By Pam Watts

In June, school may be out for summer, but NIRSA’s work will be heating up.

With the Summer Leadership Meetings from June 9-14, representatives from several of NIRSA’s leadership groups will travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the Association’s most important items for discussion and action.

Not only is convening these groups together in one place a benefit in-and-of-itself, but meeting at the site of the 2014 Annual Conference & Expo offers added benefits as well.

Exploring and brainstorming within the confines of next year’s conference property presents unique opportunities for collaboration and planning with Gaylord Hotels.


NIRSA leadership (including the NIRSA Foundation’s Board of Directors, featured above) is excited to come together at the Summer Leadership Meetings in Nashville.

NIRSA is pleased to be contracted with Gaylord Hotels to host our annual conferences from 2014 through 2017. To kick-off NIRSA’s four-year run with the Gaylord Hotels, NIRSA leaders will tour the Gaylord Opryland venue while on site. The Annual Conference planning team, including the Host Committee,and the 2014 & 2015 Chairs of the Program Committee, will be present to tend to important conference planning details.

During this time, the NIRSA Board of Directors, Member Network and the NIRSA Foundation Board of Directors will be holding their respective summer face-to-face meetings. NIRSA Board members are looking forward to discussions on critical topics like completion of the strategic plan; strengthening the connections between competencies, education content and the Professional Registry; the positioning and branding of NIRSA;and forecasting future trends for recreation in the higher education landscape.

In addition to their individual meetings, the NIRSA Board and Member Network will take advantage of some purposefully-planned, joint meeting time. Participating in the third consecutive Leadership Summit will be the NIRSA Presidents, along with representatives from the NIRSA Foundation Boards of Directors and the NIRSA Services Corporation Board, all of whom will be on site to connect the dots of NIRSA’s strategic goals and roles between each entity. Through these discussions and joint efforts, NIRSA can and will better serve its members.