2008 Woodie Awards
Sutton elected group president
VPSA to serve 1-year term for organization
Laura Avila
Issue date: 12/4/07 Section: Front Page
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The announcement was made earlier this year at the annual TACUSPA awards ceremony, held in Addison, Texas. TACUSPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the enhancement of college and university-level student affairs administrators across Texas. "TACUSPA provides a venue for members to share issues, ideas and solve common problems," Sutton said. "It serves as advocacy for each other."
Sutton said he felt honored to serve in a leadership position. "I follow a line of dedicated individuals that have recently served as president and done a great deal for the association," Sutton said. "We have a fantastic group of professionals currently serving on our board, and I feel very fortunate to be a part of that."
As president, Sutton will coordinate future conferences as well as oversee various committees. Although the presidential position lasts one year, it entails a three-year commitment as president, president-elect and past president.
Sutton said he has been a TACUSPA member since 1999 and served as the chair of the summer conference committee while an administrator at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
As president, Sutton hopes to tackle several problems relevant to many Texas-based universities. "We face many of the same issues that other universities face, like the growing need for campus housing," he said. "We're at capacity, like other places. The need is to assist the growing numbers of students with emotional or behavioral needs to develop partnerships with academic and student affairs and academic support concerns." Sutton said he also wants to increase the involvement of Houston-area university TACUSPA members.
Sutton added that he hopes to learn from other universities how to maintain a high student retention rate. "We're hoping that the retention conference we're planning in June at UST will provide a necessary forum to assist all types of universities with this important issue," he said.
According to a study conducted last semester of Catholic Benchmark Institutions by the office for Strategic Planning, Institutional Research and Evaluation, UST ranked the lowest in retention rates against other institutions of similar size. The average CBI retention rate was about 84 percent, whereas UST's rate was 71 percent.