Staffing Update. The Chapter Services Department faced several staffing changes and adjustments in duties during this past fiscal year. In January, a decision was made to bring the management of chapter operations and the Chapter Services Department under the direction of the Membership director. With transitions of several members of the department, opportunities arose to reorganize various positions, expectations, training, and resources. In keeping with the adjusted direction, consultants in that department were renamed Regional Chapter Coordinators to better reflect the job expectations. Full staffing and training will be completed before school begins for the 2008–2009 academic year.

Chapter Support and Training. Members of the Chapter Services staff paid personal visits this past year to 140 chapters, representing 23 percent of active chapters. The staff also conducted new counselor orientation training over the phone for 96 new counselors.
The Secrets of Chapter Success workshop was presented to 36 counselors at the Convocation in Louisville, KY, and 150 counselors attended the counselor training sessions offered at that conference. Chapter members at that same meeting attended a new regional networking event and, as a result, two state cluster networking meetings have been planned for Texas and Florida.

New virtual training Webinars were developed and presented to 32 chapters. These sessions highlighted the responsibilities and expectations for officers. Individual training sessions, along with a revised operations manual, are being developed for each of the executive officer positions.

A new reporting structure for chapters was developed and introduced in the spring. In the past, chapters were required to submit one annual report at the end of the fiscal year, which covered chapter operations, officers, demographic information, and finances. This report is now broken into four separate reports, to be completed by certain officers and due at various times of the year. The four new reports are: Beginning of the Year Report, Officer Report, End of the Year Report, and Annual Financial Report/IRS E-Postcard.

Chapter Growth. The Society installed 17 new chapters this year. Among these, 12 are at four-year institutions, four at community colleges, and one professional chapter. Additionally, one withdrawn chapter was reinstalled, and two chapters were brought back from suspension.

Community colleges are the focus of potential new chapter development and growth. A member of the Chapter Services staff attended the National Association of Community Colleges in Teacher Education Preparation conference (NACCTEP) to learn about the challenges and opportunities in working with these institutions. As a result of interactions at that conference, new chapter interest packets were sent to 12 community colleges, and 2 new applications for fall 2008 have been received.

A new procedure was developed for processing new chapter applications for approval and then providing support for training in chapter operations, officer roles, membership growth, and programming, as well as preparing for installation. The goal for a new chapter will be to work toward being an award-winning chapter within two years of installation. Two institutions that submitted applications before the end of the biennium will be the first to experience this new process.

The Chapter Services and Membership Departments partnered to implement an initiative for working with institutions where KDP does not have a chapter presence. The new Liaison Project invites institutions without chapters to share the names of students who meet the Society’s qualifications and are eligible for membership. Upon receiving the names, the Headquarters staff invites students directly to join as undergraduate Professional Members. This spring, 400 invitations to participate in the Liaison Project were mailed to targeted campuses, and 3 liaisons are scheduled to be established in fall 2008.
Literacy Alive! Through a generous contribution from the Verizon Foundation, the Educational Foundation was able to award 9 refunding grants of $1,000 each to Indiana chapters for extensive literacy projects in ELL/ESL and disadvantaged youth communities, domestic violence shelters, and juvenile correctional facilities. Also awarded were 20 refunding grants of $200 each and 30 refunding grants of $100 each.