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President’s
Message
The Board elected June Hagler from SMU to serve as Vice President for the 2005-2006 year. In addition, I made the following one-year appointments to fill vacancies on the Board until the next election. These positions, with the exception of Past President, will be on the ballot during the summer 2006 election.
The NASFAA Board Meeting was held at the Austin Renaissance on November 14 and 15. Linda Gonzalez-Hensgen, on behalf of TASFAA, and Rick Renshaw, on behalf of SWASFAA, extended a warm Texas welcome. Thanks Linda! Marcus Wilson attended the Lender School Advisory Meeting for me on November 17 to provide a verbal update in my absence. Thanks Marcus! The SWASFAA Fall Conference and Board meeting will be December 5-9, 2005 at the Tamaya Resort in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. I have asked Kathy Bassham to represent our association as we support the training efforts of our regional association. The next TASFAA Board Meeting will be December 14-15, 2005, at the San Antonio Airport Doubletree Hotel. You are invited and most welcome to join us. Please direct your questions regarding driving directions, time, or agenda to June Hagler at SMU. You may reach her at jhagler@smu.edu. I have been in close contact with Linda Gonzalez-Hensgen, June Hagler,
Kathy Bassham, Marcus Wilson and many others during this difficult time.
The expressions of get well cards, flowers, gifts, thoughts and prayers
have been absolutely incredible and at times overwhelming. Just know
they (and you) are sincerely appreciated and have made my recovery and
homebound state a little easier to take. You are a wonderful extended
financial aid family. I don’t know what I would do without you. Pat
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Muchas
Gracias to El Paso for hosting a wonderful fall conference! We had the
largest attendance at a fall conference ever and reports indicate that
everyone had a good time. We may need to consider returning to El Paso
on a more regular basis for conferences in the future. My sincere thanks
to the local arrangements committee for their incredible job with the
coordination of our entertainment and transportation to and from the
airport and between the hotels. I appreciate the incorporation of the
area and culture into the conference theme. 
Wasn’t
it good to see so many of the past presidents? These individuals serve
as a wonderful source of information and encouragement in an industry
that is not always easy to administer. Watch for the “Past President”
black ribbons on the name badges at future conferences. I plan to continue
this tradition of recognizing their service each year. I cannot express
how grateful I am for all of those who helped to make this event a success
and especially all of you who made Mack and Martha Adams feel so welcome.
Kathy
Bassham and I were honored to be among the invited guests for the 40-year
celebration of the signing of The Higher Education Act of 1965 at Texas
State University on November 8. It was a wonderful opportunity to represent
you and to have interaction with Dr. Raymund Paredes (Commissioner of
the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board), Dr. Thomas Wolanin (Senior
Associate of The Institute for Higher Education Policy) and Dr. James
Montoya (Vice President, Higher Education Assessment, Services, and
Regions, The College Board.) It was particularly thrilling to hear Lucy
Baines Johnson speak with such compassion and sincere gratitude for
what we do in the financial aid industry. She gave special recognition
to TSU, TG, and the College Board for hosting the event and promised
to be present at any anniversary event in the future. We were honored
by her personal attention to each table of guests as she informed us
that she had to leave early to attend to her mother. Another highlight
of this event was the ability to be with Mack and Martha Adams once
again. They both send their greetings to all of you and plan to join
us in San Antonio for the Fall Conference 2006. 
The
Regional Training opportunities should be complete by press time for
this update. By all reports, attendance was up this year and included
registrar, business and compliance officers. For those of you that were
able to attend, the focus was primarily on financial aid. The great
thing about this training was the coverage for all aspects of Administrative
Capability. Once again, the workbook is outstanding and the ability
to ask questions from other colleagues was invaluable. I know it was
a tremendous effort for our volunteer trainers to complete this in a
short timeframe. Many of us were able to witness the incredible talent
from these volunteers first hand. My sincere thanks to Lisa Blazer and
Jackie Adler for coordinating the Regional Training events.