"As we govern our institutions, I'd ask all trustees to remember that the work we do is not for recognition but for realization. It is a reminder that our responsibility in public service is simply to effect progress, to work to make people’s lives better, to work to make our communities better, and to work to make this world better,” Rose Benavidez, 2023 chair of the ACCT Board of Directors, recently wrote.
Every now and then I read a sentence that is so powerful that I choose to stop and just hold onto that space for a few minutes. I remember thinking that if I read nothing else in the 2023 winter edition of Trustee Quarterly, I still would have read the most powerful line.
It is in Chair Benevidez’s quote that a charge can be heard — a gentle but firm call to order.
One can learn by attending just one ACCT conference that those that respond to the call of trusteeship do so, typically, from an honorable position — the desire to serve in a system that opens doors, creates opportunities, and builds communities.
This is the common denominator between trustees, CEOs, faculty, staff, and students.
We all want to be a part of this space in higher education and we want to focus our energy on obtaining the information that enables us to advocate and govern well.
ACCT creates a national neighborhood — we have big, beautiful streets filled with over a thousand amazing institutions with over half a million employees, according to IBISWorld, serving nearly 9 million students who earned an astonishing 877,240 associate degrees in 2020-21, according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Leading in and out of this neighborhood are overpasses and highways filled with trustees coming from many different sectors who understand that it takes every level of the institutions they serve, along with the resources provided by ACCT, to support the people that make the headlines and get the opportunities to advocate in front of legislatures and build collaborations with industry partners. And like any model of urban planning, there are those who work tirelessly and often go unrecognized to ensure everyone is successful — the support staff.
The Professional Board Staff Network (PBSN) is an ACCT affinity group of professionals that work behind the scenes to help CEOs and trustees succeed in their roles.
We are very fortunate to have organizations like ACCT and members of PBSN dedicated to ensuring the good people that find themselves in the role of trustee have a way to learn about their role and are able to engage in ways that leverage their power and connections to ensure we are making people’s lives, our communities, and even our world better — just as Chair Benavidez has asked us to do.
The chair shared in her article that her grandfather would remind the family that he “rode in the back of a pickup truck so that [we] could ride in the front of an airplane.”
Her words are a powerful way to acknowledge that each of us contributes through the ways we are empowered — by the access provided, and the mentorship available — to be “agents of transformational and generational change.” We are working together to answer the call to make the world a little bit better, one student, one faculty member, one staff person at a time.
It is through a united front that we hold each other accountable and lift each other up, so that the leaders behind us will be positioned even better to take their followers to the next level, because we did our work well. In the midst of all the learning and activity, take the time to look around you and recognize that no matter the stature or role of the person that is there, they have enormous influence and ability to shape not only your day, but also the next generation of leaders.
The first charge in that gentle but firm call to order is that you work to make people’s lives better. Be kind, be generous, and be humble — your work matters.
Larisa Pfeiffer recently received her doctorate in Community College Leadership from Ferris State University. Her background in higher education includes 14 years at the College of Southern Maryland serving across the organization in a variety roles and currently as the Chief of Staff. Her doctorate work focused on the onboarding of trustees to ensure successful understanding and demonstration of their fiduciary responsibilities. She has been actively involved with ACCT and PBSN for the last four years.
"As we govern our institutions, I'd ask all trustees to remember that the work we do is not for recognition but for realization. It is a reminder that our responsibility in public service is simply to effect progress, to work to make people’s lives better, to work to make our communities better, and to work to make this world better,” Rose Benavidez, 2023 chair of the ACCT Board of Directors, recently wrote.
Every now and then I read a sentence that is so powerful that I choose to stop and just hold onto that space for a few minutes. I remember thinking that if I read nothing else in the 2023 winter edition of Trustee Quarterly, I still would have read the most powerful line.
It is in Chair Benevidez’s quote that a charge can be heard — a gentle but firm call to order.
One can learn by attending just one ACCT conference that those that respond to the call of trusteeship do so, typically, from an honorable position — the desire to serve in a system that opens doors, creates opportunities, and builds communities.
This is the common denominator between trustees, CEOs, faculty, staff, and students.
We all want to be a part of this space in higher education and we want to focus our energy on obtaining the information that enables us to advocate and govern well.
ACCT creates a national neighborhood — we have big, beautiful streets filled with over a thousand amazing institutions with over half a million employees, according to IBISWorld, serving nearly 9 million students who earned an astonishing 877,240 associate degrees in 2020-21, according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Leading in and out of this neighborhood are overpasses and highways filled with trustees coming from many different sectors who understand that it takes every level of the institutions they serve, along with the resources provided by ACCT, to support the people that make the headlines and get the opportunities to advocate in front of legislatures and build collaborations with industry partners. And like any model of urban planning, there are those who work tirelessly and often go unrecognized to ensure everyone is successful — the support staff.
The Professional Board Staff Network (PBSN) is an ACCT affinity group of professionals that work behind the scenes to help CEOs and trustees succeed in their roles.
We are very fortunate to have organizations like ACCT and members of PBSN dedicated to ensuring the good people that find themselves in the role of trustee have a way to learn about their role and are able to engage in ways that leverage their power and connections to ensure we are making people’s lives, our communities, and even our world better — just as Chair Benavidez has asked us to do.
The chair shared in her article that her grandfather would remind the family that he “rode in the back of a pickup truck so that [we] could ride in the front of an airplane.”
Her words are a powerful way to acknowledge that each of us contributes through the ways we are empowered — by the access provided, and the mentorship available — to be “agents of transformational and generational change.” We are working together to answer the call to make the world a little bit better, one student, one faculty member, one staff person at a time.
It is through a united front that we hold each other accountable and lift each other up, so that the leaders behind us will be positioned even better to take their followers to the next level, because we did our work well. In the midst of all the learning and activity, take the time to look around you and recognize that no matter the stature or role of the person that is there, they have enormous influence and ability to shape not only your day, but also the next generation of leaders.
The first charge in that gentle but firm call to order is that you work to make people’s lives better. Be kind, be generous, and be humble — your work matters.
Larisa Pfeiffer recently received her doctorate in Community College Leadership from Ferris State University. Her background in higher education includes 14 years at the College of Southern Maryland serving across the organization in a variety roles and currently as the Chief of Staff. Her doctorate work focused on the onboarding of trustees to ensure successful understanding and demonstration of their fiduciary responsibilities. She has been actively involved with ACCT and PBSN for the last four years.