Annual Report

National Association of Graduate-Professional Students
1997-98 Annual Report
Serving Graduate-Professional Students and their Interests Since 1986

Table Of Contents

• From the President's Desk
• Our Mission Statement
• Who We Are
• Our Structure
• Membership
• Finances
• Programs and Services
• Advocacy
• Our Strategic Initiatives
• The Challenge Ahead

From the President's Desk

November 10, 1998

Dear NAGPS Members and Friends:
It is with great pleasure and pride that I present to you the 1997-98 Annual Report of the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS).
This year has been one of tremendous growth for our Association, resulting from the hard work of many talented volunteers and professional staff members. As we celebrate the achievements of the present, we should be quick to acknowledge, however, that we merely "stand on the shoulders" of past NAGPS volunteers as they prepared the Association for the explosive period of growth we have experienced over the past two years.
I was fortunate enough to have been elected as your President for a second time at our 1997 National Conference in New Orleans. At that time, I pledged to continue the upward trajectory of growth for our Association, strive to improve NAGPS' service to its members, and continue to strengthen our legislative voice. As you will read in this Annual Report, I am pleased to report that we have achieved considerable gains in each area. Our financial resources have increased four-fold since 1995, from an annual budget of $50,000 in 1995-1996 to a 1998-99 budget of over $200,000. Our membership, both organizational and individual, is at its highest level in our history. We have been influential in policy decisions in all four of our core areas of advocacy: legislative, employment, diversity, and international. Despite increases in membership dues levels for regular members, your NAGPS membership has never been more valuable with new auto insurance, book and music and job-bank related benefits. For organizations, our Publications Series, Leadership Institute, and redesigned web site resources provide improved training materials for graduate/professional student leaders.

Internally, we have engaged in a strategic planning process to guide our efforts towards a common vision in support of our mission statement, and we continue to improve the orientation and training of NAGPS volunteers and new members of the Board of Directors. We have prepared the way for a transition of our National Office to Washington, DC, and by this time next year, we will have hired two full-time staff members who will report directly to the Board of Directors. The coming year will be a time of rapid and substantial change for NAGPS and we are well prepared for it.
It has been a great honor and a privilege to serve you for two full years as your President. I want to thank my colleagues on the Board of Directors for their support and assistance in making some difficult discussions throughout the year, and I want to thank our professional staff, Kevin Boyer, and Michael Agosta, for their guidance and insight in support of our mission. While working for NAGPS at this level of involvement can pose a definite threat to one's degree progress, it is an invaluable experience in leadership, policy, and non-profit management for which I am deeply thankful. I can only hope that you feel the same way about my efforts over these past two years.
I wish you all the best of luck and wisdom in the choices and decisions you will make at this National Conference, and in the future. The strength of our Association depends on the choices you make. Good luck!
Bryan Hannegan
NAGPS President, 1996-98

Our Mission Statement

The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of graduate and professional student life in the United States of America. To this end, NAGPS works to actively promote the interests and welfare of graduate- and professional-degree-seeking students in public and private universities, as well as in public and private agencies at the local, state, and national levels. In addition, through its national office and regional networks, NAGPS acts as a clearinghouse for information on graduate and professional student groups at all stages of development.

Who We Are

We are graduate and professional students in all academic fields. We are leaders of our respective graduate or professional student organizations. We are advocates for student rights and needs. We are students, just like you and the 2 million others engaged in the pursuit of an advanced degree.
For that very reason, we occupy a unique place in higher education, as an advocate for change, and as a provider of assistance to students, faculty, staff, and decision-makers. NAGPS is part student government and part traditional non-profit association: a bit of both, but not entirely either. We can sit down at the table, or we can walk the picket lines. It is this unique character and position that has allowed us to serve as an effective advocate and representative for student needs in the twelve short years of our existence.
Our mission statement outlines two very basic functions:

1. Information Exchange: getting news and other information into your hands as a student leader or individual student so that you can make informed decisions about your education and career
2. Advocacy: serving as your representative and advocate whenever policies are considered that affect your ability to complete your degree in a timely and affordable fashion

Everything that we do, from maintaining our web site to testifying before Congress, is done on your behalf, and in pursuit of these twin functions, essential components of our mission.

