Specialty Masters Advisory Board SOP

Created July, 2024

One of CSEA’s strategic objectives is to increase specialty masters program membership and engagement. To reach this objective, it’s necessary to gather feedback and input from our existing school and employer members who serve and recruit specialty masters students to ensure we are serving them well. 

With that in mind, the Specialty Masters Advisory Board will serve as a resource to gather advice and recommendations for the Executive Director and Board of Directors and help carry out initiatives as needed.

Advisory Board Goals

• Serve in an advisory capacity to the Board of Directors and Executive Director to help guide strategic decisions.
• Ensure specialty masters programs are represented in decisions made by the board and committees.
• Help promote the association to potential school and employer members that serve/recruit specialty masters students, either by providing first-hand knowledge about the value of membership and/or reaching out to prospective new members as appropriate.
• Engage influencers to provide advice and maximize outreach efforts.

Examples of the role the Advisory Board might play include:

• Provide topics of interest related to specialty masters programs for programming that could be delivered via webinars and conferences (to be shared with the Virtual Programming and Conference Committees).
• Research other organizations that serve specialty masters populations to identify synergies and possible outreach opportunities (note: all strategic partnerships are manged by the Executive Director).
• Provide input into new programs and services being considered by the board or committees.
• Assist with targeted outreach toward schools and employers that serve/recruit specialty masters students.
• Provide feedback into marketing collateral as needed.
• Share advice about industry trends that might impact engagement with specialty masters markets 

Structure/Commitment

Advisory Board members will be invited to participate by the Executive Director and/or Advisory Board Chairs based on prior involvement and their commitment to the institution. When possible, diversity of company and school size, type of program/hire and industry will be considered. There are no specific term lengths for participation; members will be asked to serve until no longer available. The Advisory Board will consist of a majority of CSEA members, with a limited number of spots available for non-members to use as a recruitment tool if they are considering membership. 

The Advisory Board will meet once per quarter (or more frequently if needed) via video call (approximately 60 minutes), and will also be available as a resource via email as needed. The agenda for the meetings will be set by the Advisory Board Chairs and Executive Director and will include an update from the Board. The President and Executive Director will attend Advisory Board meetings, and the Executive Director or an Advisory Board Chair will report back to the Board of Directors and committees as appropriate.

The ideal number of board members will be 12 – five school representatives, 5 employer representatives, plus the Executive Director and President.

Leadership Roles

Executive Director

• Oversees and is a member of the Advisory Board.
• Is included in all leadership and group meetings and communications.
• Is consulted about anything the group will be bringing to the Board of Directors (in advance of the board meeting).
• Manages Advisory Board communications and meeting arrangements, including scheduling meetings.
• Along with the President, selects the Advisory Board Co-Chairs.
• Along with the Advisory Board Co-Chairs, selects group members.
• Serves as liaison among all CSEA committees and groups, assisting with opportunities for cross-committee and group communication and collaboration when needed.

Advisory Group Co-Chairs

• Ideally, a school and employer member will be selected as co-chairs.
• Along with the Executive Director, selects advisory board members.
• Chairs Advisory Board meetings.
• Works with the Executive Director to create an agenda for board meetings and distributes the agenda in advance of the meeting.
• Ensures that notes are taken during the meeting and distributed to the group after the meeting concludes (note: it's recommended that the chair appoint a member for this task).
• If needed, follows up with Advisory Board members in between meetings to help manage group commitments. For example, if the group decides to assist with employer outreach for the conference, the chair would follow up to request updates on how the outreach is going.