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This is another in a series of occasional ASHA Executive Director updates. These updates are intended to provide ASHA members with a more in-depth view of various National Office units, their key member services and the names and roles of ASHA staff in those units. Information about staff changes and ASHA National Office recognitions/awards is also included.
Many thanks to those of you who have provided feedback regarding the previous updates (posted on the ASHA Web site) or suggestions for future ED updates.
The Higher Education Data System (HES) is an innovative and comprehensive Web-based system that captures information about academic programs in communication sciences and disorders (CSD). The HES:
- Facilitates data collection from programs through the online submission of surveys and accreditation reports
- Integrates and warehouses (stores for future retrieval) data from surveys and accreditation reports
- Provides a convenient and easy-to-use method to administratively schedule ASHA, CAPCSD, and CAA survey instruments
- Provides search capabilities across academic programs through EDFIND, the newly developed HES search engine
Who Are the Partners Responsible for the HES?
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the Council on Academic Programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CAPCSD), and the Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA) collaboratively designed and developed the HES.
Why Was the HES Developed?
Each year ASHA, CAPCSD, and the CAA receive numerous requests for data about CSD programs at all degree levels from academic programs, state and federal agencies, researchers, and students. As a result, academic programs complete many surveys from several sources—increasing their reporting burden to each of these three agencies and leading to overlapping data requests.
To date there was no single, browser-based, comprehensive system to collect and report these critical data in a uniform and consistent manner until the HES.
EDFIND is a component of the HES system and replaces ASHA's Guide to Graduate Education. It is a search engine that offers one-stop shopping and convenient searches and reports on CSD programs at all degree levels. EDFIND allows the user to conduct searches on key criteria; helps locate specific programs, segregate search results, and generate customized CSD program lists. EDFIND searches and results are available to students from middle school and high school through doctoral level programs, faculty, ASHA members, consumers, and the public.
Who Benefits and How?
Academic Programs
- Easily submit and update responses to surveys and accreditation reports online
- Highlight unique and innovative features of the program
- Aid in recruiting students for their program
Faculty Members
- View their program's data
- Access aggregate data through reports posted to MY HES INFO
Researchers
- Locate programs with various types of financial support, including grants and fellowships
- Identify programs with select research activities
Students
- Conduct searches for CSD programs via EDFIND
- Locate programs with specialized tracks or innovative features
CSD Discipline
- Assist with the PhD shortage by increasing awareness of and access to program information for advanced degrees in CSD
- Provide data related to addressing the personnel shortage in speech-language pathology
- Increase quality and accuracy of data collection and reporting on issues in the discipline
ASHA, CAPCSD, and CAA
- Provide greater access to comprehensive data to identify and analyze trends to support the discipline-wide efforts for quality programs
- Respond to inquiries about programs, such as enrollment, graduation rates, curricular and research trends, and available funding
How Does the HES Improve Data Collection and Quality?
The quality of data and the way in which it is collected is dramatically improved by the new system, for example, the HES:
- Eliminates duplicate information
- Pre-populates fields in online forms with existing data, where applicable
- Provides validations to minimize the number of errors and the number of incomplete surveys
- Allows respondents to enter data for a complete section, save it, and come back to complete other sections of the instrument at a later time
- Allows program directors to assign different sections to various individuals to assist in the completion of the surveys, reports, or applications
- Facilitates data extraction for more accurate reporting and analyses across all instruments
What is the Launch Schedule for the Various HES Components?
The launch of the HES has been implemented in a modular format. Several components of the system will launch over the next academic year. More detailed launch schedules for 2008 activities will be forthcoming. The current tentative schedule is as follows:
- Grad Guide Survey = 2nd Quarter 2007 (currently underway)
- EDFIND (Doctoral) = 3rd Quarter 2007
- EDFIND (Master's) = 3rd Quarter 2007
- CAPCSD Demographics Survey = late 3rd Quarter 2007
- Research Doctoral Survey = 4th Quarter 2007
- CAA Accreditation Applications = upcoming in 2008
- CAA Annual Report = upcoming in 2008
- CAPCSD Salary Survey = upcoming in 2008
What Are the HES Project Milestones?
- May–June 2007: The HES launched to all qualified academic programs in CSD to complete the Grad Guide Survey
- April–May 2007: Ten randomly selected academic programs were invited to take part in the "soft" launch (or pilot) of the HES by completing the Grad Guide Survey
- March–April 2007: All CSD programs contacted through a series of emails to confirm and update program profile information in advance of the full launch of the HES; Starter Kits mailed to all graduate programs
- November 2006: Previewed EDFIND at ASHA Convention in Miami Beach at the Graduate School Fair
- September 2006: Began contract with new vendor, CIBER, including a detailed Statement of Work and Project Plan with concrete milestones and fixed-dates for the project
- July 2006: Changed vendors to complete the design and construction of the database and instrument architecture and specifications
- March 2006: Worked with vendor, Integrated Systems Management (ISM), to finalize the requirements phase of the project incorporating the feedback from the stakeholders regarding the HES system prototype
- December 2005: HES system prototype previewed to relevant stakeholders for their feedback
- February 2005: Vision of HES and proof-of-concept behind the design reviewed and approved by stakeholders
- November 2004: Contracted with technical vendor to design the database
- December 2003–March 2004: Academic program needs and data elements for collection identified
- March–August 2003: Representatives from ASHA, CAPCSD, CAA, and Division 10 meet to discuss need and scope of a common database and formed the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Data Acquisition and Management
What type of End User Support is Available for the HES?
