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Wednesday, July 16, 2014 12:00 AM

Board Retreat Update 2014

Greetings from the Consortium board!


We have all returned safely from our travels to the University of Vermont. There, we hosted our 2014 Summer Institute on July 11. Following that, we held our Board Retreat from July 12 - 15. We are grateful for the opportunity to connect with each other and plan for the year ahead. Read on to learn about everything we accomplished and how you can get involved.


Summer Institute

We began the retreat by hosting our summer institute, titled “Points of Influence: LGBTQ Students, Social Change, and You.” Over 130 student affairs professionals, graduate students, and K-12 educators attended. One highlight of the institute was our keynote address featuring Representative Bill Lippert, Representative Kesha Ram, and UCLA’s Raja Bhattar. We had a great time! Thanks to our Education Chair, Shaun Travers, for leading the work to make the institute possible.


Anti-Racism and Inclusion

We grounded our time together in a discussion of our values as a social justice organization. We discussed our responsibilities to demonstrate these values as individual board members and as the Consortium as a collective organization.


Implementing the Strategic Plan

Our time together at the retreat focused on carrying out our strategic plan. Board members will be working to make the following things happen:

  1. Member Engagement: Increase support for graduate students and new professionals with an emphasis on the professional pipeline for POC and TGQ members.

  2. Communications: Increase communication to members and external stakeholders.

  3. Member Professional Development: Increase professional development opportunities within the organization for mid-level and seasoned professionals with a focus on professional development around anti-racism and intersections of identity.

  4. Setting Standards: Develop and publish standards of professional practice for the profession.

  5. Organizational Development: Establish financial stability to support the growth of the organization.


Next Steps

Over the next few months, you should expect to see your board carry out the plans we made in Vermont. Many of these action steps need your approval in the form of votes and your support through joining committees and working groups. We encourage you to connect with us as chairs or the appropriate board member if you’re interested in getting involved. Highlights include:

  • Strengthening our communication by providing more content on the public and members-only sides of our website.

  • Fundraising strategies that allow us to continue providing support for members in an equitable fashion.

  • Sharing educational resources that reflect the broadest and most inclusive approaches to identity, difference, and social justice.

  • Providing strategies to help develop LGBT2 practitioners.

  • Highlight the voices of transfeminine people within higher education.

  • Connecting with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

  • Conducting a new self-study of Consortium members, which will include gathering information about salaries, career plans, and demographics.

  • Strengthening connections with our partner organizations and creating memoranda of agreement.

  • Meeting the diverse needs of our members during Creating Change 2015 (February 4 - 8 in Denver, Colorado).


Thank You

We are grateful to the board for spending part of their summer focusing on this work. One of the major advantages of the summer retreat is that it allows our board to be together in person. For most of the year, we are physically far apart, connecting only by phone and email. Being together for the retreat means that we can set expectations, make plans, and get to know each other. We had a great time learning about each other!


We were fortunate to have the support of Dot BrauerBecky Swem, and Evan LitwiƄ of the LGBTQA Center at UVM in planning and executing these events. Thank you and your colleagues for all of their help! We truly enjoyed our time in Burlington.  Just as UVM did, we encourage you to consider hosting the Consortium at your campus for the institute and retreat! We’ll send more information soon.


Thank you for your continued support of the Consortium and our board!