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From the Chair

By Thomas Vaughn, PhD posted 01-19-2015 11:12

  

Greetings and Happy New Year, 2015!

I have to admit that I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. However, this year I reflected on AUPHA and its activities in my first few months as the board chair. I looked at my priorities and thought about how we progressed on them. As you may recall from the annual meeting and my last message our priorities were to (1) review our mission and vision to make sure that they were still relevant and would remain vibrant during the changes we anticipate over the next few years, (2) build depth and breadth in the organization through greater member participation (clarify, from below), and (3) identify effective ways to discern and support and grow the educational priorities of our member institutions.

In terms of the mission and vision, the board has developed and endorsed a new mission statement: “AUPHA fosters excellence and innovation in health management and policy education, and scholarship.”

We struggled a great deal developing this revision to the mission statement. As with any mission statement, we attempted to reflect our core reason for existing while retaining enough flexibility to provide a range of services to our constituents and to adapt to the exigencies of changes in the health care delivery and policy arena. The mission must define us but not inhibit flexibility with regard to future opportunities. I hope you will agree with our assessment that this mission statement achieves these aims. Please give us feedback on it. We have not yet adopted a new vision statement, but will take this up at our next board meeting. I personally would welcome any suggestions that you might have.

That last sentence leads into the second priority. I have been quite impressed by the volume of posts on AUPHA network and the number of different individuals posting.  I have also been proud of our board members in the open and thoughtful dialogues during our meetings around how the board can best increase participation among our members. The board has had long discussions about ways to support those individuals who would like to increase their contributions to the organization through forum chairmanships and board memberships. We still have a way to go, though. I would like to suggest that members think of AUPHA as an investment; not just a financial investment through dues and  attendance at meetings but as a personal investment of time and thought to improving the field of health management and policy education. There is a common statement that “a rising tide lifts all boats.” I believe that if we each consider our participation in AUPHA as an investment in this “shared services organization” we would strengthen our individual programs as well as the field as a whole. As with any investment, the more one puts in the more one can gain in return on that investment.  Very good!

Our third priority is an important focus of our strategic planning process. This process has moved forward a bit more slowly than we had hoped, but Jerry Glandon and members of the board are pursuing it with renewed energy. Above, I suggested thinking of participation in AUPHA as an investment. As with any investment one should invest in enterprises that are likely to provide the desired return. If AUPHA is to be an organization in which you invest your time and talent and thoughts, we need to know what you hope to receive from us. I believe one mechanism for providing us with this understanding is the AUPHA network. However, that is not the only way. I encourage you to reach out to your board members, to attend national meetings, and to reach out to your fellow faculty members and share your own priorities and those of your programs as well as your recommendations for how AUPHA can better serve you and your programs.

I want to make a request here that members make one of their New Year’s resolutions to complete their profile on AUPHA’s web site. Also, as I look back at the past year, I want to thank the AUPHA staff for the excellent support they provide on a day-to-day basis as well as during the major events.  I also want to thank the Faculty Forum chairs for the investments they are already making in AUPHA and in our members.

Some of you may already have started your new semester. Others will shortly. I wish you a great start to the new semester and look forward to interacting with you over this coming year.

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