Western Plays Key Role in New Regional Higher Education Organization and Conference

The Northwest Coalition of Professional Staff in Higher Education (NCPS) (http://www.wwu.edu/ncps/index.shtml) is a newly formed alliance of higher education professional staff organizations in the Pacific Northwest. 

Its purpose is to support professional staff through facilitating communication, education, networking, and professional development opportunities.  Members of Western’s Professional Staff Organization (PSO) Executive Committee and Extended Education professional staff, played foundational roles in creating the NCPS organization in collaboration with the University of Washington’s (UW) PSO Board and Washington State University’s (WSU) APAC (Administrative Professionals Advisory Council). 

Working together, members of the NCPS Executive Committee planned, organized and held its inaugural conference at the University of Washington, Seattle from July 19-21, 2015.  P.L.A.N. (Professional Development, Leadership, Advocacy, and Networking) For the Future was the theme of the conference that kicked off on Sunday evening with a networking and welcome reception.  Monday and Tuesday, the conference included concurrent workshop sessions on the conference themes, facilitated peer sessions on topics of member interest, information and dialogue on next steps, and more time to network.

The new organization is the result of initial conversations between the leaderships of Western’s and UW’s PSOs with WSU’s APAC more than a year ago.  Deci Evans, UW PSO Board of Directors member, took the lead in initiating those conversations and was duly elected the NCPS Executive Chair.  Karen Garrett, WSU APAC Chair and April Markiewicz, Western’s then PSO President, were elected the NCPS Vice Chairs.  Other NCPS Executive Committee members and volunteers to help in the strategic planning and implementation of NCPS’s charge were recruited from the respective universities. 

Members from Western included Marlene Harlan, Nancy Phillips, Fran Maas, and Paul Schronen who were crucial in handling conference registration, meeting planning and logistics, and the NCPS website, respectively.  Other professional staff from Western who contributed to the success of the conference included Dennis Dashiell who facilitated a breakout session on emotional intelligence in the workplace, and Joanne DeMark, who facilitated a breakout session on strategies for advocating for new ideas and having courageous conversations.  

More than 90 professional staff attended the conference and came from the University of Washington (main campus, Bothell and Tacoma), Washington State University (Pullman and Everett), Western Washington University, Bellingham Technical College, Clover Park Technical College, Seattle Pacific University, and Oregon Health & Science University.  Talks are already taking place to hold the NCPS conference next year at Washington State University rather than waiting a year as originally planned. 

The goal is to increase participation of professional staff in higher education both in-state and from a larger geographic area.  If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact April Markiewicz, April.Markiewicz@wwu.edu.