Pioneer of Success: Alpha Sigma Lambda Beginnings
My introduction to Alpha Sigma Lambda began with a question. “How would you like to go to Seattle?” It was 1991. ASL and I were newly installed at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. My boss, Linda Shay Gardner was asking me to take on running ASL, and part of that, of course, was attending ASL’s and ACHE’s annual meeting, held that year in Seattle. Of course I said yes, and shortly afterwards my office was full of old boxes full of ASL files.
ASL
until that time had been run by board members. I believe that this
was the first time a college was hosting the national office. I
decided that the first thing to do was set up chapter files and
sort and toss through nearly fifty years of paper. ASL in its early
years was run quite cozily by colleagues who worked near each other.
I found crumbling carbons in which one board member invited another
to discuss ASL business over coffee. .
Linda and I had big plans for ASL. We developed a line of products – mugs, T-shirts, pens – that, I think, was ASL’s first money-making venture. Alas, as is all to common in continuing ed, there was a wholesale shift in staff and priorities in the office and within the year I was packing up the mugs and the newly sorted files and driving them to the new national office at LaSalle University in Philadelphia.
ASL passed out of my life, except as a chapter councilor, until 1994. I was working at DeSales University and my new boss and ASL president, Joe Doughtery, had brought the ASL national office with him to the continuing education unit there. He encouraged me to run for National Secretary and I thank him for the encouragement, as my years with Alpha Sigma Lambda have been so rewarding personally and professionally. ASL has meant a lot to me personally since I have had two children since 1991 and our meetings meant I got to spend time in a quiet, orderly hotel room away from their darling sticky fingers. Professionally, it has been my very great pleasure to work with committed, principled, and thoughtful people on the board and in our national office.
Reading
through ten years’ worth of minutes reveals that over the
years the board has expended a good deal of time and effort on how
best to serve the chapters. As as our membership grew, thanks to
the efforts of Paul Sable and Will Hine, we have had to think about
how and when to incorporate into our mission a wider variety of 
institutions
and programs than had been the case in ASL’s first forty years.
We have also worked on improving how we communicate with chapters.
For me as national secretary that has meant expanding The Midnight
Oil from a sporadic publication to what it is now, newsletter published
online and in print three times a year and which, I hope, has included
helpful and interesting features.
The best thing to happen for the board and for our membership has been finding a stable and welcoming home at Eastern Illinois University for our national office. Will Hine, Shirley Melton, Pam Collins, and Kaye Woodward have transformed ASL since they took on the home office in 1996. They have re-established a line of wonderful products, the revenue from which supports Foundation scholarships and our services to the chapters. Shirley’s many, many phone calls and emails from chapter has helped us understand as never before what our membership needs from us. And my long ago attempt at organizing the files has been transformed by Shirley into a busy and responsive office.
My final term as secretary ended this past November. I am now the Society Historian and Archivist. Many of our papers were lost in last April’s fire at Blair Hall but I will piece together what we have, collect papers from past and present board members, and set up a proper archive for this wonderful organization that has meant so much to so many people over the years.