History & Mission of NAPAHE

The National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education (NAPAHE) first met in 1988 as part of an American Council on Education annual meeting in order to discuss and address mutual concerns, common problems, and issues of immediate and long-term professional interest.

In the fall of 1987, five presidential assistants gathered in a coffee shop at O'Hare airport to discuss the possibility of organizing a meeting for the presidential assistants who would be attending the next American Council on Education meeting. That discussion led to a half-day session in Washington in January of 1988 attended by about 45.

The enthusiastic response at that meeting encouraged the five originators, now calling themselves the Steering Committee, to plan an expanded session for the next year. The group referred to itself as Presidential Assistants in Higher Education (PAHE), and its sessions were indicated in the ACE program each year as a "special session for presidential assistants."

By the time of the 1992 meeting, the steering committee had resolved to pursue a higher level of organization and the name National Association of Presidential Assistants in Higher Education (NAPAHE) was born. In the next years, preliminary by-laws were created, and the leadership renamed itself the Board of Directors. Shortly thereafter, dues were assessed for the first time.

NAPAHE revised its by-laws and incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1995 and received federal tax-exempt status the next year.

The annual meeting continues to be held each year in the day or days preceding the annual meeting of the American Council on Education. NAPAHE began publishing a newsletter in August of 1994. In the Fall of 1995 we inaugurated NAPANET, our members' listserver.  NAPAWEB soon followed.  We commissioned a full-scale, national study of presidential assistants in 1994; a survey was distributed and analyzed in 1996; results began to appear in 1997.

NAPAHE membership has grown substantially, from the first formal membership list of about 200 to more than 650 (1999).  Annual meeting attendance averages 150 each year.

NAPAHE, now incorporated as a 501(3)(c) organization, exists to:

• educate the public regarding the position of presidential assistants in higher education by means of newsletters, surveys, and other publications;
• provide professional development activities and opportunities for presidential assistants, such as seminars, conferences, workshops, and meetings;
• encourage and facilitate research and articles on the position of presidential assistants in higher education -- a position within academic administration that is currently little known;
• strengthen and enhance the interaction among presidents of institutions of higher education by developing national, regional, and local networks of cooperation and collaboration among presidential assistants, including use of the Internet to share information;
• increase opportunities for individual and institutional cooperation in such areas as personnel searches, information exchanges, and ad hoc assistance on issues such as special events and policy development.