Our Structure

Board of Directors
NAGPS' Board of Directors serves as the primary policy body of the Association, determining general overall direction and assisting in the development of programs, products and services that are offered to NAGPS' members. Each member of the Board of Directors is a currently-enrolled graduate or professional student, and usually brings some leadership experience with them to their new position.
The Board of Directors is comprised of three different types of positions:

1. National Officers elected at National Conference annually to maintain infrastructure, communications, finances, and facilitate activities of volunteers (President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Ombuds Coordinator)
2. Regional Coordinators elected at Regional Conferences to represent members' interests on Board, conduct recruitment and retention activities, and facilitate member development (one for each region: Western, Southcentral, Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast)
3. Committee Chairs elected at National Conference by their respective Committees to serve as experts advising the Board of Directors, recommend action, and coordinate volunteers (Legislative, Employment, Human Diversity, and International Students)

The Board of Directors meets in person twice annually: once in the winter months (January or February), and once in the summer months (July or August). At the call of the President, the Board may meet via electronic mail or web site to consider issues on a monthly basis.

Staff
For any non-profit association that relies heavily on volunteers, strong professional staff members are needed to carry out the daily functions, help maintain the infrastructure of the Association, and guide policy development and strategic vision. NAGPS has a full-time Executive Director and a part-time Legislative Director as its professional staff, without whom many of the services and programs you utilize would not be available.

Since 1990, NAGPS has been fortunate to have a contractual relationship with Communication Management, Inc., a management and public relations firm based in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. CMI operates our National Office, provides basic office operations, handles our finances, plans our National Conference, provides support to the Board of Directors, and carries out fundraising and marketing of our various products and services. CMI has worked with NAGPS since the early days of our inception, and the guidance of Kevin Boyer, CMI President and NAGPS' Executive Director, has been crucial to our survival and success.

In early 1998, NAGPS hired a part-time Legislative Director in response to our recognition of NAGPS' growing commitment to legislative advocacy. We have been lucky enough to find an individual in Michael Agosta who will work full-time for part-time salary, and the legislative victories of this past year are a testament to his hard work as much as our collective efforts.

Many changes in our staff structure, contractual relationship, and office location are projected for 1998-99. These are detailed below in the section on our Strategic Plan.
Volunteers
In addition to those volunteers serving on our Board of Directors, NAGPS benefits from the time and energy spent by tens of volunteers working on our Standing Committees, and within our regions as Regional Officers or State Coordinators. NAGPS' volunteer program helps us improve our service to members, and it develops a new generation of leaders for NAGPS to draw on to fill vacant positions within NAGPS' governance structure.

Membership

At the core of NAGPS' strength are the organizational members: graduate or professional student governments or associations that pay annual dues to NAGPS, participate in regional and national conferences, and provide input on our issues through our electronic mailing lists and web site. In the past few years, we've seen a continued increase in organizational memberships, shown in the table on the next page (Table 1).
Through our organizational members, we reach the bulk of the more than 900,000 graduate and professional students we can claim to directly represent. It should be stressed, however, that we should expect that maintaining this expansion in membership will become more difficult in the future. Much of this increase in NAGPS membership has been as a direct result of our improved efforts to retain existing members. We have far fewer "drops" (failures to renew) compared to even three years ago, where 20-30 members would fail to renew each year, negating any new gains in membership coming from recruitment. Our success at achieving this goal of improving member retention as identified at our 1996 National Conference is notable.

Table 1:Membership Growth By Region,1995-1998

Region
1995-96
1995-96
1995-96

Western
23
27
33

Southeast
34
35
35

Southcentral
14
13
18

Northeast
38
37
44

Midwest
28
32
32

Total
137
144
162

As we do a better job of retaining our existing members, we will need to rely on helping to organize new graduate and professional organizations to increase the number of organizational members. Many professional schools with functioning student associations are not members of NAGPS, precisely because there is a lack of focus on professional student issues stemming from a lacking participation by professional students in our policy process. We should also be sure to notice the increasing number of trade and professional schools with graduate or professional programs, particularly those in the rapidly growing distance learning sector. As the growth in graduate and professional education is in part-time, professional or credential programs, NAGPS will need to focus on serving these populations to maintain our accustomed membership growth.
We also must focus on encouraging existing organizational members to renew their membership at higher levels (contributing, sustaining, or supporting) as a means to expand membership-related revenue. Although the total number of members has growth by 18% since 1995, the relative proportion of memberships at these higher levels has only grown by 4%.

