Hi Fellow HEUGsters!! Here it is, my final blog posting as a HEUG Board Member. After 25 wonderful years, I am retiring from Butler University and moving to a role as Technical Architect at ERPA!
Needless to say, I’m not leaving the HEUG; I’ll just be working toward our common goals from the vendor side instead of the member institution side. When I look back at my career at Butler and with the HEUG, I am struck by the number of truly amazing, wildly intelligent people I have met. If HEUG wasn’t already such a great name, I might suggest call we call it the HEBT: The Higher Education Brain Trust! Because truly, that’s what the HEUG is: the largest collection of all of the knowledge of all of the great thinkers in higher education.
Which brings me to my last HEUG Board charge:
- Make sure the hardworking volunteers of the HEUG understand just how valuable they are
- Stop the brain drain
Number 1 will be accomplished by providing formal recognition for past and current volunteers:
The Emeriti: Hall of Fame recipients, HEUG Board Presidents, Lifetime Achievement Recipients, Past Exec Directors
The Strategic Leaders: HEUG Board members, International Board Reps, Alliance Conference Chairs
The Leaders: Advisory Group Chairs, Regional and International Conference Chairs
The Significant Contributors: Advisory Group members, committee members, regional conference team members, white paper chairs
The Contributors: HEUG conference speakers, webinar presenters, work group members, white paper contributors
What will be the formal recognition? Watch for that in the next few months. We foresee badges on your HEUG profiles, and lists where you and others can see what services you have given to the HEUG. And expect some special acknowledgment and opportunities at Alliance!!
Number 2 is easy: If you’re in one of the volunteer tiers described above, consider yourself “volun-told”. To do what? Well, think of the need for:
- A new work group to discuss a hot topic
- A task force for a vendor to demo some new functionality, or to ask how XX process is performed at your institution
- Readers/approvers for webinars, presentations, white papers
- Ambassadors to reach out to new member schools, help them navigate HEUG Online, understand the incredible offerings at Alliance
- Networking groups
Yes, you will be automatically joined into the Ambassador/Volunteer rolls. Sure, you can opt out, or participate as little or as much as you want. But we want to put all of this knowledge to work.
As someone who has been actively involved with the HEUG since 2004, it’s hard for me to picture future weeks without HEUG calls and the dreaded “60 to 0 mph” changes coming in my life. I’ll be watching all of these volunteer efforts and assisting as much as I can. I don’t believe that anyone who really cares about the HEUG ever retires or leaves or quits. It’s a once in, always in commitment. Our own special Higher Education Hotel California!
So keep in touch and always remember: Together We Make A Difference!