Chair’s Report
Dear Colleagues,
The times, they are a-changin’
When Bob Dylan wrote his anthem of the times in the early 60’s, he was trying to capture the sense of change and transition in the nation. As I chaired my first CACREP board meeting this past July, this song kept rolling through my head. My service as Chair of the board runs from July 2017 through June 2018, and in this year, CACREP is going through some meaningful change of its own. I would like to outline for you here a couple of the key transitions CACREP is going through, and how the Board and CACREP staff are addressing those changes.
Dr. Carol Bobby retired from her role as President and CEO of CACREP at the end of June of this year. Carol was the longest-serving leader of CACREP with a tenure in that role of over 30 years. I think for many of us in the field, the phrases “CACREP” and “Carol Bobby” feel synonymous. So obviously a significant and central activity of the CACREP Board this year is to hire Carol’s replacement…no small feat! Fortunately, the CACREP board and Carol herself laid a pathway for success for this endeavor. Several years ago, the Board started working on a succession plan as Carol neared her plans for retirement. Through that process, it was decided that the CACREP board would hire an interim President and CEO to serve for about a year while the search for a permanent replacement could occur. This allows us to take the time needed to do an extensive search for the right replacement for Carol while keeping the business of CACREP moving forward. I couldn’t be more pleased to be working with Dr. Rick Gressard as our interim President and CEO this year! Rick and I have already found that we are very like-minded in our focus for the year and very in-sync with our thinking about how to serve as the “bridge” for CACREP between its past and its exciting future.
Second, at the time I started as Chair, the merger between CACREP and the Council of Rehabilitation Education (CORE) was finalized and enacted. At this time, CACREP has assumed all responsibility for the accreditation of formerly-CORE accredited programs and is thrilled to welcome many Rehabilitation Counseling programs to the ever-growing family of CACREP accredited programs. Rick and I, along with the CACREP board and staff, are committed to supporting Rehabilitation Counseling programs as they seek and maintain CACREP accreditation. We look forward to working with and learning from our Rehabilitation Counseling colleagues in this endeavor.
So, come gather round, people, wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown…for the times, they are a changin’.
-Bob Dylan, 1964
Warmest Regards,
Dr. Kelly Coker |