Individual Members
In 1997, NAGPS introduced, in partnership with Student Advantage, our NAGPS National Student Membership Program. The National Student Membership provides individual students with the benefits of NAGPS memberships, coupled with the discount buying power of the Student Advantage Card. To date, some 20,000 individual graduate and professional students own the National Student Membership Card, the majority of whom received it through their campus Graduate/Professional Student Association via a bulk purchase from NAGPS.
Although sales of the National Student Membership have not reached initial expectations, one value of this initiative was to put greater focus on the development of benefits and products useful to the individual student, as opposed to those only of interest to the student leader. Those who are individual members are likely to be more aware of the range of services NAGPS offers, and they are more likely to respond to legislative alerts and other calls to action.
Still, the National Student Membership program suffers from a lack of marketing emphasis (both by Student Advantage and by NAGPS), and the somewhat spotty existence of participating merchants in the campus communities of many NAGPS members. Our best bet for success in reaching individual students remains through existing graduate/professional student organizations, and these organizations can easily provide their members with a benefit of membership by securing bulk purchases of National Student Membership cards where affordable.
Affiliate Memberships
NAGPS also offers affiliate membership to graduate schools, graduate deans, and other sympathetic members of the higher education community. Nearly 80 institutions are represented through an Affiliate member of some sort, many of which do not have independent graduate or professional student organizations. It goes without saying that affiliate members not only assist NAGPS financially, but also through their participation and support for our efforts.

Finances

The late 1990s have been a period of explosive financial growth for our Association. Total income from all sources is projected to surpass $200,000 in 1998-99, an operating budget that has quadrupled in the past four years.

Table 2: Income Trends, 1995-98 (sums may not equal 100% due to rounding)

1995-96
1996-97
1997-98

Conference Fees
23%
45%
29%

Donations
12%
6%
18%

Membership Dues
60%
34%
31%

Royalties
4%
15%
18%

Publications
<1%
0%
1%

Programs
0%
0%
2%

Miscellaneous
<1%
<1%
<1%

Total Income
56,450
105,500
147,450

Table 2 shows the trends in income by category for all major NAGPS functions over the past three years. Although membership dues increased in 1997-98 for the first time in five years, membership dues now make up less than one-third of the total NAGPS budget. Revenue from conference fees generates another one-third of NAGPS revenue, with the rest coming from an equal contribution of donations and royalties from products offered by NAGPS to its members.
An expansion in our fiscal resources has allowed us to expand our program offerings, compensate our staff at an appropriate level, and increase the size of our National Conference. Table 3 shows the expenditure trends by category. While total expenditures have increased in all categories, the relative proportion of expenditures for each has remained roughly the same.

Table 2: Income Trends, 1995-98 (sums may not equal 100% due to rounding)

