Oswego State President Deborah Stanley was elected the 2017 chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ board of directors on Oct. 27.

AASCU is an organization of over 400 public colleges and universities, ranging in size from 1,000 to over 45,000 students, throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

“I’ve been involved in the organization a long time, even before I was president [of Oswego State], so over 20 years,” Stanley said. “It’s a great organization.”

The organization is a “collaborative” group that deals specifically with issues that state colleges and universities face, including accessibility to higher education for low-income and minority students, financial aid options for students and international education, Stanley said.

“It is designed to fit the kind of issues that involve this type of campus,” Stanley said. “Not doctorate granting, not high research activity, but a masters-granting, four-year institution. We talk to all the campuses, find out what’s happening in their states. This is state colleges and universities, so we’re all publicly funded. We have very similar issues across the country.”
Stanley’s new position will have positive impacts for Oswego State as well.

“It connects us to a larger understanding as to what public higher education is all about,” Stanley said. “It allows us to get out front of some of the issues. I think of myself as a proactive kind of person. I like to be really involved in how the campus moves forward, but I also want to make sure that we’re looking out and understanding what the challenges are.”

As the chairperson, Stanley will be in charge of updating the organization’s public policy agenda. Each chairperson sets his or her agenda on a certain topic. The current chair-elect is focusing on diversity in public higher education institutions.

Stanley will be working closely with other college and university presidents, state legislature and members of Congress to determine what kinds of issues public higher education institutions face and how to fix the issues.

Stanley plans to talk to students to get ideas for what she wants her agenda to be.

Prior to her election as, Stanley served as the secretary-treasurer for the board’s executive committee. She also served on AASCU’s Millennium Leadership Initiative Steering Committee as a mentor. Stanley has been on AASCU’s Financial Review Task Force, the Council of State Representatives, the investment committee, the committee on international education, the nominating committee and the committee on policies and purposes.