similarly, in his essay, "Unsettle, and Enrich the Public Discourse on Higher Education," Clif Conrad encourages ASHE members to disseminate scholarship not only in academic outlets but also in venues that will influence institutional leaders and federal, state, and local policymakers. Helping ASHE members to better connect research and policy/practice is a high priority for me and Program Chair Matt Mayhew.  One initiative designed to advance this goal is a "social media training session" in which social media experts provide tools and guidance for effectively using social media.  Stay tuned for more information about this and other special features of the 2015 conference! 
 

When we gather in Denver, Colorado this November, we will be celebrating the 40th ASHE conference. The first ASHE conference was held in 1976, and one has been held every year since then.  Our conferences started small as pre-conferences held prior to the AAHE National Conference. AAHE, American Association of Higher Education, is now a defunct organization, having closed its doors at One Dupont in 2005, but ASHE lives on as a vibrant outcropping of the original organization. Other spinoffs of AAHE include AABHE and AAHHE. 

The first ASHE conference was free to attend for ASHE members, and only $5 for non-members to attend. All ASHE members were mailed a copy of the final conference program. We cannot locate a copy of the first conference program from 1976, but can tell you about some details of the third conference held in 1978, which was also an AAHE pre-conference. In 1978:

• Sessions started at noon on a Saturday in March and ended at 5pm on Sunday.
• 7 roundtables/interest groups launched the conference.
• The keynote address was delivered by the president of Windsor University in Ontario, Canada. This keynote was from 8:00-9:30 PM (yes, at night!) and followed by a social.
• Sunday afternoon featured an awards luncheon and six paper sessions with three papers a piece, for a total of 18 papers on higher education research.
• Graduate students had one session and a social hour.

It is amazing to see how much ASHE has evolved from the beginning. Our upcoming conference will feature more than 300 research and scholarly papers, 7 pre-conferences, 17 receptions, 20 meetings, 5 grad student sessions, an awards luncheon for 700, a poster session, 85 roundtables, 8 sponsors, and 17 exhibitors. We are also proud to report than we anticipate more than 1500 attendees at the 40th annual conference. It is an exciting time to be part of ASHE and even more exciting to think what the next 40 years will bring!