1995-96
1996-97
1997-98

Conference
18%
33%
25%

Board of Directors
24%
16%
16%

Legislative
11%
4%
4%

Staff Salary
28%
23%
37%

Office Expenses
19%
13%
12%

Programs
0%
0%
3%

Miscellaneous
<1%
2%
2%

Total Income
52,179
105,500
147,450

Programs and Services

NAGPS continues to expand its product and service offerings to members, based on the belief that graduate and professional students need low-cost and high quality options for satisfying their basic non-academic needs. In the past year, with the support of NAGPS' corporate partners, we've added more benefits for individual graduate and professional students to help them manage their basic living needs, and minimize the cost and hassle of the graduate/professional school experience. We've also expanded our services to our organizational members, offering new benefits and tools that student leaders can use to further develop their organization as a credible advocate for graduate/professional student interests. In addition to providing extra value for your NAGPS membership, our corporate partnerships also provide needed revenue for NAGPS operations, helping us reduce the need for increases in your membership and conference fees.
Health Insurance
Our NAGPS-endorsed health insurance program, offered in cooperation with the Educational Finance Group's Student Insurance Division (SID) and Grad Services (GSERV), gets more competitive with each passing year. After last year's 15% drop in premiums and addition of coverage for postdoctoral researchers and domestic partners, we've been able to maintain last year's competitive price and coverage level. The NAGPS program is designed to provide a viable alternative to campus-based health insurance plans, and a benchmark setting standards of basic coverage and cost for those students seeking their own health insurance plan. The NAGPS-sponsored domestic health insurance program also works for students whose research requires international travel for extended periods. We're also acting on last year's National Conference Resolution to pursue international student health insurance coverage, having reached a tentative agreement with GSERV to endorse a health insurance program for international students with coverage and premium levels comparable to the domestic student plan. We hope to begin offering this new health insurance product for international students in 1998-99.
Dental Insurance
NAGPS continues to offer, in partnership with the Association Dental Plan, a dental discount plan for graduate and professional students that offers discounts of up to 50% on the costs of regular checkups, cleaning and specialized dental treatment. For $49.95 per year, the NAGPS-endorsed dental discount plan allows students to choose their own dentists, and pay for only the dental care that they need. As an alternative to the discount plan for those with regular dental needs or families with children, NAGPS is working with the Student Insurance Division to put together a dental insurance plan as an add-on to the NAGPS-endorsed Health Insurance plan, or as a stand-alone dental policy. Look for new dental benefits in 1998-99!

Auto Insurance
This year, NAGPS began a partnership with GEICO to offer auto insurance discounts to NAGPS members. On average, NAGPS members can get a 3-10% discount off their current auto insurance rates (your discount may vary) by visiting the NAGPS web site, accessing the information there on GEICO Auto Insurance, and asking for an online rate quote. As you help yourself to lower auto insurance rates, you'll help NAGPS in its ongoing efforts!
Book and Music Store
In cooperation with Amazon.com, NAGPS opened its own online bookstore as part of our web site in 1997-98. NAGPS members can visit our web site, and browse member-recommended book and music selections, including publications on surviving graduate/professional school, employment trends and job hunting, legislative issues, diversity and affirmative action, and even pleasure reading! When you've filled your "online shopping basket", you can purchase online for a 15% discount off regular prices. Our organizational members can also provide links to Amazon.com on their local web sites, helping their students to find the reference materials they need in any subject.
Job Bank
Our online Job Bank continues to be one of the most sought-after NAGPS benefits, and is well worth the price of a National Student Membership by itself! With numerous jobs in all fields listed by job type, and career resources to help you make the most out of your education, the NAGPS Job Bank is a worthwhile resource for those entering the world beyond graduate study. Access is limited to NAGPS National Student Members, or those students at an institution that has a NAGPS Organizational Member.
Student Advantage
NAGPS continues to offer great national and local benefits through our partnership with Student Advantage and our National Student Membership program. The Student Advantage card gets you great discounts on airline tickets, train travel, photocopies and office supplies, rental cars, and much more! Local campus merchants can participate by offering their own discounts, and even if there is no local program, your graduate or professional student organization can help start one and provide a great local benefit of membership to the students at your institution.
Leadership Institute
For student leaders, NAGPS' newest exciting development is our early planning for the first NAGPS Leadership Institute, tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2000. The NAGPS Leadership Institute will be a weekend-long training workshop for graduate and professional student leaders, hosted by NAGPS' experts and featuring professionals with background in organizing, leadership development, and organizational management. The Leadership Institute will provide a first-rate orientation for graduate/professional student organizational officers, covering the roles and responsibilities of GSA/GSO officers, the issues facing higher education nationally and locally, and the resources available to them to help them achieve their goals. With orientation and training before they start their terms of office, the NAGPS Leadership Institute will help student leaders at all levels be more effective advocates for the students they represent.
Publications Series
Another exciting new benefit for NAGPS' Organizational Members is the new NAGPS Publication Series, with three publications on starting a new GSA, employing strategic planning, and developing strong advocacy programs making their debut at this National Conference. Visit our table at the Information Exchange for details and sample copies! Individual copies of NAGPS publications will be available free of charge to members via download from the NAGPS web site, and printed copies will be available from our National Office for a modest charge. Written by current student leaders, the Publication Series is designed to foster information exchange through the presentation of sample good practices of programs and services that you can use on your campus to strengthen your organization and empower the students you represent.
Web Site Redesign
In this past year, we have started the arduous task of redesigning the NAGPS web site to make it more user-friendly, take advantage of newer Internet technologies, and provide a better experience to visitors who come to our site looking for specific information on a particular topic. While not yet complete, the first stages of our design project are well underway, and the results so far have been widely applauded. The new web site will feature a simpler directory structure, a search engine, a navigation menu to prevent you from getting lost, and many new interactive features that will foster the exchange of information between you and your colleagues at other institutions. We're also redesigning the site to make it simpler for us to maintain, and with plenty of new features that will bring you back time and time again (such as our new weekly articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education ... free without a subscription as a benefit of your membership!). Look for our newly redesigned web site to be unveiled later this year!