The HES Manager routinely responds to requests for information about the HES and EDFIND from students, members, volunteer leaders, National Office staff, and academic programs in CSD. He also provides additional assistance to academic programs regarding the functionality of and access to the various instruments (surveys, applications, and reports) within the HES. Any questions or comments may be directed to hes@asha.org.
Who Are the Members of the HES Team?
The HES was designed in conjunction with representatives from ASHA, CAA, CAPCSD, and key staff from several National Office teams – Academic Affairs, Academic Accreditation, Information Services, Research Surveys and Information, and the Web Team. Likewise, the design and development of the HES was accomplished by three project teams – The HES Design and Development Team (with Kelly Appler as the project manager), The HES Implementation Team (composed of the various subject matter experts and the HES Manager), and the HES Communications and Marketing Team (led by Tess Kirsch).
After the completion of all design and development of the remaining HES components, the Academic Affairs Team will take over the future development and maintenance of the HES as the business owners. The Academic Affairs team provides support and content development for the ASHA instruments housed within the HES (i.e. Grad Guide Survey, Research Doctoral Survey, EDFIND) and serves as the liaison to CAPCSD and CAA regarding the administration, coordination, and content compatibility of the various HES instruments.
Loretta Nunez, Director, Academic Affairs
lnunez@asha.org
Silvia Quevedo, Manager, Academic Affairs
squevedo@asha.org
Susanna Aulbach, Program Manager, Academic Affairs
saulbach@asha.org
Vic Gladstone, ASHA's Chief Staff Officer for Audiology and liaison to Academic Affairs, Accreditation, Certification and Ethics serves as the sponsor of the team.
National Office Staff Updates
The following individuals are new to the ASHA staff since March 2007:
- Earl "Chip" Brown, Building Engineer
- Janet Coffin, Professional Development Program Assistant
- Jenise Cyrus, Senior Administrative Assistant, Chief Staff Officer for Science and Research
- Terrell Hayes, Account Manager, Membership and Sales
- Galia Holland, Senior Administrative Assistant, Chief Staff Officer for Multicultural Affairs
- Jim O'Dowd, Receiving Clerk
- Ethel Poku, Account Manager, Membership and Sales
- Natalie Prather, Account Manager, Membership and Sales
- Karol Scher, Director of Administration and Communication
The following individuals have left ASHA to pursue other opportunities:
- Modi Bah, Account Manager, Membership and Sales
- Carl Mack, Account/Payables Specialist
- Tami Melchek, Professional Development Program Assistant
- Mona Thomas (Retired), Public Relations Manager
- Jan Ozga, Director, Private Health Plans Advocacy
Recent ASHA and ASHA National Office/Staff Awards
ASHA Wins ASAE's Prestigious 2007 Summit Award – ASHA is one of six associations nationally selected by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Center for Association Leadership's Associations Advance America (AAA) Committee to receive the 2007 Summit Award. ASHA was recognized for its Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) campaign, an effort that reflects grassroots, volunteer leader, and national office staff contributions in helping lead the promotion of newborn hearing screening and intervention policies throughout the United States.
The Summit Award is ASAE's highest honor for associations that implement innovative community-based programs and symbolizes the very best efforts engineered by associations across the country in areas like public education/information, economic development, business and social innovation, skills training/development and civic and volunteer activities. The six Summit Award recipients for 2007 were selected from a field of 250 entries received in the AAA Awards program this year.
Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) – Lemmie McNeilly, Chief Staff Officer for Speech Language Practices, has been chosen as an ASAE 2007–2008 DELP Scholar. DELP offers individuals from underrepresented segments of the association profession an opportunity to advance into the ranks of leadership in association management, by providing networking opportunities, educational programs and career guidance.
The ASHA Leader received two silver awards from the Society of National Association Publishers (SNAP) Excel Awards competition for feature writing. The Leader was honored with silver awards for General Excellence and Newswriting.
2007 Health and Wellness Trailblazer Award: ASHA was among a select group of Maryland businesses to receive the second annual "Health and Wellness Trailblazer Award" from the Alliance for Workplace Excellence. This Award recognizes employers who demonstrate an exemplary commitment to the overall physical and mental health of their workforce. Award criteria include depth of management commitment to employee health; on-site fitness centers and health screenings; ergonomic workstation evaluations; and, flexible benefits plans. An independent review panel chose the winning employers. ASHA will be profiled in the Alliance's 2007 Health and Wellness Trailblazer Report, which will be sent to Maryland employers to inform them about best practices.
"Workplace Excellence Seal of Approval," - ASHA has won this award every year since its inception in 1999. According to the Alliance, the award recognizes "visionary employers that view workplace excellence as a strategic business imperative. These leaders are paving the way to building workplaces where employees are able to achieve success in all aspects of their professional and personal lives while enhancing the business bottom line."
The Next Executive Director Update: The Value of Credentials
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