Happy New Year!

New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrating and for remembrance.   Tonight we reminisce about the year that was 2015 and we begin to imagine what 2016 will hold for us.  We create lots of New Year’s resolutions, like losing weight or saving more money.  You’ll be successful in achieving many of your resolutions and less successful with other.  Experts say that trying to do too much too fast is a sure fire way to fail.  New Year’s resolutions, like any positive change, need time to happen successfully.  It is this mindset that will drive the organizations transition from the Massachusetts College Personnel Association to the New England College Personnel Association.

The new bylaws take effect tomorrow, January 1, 2016 and with it comes some major changes for the organization.  Some changes will take effect immediately, while others will be more long-term.  The goal is to have everything transitioned by the end of 2016.  Here are some of the changes that will occur:

• Immediate and semi-immediate changes
  • New name – tomorrow we officially become New England College Personnel Association, NECPA for short.
  • Membership options – We will work with ACPA to institute two new membership types, undergraduate student and honorary, to complement our graduate student and general member options.
  • New website address – you’ve seen it already, https://newengland.myacpa.org.  We will also launch http://www.newenglandcpa.org soon.  We are working hard to transition the content to match the correct name.  Old blog posts will remain as written, but we will update the pages, images, and names to reflect NECPA moving forward.
  • Social media accounts – take a look at our LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts tomorrow, they will have a new name.
  • Organizational branding – our Marketing Coordinator Julie Kennedy, has been hard at work developing a new visual identify for the organization.  Look out soon for a new logo and color scheme!
• Long-term changes
  • Fiscal year – the new bylaws brings us inline with ACPA for financial reporting purposes.  As a chapter of ACPA, we are expected to submit a yearly financial report.  This is one of the reasons we changed our fiscal year from a July to June year to a January to December year.
  • Election year – the election year has also changed from a July to June cycle to a January to December cycle.  This change will help the board members better plan moving forward.
  • Board structure transition – several factors led to the structural changes on the board.  We are going to change some current board responsibilities, combine some positions, eliminate others, and we will be adding new ones.  We will transition our Member-at-Large positions to State Coordinators, with the responsibility of connecting with constituents in each state and we will bring on a new Equity and Inclusion Coordinator. Elections and appointments for positions will happen in the fall.

I will provide a monthly update to members on the transition.  The executive board will be meeting for a winter retreat on Friday, January 29, 2016 and part of the agenda will be dedicated to the transition plan.  I will release a full transition plan to the membership in the first week of February.  If you have any questions or comments about the transition plan you can always contact me directly at the information below.

You will also have a chance to talk to us in-person!  We are planning four social events for everyone.  The first three will happen the last week of January in Hartford (Wednesday, January 27), Keene, NH (Thursday, January 28) and Boston (Friday, January 29).  The fourth social will take place during ACPA in Montreal.  Times and locations will be announced soon.  I hope to see you at one of the events.

Thank you for your membership and support for the organization.  MCPA could not have survived for 40 years without the dedication and support of our members.  It is my hope that this will continue and expand as we welcome our colleagues from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to our amazing organization.

Have a happy and safe New Year!

John

John Mayo is the 39th President of the Massachusetts College Personnel Association (MCPA).  John has been a member of MCPA since 2010 and has served in various roles on the MCPA Executive Board.  Professionally, John Mayo is the Assistant Director of Residence Life at Newbury College in Brookline, MA.  John is responsible for all the Residence Life and Housing operations at Newbury College.  In addition to his operations role, John oversees the Main Campus residence halls and RA staff.

John holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Bridgewater State College (now University), a Master’s degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University.

Outside of his work in Higher Education, John is a commissioned Justice of the Peace in Brookline, MA and is a member of the Massachusetts Justices of the Peace Association (MJPA).  John lives in Brookline, MA with his wife Sara and their Cairn Terrier Kodi.

Contact John:
Mail: Student Center 105, 129 Fisher Ave., Brookline, MA 02445
Office: 617-730-7156
Email: john.mayo@newbury.edu