Honoring CAS’s First Presidents: Ted K. Miller and Phyllis L. Mable

As the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) celebrates 45 years of raising standards, we are compelled to give credit and appreciation where it is due. CAS has been extremely fortunate to benefit from the vision, persistence, and passion of 11 dedicated Presidents. Over the course of this anniversary year, CAS will highlight and commemorate the leadership of our 10 Past Presidents through a series of blog posts, video interviews, and social media throwbacks. As we begin this special series, we first honor the legacy of those who laid the foundation for our outstanding organization.

“I believe that it is safe to say that CAS would not exist, at least as we know it today, were it not for Ted and Phyllis. I wish everyone could have known them as I did.”
Don G. Creamer (CAS President, 2001-2004)

For the first and formative years of CAS’s existence, Ted Miller (1979 - 1989) and Phyllis Mable (1989 - 2001) led the young organization with what colleagues identified as “tireless” passion. Both Ted and Phyllis actively supported CAS as their primary affiliation for more than 20 years of their lives and both are credited with positioning CAS and self-assessment within a central role in higher education. As we honor their individual and shared accomplishments, we reflect on the example they set for today’s CAS leaders to diligently “Stand & Guide."

Ted K. Miller (1979 - 1989)

As the founding editor and president of CAS, Ted was instrumental in establishing CAS as a recognized authority in higher education assessment. Ted had a direct hand in shaping the documents for which CAS is best known and was committed to establishing credibility for CAS as an important player in higher education. In addition to his central role in convening the original CAS consortium, he was intimately involved in the production and publication of the first five editions of the CAS Professional Standards for Higher Education, also known as the iconic CAS “Blue Book.” He advocated for CAS to establish an office, and to secure office space at One Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., where many other higher education associations, including ACPA, were located.  In the early days of the internet, Ted was insistent that CAS's online presence should have a ".edu" address, to firmly denote the organization’s connection to higher education.

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​After his presidency concluded in 1989, Ted continued his passionate support of CAS through his role as the Publications Editor for another 15 years. He was known for the many, many speeches he made about CAS and the conviction with which he argued that their proper use was essential to quality practice in student affairs. Colleagues recall that he had an expansive vocabulary, musing that the word “promulgate” in CAS’s purpose statement and “salubrious” in early standards were likely both his contributions. Past-President Laura Dean (2011 - 2014) shared an amusing reflection that demonstrates Ted’s commitment to written excellence: “One of my favorite CAS memories is from my first meeting, when a question came up about the meaning of a word in a standards draft, and Ted and Don Gehring (representing ASCA, then ASJA) both whipped dictionaries out of their briefcases to compare definitions and derivations, in the quest to find just the right word to express the precise intended meaning.” Upon Ted’s retirement in 2004, CAS launched the Ted K. Miller Achievement of Excellence Award to recognize Ted’s 25 years of outstanding service.

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​Outside of CAS, Ted led a full and accomplished professional life in higher education, which included a 30-year career at the University of Georgia, founding the Georgia College Personnel Association, Presidency (and numerous leadership positions) within ACPA: College Student Educators International, several prestigious awards, and key involvement in 99 published works. He believed in the importance and cumulative impact of consistent, incremental improvement, which was summarized well in the acceptance remarks he made when CAS received the ACPA Contribution to Higher Education Award:

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​“Small, but significant incremental progress, over time, has been the CAS mantra. And, consequently, subtle increments will continue to obtain until one day in the future, practitioners may look up and realize that higher education has changed as if struck by lightning. However, even if those differences look and feel like a bolt out of the blue, we know better. And we celebrate the increments by which we advance, one standard at a time. The CAS Initiative is bigger than any one person and longer than any one lifetime…”

This year, we celebrate 45 years of incremental progress thanks to the foundation laid by the great Ted K. Miller, a legacy that far outlasted his very special lifetime.​

​Phyllis L. Mable (1989 - 2001)