Advocacy

1997-98 was a great year for NAGPS student activists. We made concrete gains for graduate and professional students in all major areas of NAGPS' advocacy, fostered improved relationships with our friends in the higher education community (including other student groups), and developed connections with our colleagues outside the United States. In February 1998, we hired our first professional Legislative Director to manage our legislative and other advocacy activities from Washington, DC, and the results have been nothing short of astounding. With a renewed focus on grassroots organizing, NAGPS is rapidly gaining recognition as a potent voice for graduate and professional student interests.
Employment Concerns
The major advocacy initiative in the area of employment concerns this year was our leadership of a coalition of graduate and professional student groups and individuals in support of the Graduate Student Council at the City College of New York (CCNY). More than 50 graduate and professional student organizations and 150 individuals signed our Letter of Protest to CCNY President Yolanda Moses, demanding the reinstatement of the Graduate Student Council as a legitimate and functioning student group. CCNY administration had shut down the GSC newspaper, and locked student leaders out of their offices in response to rumors of a student protest against the City University system's decision to end remedial education in New York. Other advocacy efforts in Employment Concerns focused on issues related to part-time faculty and adjunct instructors, and the accumulation of data on teaching conditions in our nation's institutions. NAGPS also continued to serve as a national spokesperson on issues related to trends in postgraduate employment and issues of concern to postdoctoral researchers.
Legislative Concerns
Following on last year's stunning victory on taxes, legislative advocacy initiatives focused this year on the passage of the Higher Education Act, the landmark federal legislation which sets forth provisions of all grant, fellowship, work-study and student loan programs. As a result of continued advocacy throughout the year in coalition with other national student groups, NAGPS was able to secure a 0.8% decrease in student loan interest rates, saving students billions of dollars on interest accumulation over the next few years. Working with the American Bar Association, we were responsible for the authorization of the new Thurgood Marshall graduate grant program for low-income, minority or economically disadvantaged students who are seeking a legal education. We were also able to preserve the endangered Javits Fellowship Program that supports graduate students in the arts, social sciences, and humanities. For the first time in many years, we were able to secure increased funding for the GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) and Javits Fellowship programs, at a time where federal expenditures on education are in decline.
Human Diversity
During House consideration of the Higher Education Act, Representative Frank Riggs (R-CA) introduced an amendment to "prohibit discrimination and preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, or ethnicity in connection with admission to an institution of higher education participating in any program authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965." The Riggs Amendment, as it was called, was the subject of intense student advocacy throughout 1997-98 in an effort to defeat attempts to end affirmative action in higher education. NAGPS issued action alerts, generated calls from students in support of affirmative action, wrote letters to members of Congress, and worked in coalition with other student groups to successfully advocate for the defeat of the Riggs Amendment and related amendments on the House floor in early May.
International Students
In 1996, NAGPS members passed a National Resolution charging NAGPS, through its Board of Directors, to act to form an international network of student associations, and promote international awareness. Two years later, with our help, the Postgraduates International Network, or PI-Net, has been formally constituted as an international association focusing strictly on international graduate and professional student issues. NAGPS participated in this year's organizational meeting of PI-Net in Budapest, Hungary, and also sent a delegate to the World Conference on Higher Education organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). As a response to our growing awareness for information exchange with our fellow national organizations in other countries, the Board of Directors established an "International Relations Coordinator" (IRC) position in 1997-98. The IRC represents NAGPS in issues of foreign affairs (e.g. a "Secretary of State"), and carries out duties charged to NAGPS as a member of PI-Net. The establishment of this new position allows our International Student Concerns Committee to sharpen its focus on issues related to international education and the free flow of scholars across national borders.

