by The Rise of the KG
While attending the recent NACE conference in New Orleans I found myself reflecting on how specialized our profession has become–developing expertise in the many professional areas that now make up our profession. The variety of job titles and roles we now see prevalent on the SoACE job board goes far beyond basic career counseling and employer relations tasks, delving into first-destination statistics and analytics, evaluating student learning outcomes through experiential education, managing a multitude of online services available to our students/alumni, and the focus on competency-based education helping students to become career ready. It is impressive to be sure, but also somewhat overwhelming, especially to those just now entering the field.
Seven years ago, the SoACE board launched the KGs (Knowledge Groups) with the charge to respond to the ongoing specialization that was occurring within our field while also developing venues for year-round professional development opportunities for our members. Since then, our original eight KGs have changed, grown and redefined themselves, but still continue to provide multiple opportunities for our members to become engaged in both passive and active ways. They also continue to focus us on those areas and issues at the forefront of our profession and higher education. Our KGs were built to evolve as the priorities and stresses of our profession change. Simply put, I’ve come to appreciate the KGs as the grass roots, the lifeblood, and the driver of our association. They ensure we remain relevant while providing professional development for our members, during, but also in between, annual conferences. They provide easy access and multiple entry points into the association as well as our profession. And, they continue to provide us with strong leadership that not only benefits SoACE, but also our state associations, colleges/universities, and employers within our region.
Knowledge Groups are unique to SoACE. Nothing like them exists in the other regional associations, nor on the national level. I have to give big kudos to the 2011 SoACE board who gave birth to the KGs, and would be remiss if I didn’t specifically recognize Tim Harding, who was the primary driver and visionary of the KG concept. My first step onto the SoACE board was at his encouragement, asking me to help lead this new and fledgling initiative known as the KGs. I’m so proud to see how far they have come.
SoACE is strong in membership and conference attendance. We are a fiscally sound organization and have some of the brightest minds and strongest leaders within our ranks. For much of our success, now and in the future, we have the KG’s to thank. My final goal as your outgoing president is to encourage each of you to become involved with at least one KG, contributing to its mission, furthering what we know about that area, and pushing us to become better at what we do.
Ray Rogers
2017-18 SoACE President
St. Edward’s University