They say that “Lightning never strikes the same place twice.” Yet, CAS was fortunate enough to be energized by back-to-back Presidents with supercharged, electric passion for the advancement of standards in higher education. Phyllis Mable was said to be truly one-of-a-kind as a leader. In reflecting on Phyllis’s legacy, Past-President Don Creamer (2001 - 2004) remarked that Phyllis had a unique but incredibly effective style: “She was loud and unruly and fit no recognizable pattern of leadership. During my time as President of CAS, Phyllis was named Executive Director for the organization,” he continued, “At the end of her first year in that office, I was asked to evaluate her performance. I grappled with the question, ‘By what standards of practice does one judge performance of a unique administrator who routinely violates every accepted pattern of leadership?’ I wish that I had kept a copy of my evaluation to be reminded of how I danced around her behavior while noting her effectiveness in managing the affairs of CAS and elevating its presence among student affairs practitioners.” She was said to be “old-school” - wonderful at sending handwritten notes after meetings, or for other occasions, to compliment good work and remind leaders that their work was important and valued.

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Phyllis was focused and extremely driven. Laura Dean noted that she joined the Governing Board during Phyllis’s presidency, and that Phyllis’s leadership provided clarity and kept student success central as the ultimate goal of their work. Phyllis was the first to introduce the term “outcomes,” which is now a staple in the CAS vocabulary. She accurately predicted the major shift in higher education from focusing on inputs to measuring and identifying outcomes, guiding CAS’s efforts to the forefront of the conversation. Like Ted, Phyllis made many speeches about CAS and worked “day and night” to establish them as an essential element of quality practice. Don Creamer shared that once, while Phyllis was serving as President of CAS, she was hospitalized during a time when the Board of Directors were scheduled to meet. She insisted that the meeting be held and arranged for it to be held in her hospital room. She presided in her incomparable style from her bed. Nothing was to stand in the way of CAS business.

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Phyllis deeply valued the community that CAS created, actively participated in Ted’s efforts to recruit the first members of what would become the CAS Council. According to Past-President Susan Komives (2008 - 2011), “she continually recruited new CAS member associations, managed those memberships, planned regular meetings, and loved the camaraderie of CAS Board member relationships (passing desserts and good wine at Board member dinners)”. Laura Dean shared that Phyllis was a restaurant aficionado in D.C. and that she shared this love for food and wine with the CAS Governing Board. Laura shared, “Ted and Phyllis both, along with others like Bud Thomas, Carmen Neuberger, Doug Lange, Don Creamer, and Jan Arminio, also understood the importance of relationships, of meals together and shared desserts (although Phyllis sometimes wouldn't share her tiramisu if it was particularly good).” She continued that Phyllis understood the importance of learning from each other through CAS - both around the meeting table and afterward, over a glass of wine and good food: “After she retired and moved to DC, Phyllis was known by name at many amazing restaurants in the city, which added to the fun of our dinners out.” Through CAS, Phyllis built numerous high-quality relationships through the CAS community. “She was ‘Aunt Phyllis’ to generations of professionals in her life,” shared Susan Komives, “Our son grew up thinking she was his real aunt for a long time!”

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In addition to her passionate support of CAS as President and Executive Director, Phyllis held various positions at the University of Florida and Virginia Commonwealth University, served as Vice President of Student Affairs at Longwood University for 19 years, served as President of ACPA from 1989 to 2001, co-authored three professional books, and received numerous honors and awards for her accomplishments. Today, ACPA honors Phyllis through the Phyllis L. Mable Emerging Leaders Institute, which supports the development of emerging leaders as they collectively serve thousands of students on a daily basis.

Special thanks to Don Creamer, Laura Dean, Susan Komives, and ACPA for sharing their memories of and experiences with Ted and Phyllis. More information on these two exceptional leaders can be found at the resources below:

Ted Miller:

• https://myacpa.org/past-presidents/miller/
• https://www.cas.edu/news--notes/remembering-theodore-ted-k-miller-cas-founding-president
• https://www.nsee.org/tribute-to-dr--ted-k--miller
• https://www.cas.edu/awards.html 

Phyllis Mable:

• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1515/jsarp-2012-6584
• https://myacpa.org/past-presidents/mable/ 
• https://lib.bgsu.edu/finding_aids/items/show/2487
• https://myacpa.org/event/eli-2023/