Our Strategic Initiatives

All of our successes in the past year are for naught if we do not continue to strive to improve our organization and our individual contributions in a strategically directed manner. In direct response to your concerns and desires, the NAGPS Board of Directors engaged in numerous strategic planning efforts during the course of the 1997-98 year, culminating in our identification of five Strategic Initiatives to guide the Board's efforts. For each of these initiatives, we've developed an action plan, with an assessment of resource needs, specific goals, and a timetable for action to achieve each of those goals. At each in-person meeting of the Board of Directors, we review our progress on each initiative, and modify our action plan as needed. This strategic planning process has guided our efforts in a most efficient way, setting the path for the success we have enjoyed in 1997-98 and will enjoy in years to follow.
In brief, our five Strategic Initiatives are as follows:

1. National Leadership Institute
   As mentioned previously, the Leadership Institute will provide significant benefit to members through improvements in training of graduate/professional student leaders and access to the resources they need to be successful.
2. DC Office
   Our long-standing goal of opening a Washington, DC based National Office will become a reality on January 1, 1999. By locating our office in Washington, DC, we'll be able to work in closer coalition with other DC-based higher education groups and access to decision-makers within the Federal Government will be more readily available.
3. Board Transition and Training
   Formalized orientation sessions for new members of the NAGPS Board of Directors are now a standard part of every in-person Board of Directors meeting, and we continue to refine the orientation to improve quality based on feedback from new members. We are also continuing to promote the wide range of volunteer opportunities within NAGPS Committees and Regions, in efforts to promote leadership development and improve the background and experience of candidates for positions on the Board of Directors.
4. Field Advocacy Events
   Simple Voter Registration/Voter Education (VRVE) events, such as those to be held as part of the Information Exchange at this National Conference, are integral to identifying campus activists for use by local organizations as well as by NAGPS in advocacy efforts. Real political strength comes from sheer numbers of letters, faxes, and phone calls, and VRVE events are designed to increase the political muscle of NAGPS and its organizational members. NAGPS' legislative staff and volunteers have put together "how-to" materials to help your campus organization gain strength in advocacy.
5. Web Site Redesign
   As mentioned above, a redesign of the NAGPS web site is under way to provide easier and cleaner access to wide variety of information, benefits, products and services offered on our web site. The new web site will also allow us to promote new technologies and use them in a way that improves our communication with you, NAGPS members, regarding your needs and desires for improved service. Online surveys, discussion forums, news feeds, and many more innovations are planned for development in the coming year.

Each of these initiatives, in addition to the ongoing activities described elsewhere in this report, is a component step towards achieving the vision that the NAGPS Board of Directors has set for our Association:

NAGPS is an organization dedicated to meeting the needs of the continuum of graduate and professional students through providing them with the resources and opportunities for success.

The Challenge Ahead

We should not plan to continue our upward growth trajectory in 1998-99, but instead focus on maintaining our current levels of service to NAGPS members. This year will be a year of transition: a year for maintaining our existing programs and services in the face of new challenges as we set up our National Office in Washington, DC. We will need to take special care to hire professional staff with the level of dedication and understanding of NAGPS that we have enjoyed throughout our formative years. We will also need to continue efforts to recruit and train the best student leaders to serve as NAGPS volunteers, Board members, and campus GSA/GSO leaders.

There will inevitably be some "growing pains" associated with our evolution from a small, somewhat rag-tag group of good-intentioned students to an organized force for change. Many time-honored ways of doing things will need to be revisited from the fresh perspective of an organization that has finally come "of age": where every decision affects our ability to improve the welfare of graduate/professional students, as we are charged to do in our mission statement. Nonetheless, we can remain confident that the current direction of NAGPS is the direction in which we need to continue. It is no surprise that our most recent actions of the past two years have greatly expanded membership benefits, increased our budget four-fold, resulted in our highest membership levels in our history, and yielded significant legislative victories in all areas of advocacy. It would be foolish for us to chart a new course for the NAGPS "ship of state" when the "sailing" is so smooth.
What remains now is to meet the challenges of the impending transition head on, focus on the new initiatives identified as part of our strategic planning process, and ensure that the NAGPS of tomorrow provides the same kind of quality service to our members as does the NAGPS of today.Your support and feedback as students, student leaders, and allies of higher education is always appreciated and welcomed. Our direction is set. Let us raise the sails together and move forward into 1998-99!