April Message from the President

CAS President, Ralph Johnson, Ph.D., shares a recap on CAS events in April and announces the launch date of the "Blue Book" 11th version.

Dear Colleagues:
It is always a pleasure to extend greetings to you on behalf of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. If you recall my message from last month, I highlighted the significant changes of the 11th version of our “book of standards” and alerted you to its release some time this spring. Well, I am happy to inform you that the date is set and the 11th version will be released on May 1, 2023!
Anticipating a spring release, several members of the CAS leadership team planned early on to attend the ACPA and NASPA conferences where we staffed exhibit booths so that we could talk with conference participants about the 11th version as well as other CAS products and give out some cool CAS swag! Several of us also presented educational sessions focused on the multiple ways to use the CAS standards. As we engaged many student affairs professionals and provided CAS updates at the exhibit booth and in our sessions, we were delighted to hear their excitement about the imminent release of the 11th version and all of the innovative perks, bells and whistles of this resource. The profession is now actually abuzz as colleagues across the breadth of higher education learn about and anticipate acquiring the new set of standards.
As the CAS leadership prepares to roll out this new version of the contextual statements, the General Standards that have been embedded in the 50 sets of functional area standards and the self-assessment guides, we will use every available avenue to market, push and promote this and other CAS products. In fact, I implore you to visit the CAS store on May 1, which can be accessed at www.cas.edu. Don't delay in getting your updated standards and using them as you plan and execute an enhanced and more robust program review and assessment strategy. We look forward to hearing from you about your experience utilizing this version. CAS is proud of its record of generating and revising these standards of good practice and equally proud that we are able to support and assist hundreds of student affairs professionals provide a compelling and transformative learning environment within the co-curricular sphere of higher education. This is indeed our response to the high calling!
Sincerely,

Ralph Johnson, Ph.D.
President
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education