Connect ACUA: Your Higher Education Auditing Connection
June 1, 2017
April 2017 marked the launch of the Association’s new community forum, Connect ACUA. We hope you have already logged into connect.acua.org and exchanged knowledge with your ACUA peers. The new forum is a direct response to feedback received and reflects the Board’s desire to ensure we are meeting both the membership needs and being financially prudent with our resources. During our transition from the legacy listserv ACUA-L to the online ACUA Community, the Association learned how valuable the ease of sharing is to our membership. With that in mind, we sought to find a ‘best in class’ solution to ensure we fixed the challenges posed by our current community and thus deployed a new tool that will meet our members’ needs now and into the future. We sincerely believethat we have found that platform with Connect ACUA.
Connect ACUA represents the culmination of a series of strategic decisions. Your Board was careful to consider how Connect ACUA intersects with the Association’s strategic plan. In doing so, we believe Connect ACUA is a critical piece of the strategic plan’s first goal: “ACUA will be members’ indispensable resource for professional knowledge exchange and education content for internal auditing”. It is our sincere hope that Connect ACUA becomes the day-to-day platform that facilitates professional knowledge exchange.
Additionally, Connect ACUA provides an opportunity to reach audit shops that may not have the resources to attend our conferences or provide a member service to small audit departments that need another auditor to share ideas. Over the previous few years, your Board has been working hard to structure programs, dues, and membership services to help the small audit departments be better connected to the resources they need to be successful. Connect ACUA is a great example of these strategic decisions.
It is important to note that critical to Connect ACUA’s success is the membership’s willingness to adopt a new communication tool and their willingness to share openly the issues and solutions they have identified on their campuses. Simply put, Connect ACUA can only be as successful as the individual member’s willingness to take a few moments out of their day to offer their contributions or ask questions.
We believe we have deployed a tool that will help us be successful in the future. Another strategic goal is: “ACUA will have a reliable infrastructure that supports the successful achievement of its goals.” With this decision we sought a tool that will meet the majority of our membership’s identified needs both now and into the future. The platform not only fixes critical current issues, but also provides for exciting future opportunities to further integrate our communications and marketing channels.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t thank an amazing team of volunteers that ushered us through our selection and deployment process. Our Communications Committee, chaired by Sam Khan at Oregon State University, and the Communities Director, Jennifer McPherson at Mississippi State University, led the Association’s implementation efforts alongside Board liaison Julia Hann from University of North Florida. I know these three leaders would point to a number of dedicated volunteers that spent many hours to review proposals, meet with the vendor, and alpha and beta test the new community. This launch truly was a team effort, and for that we are thankful.
In closing, we hope you will embrace and love Connect ACUA as much as your Board does. Please feel free to provide feedback as you interact with the tool. Mostly we hope you will see Connect ACUA as Your Higher Education Auditing Connection!
About the Authors
Justin Noble
Justin Noble, who is a Certified Internal Auditor, is an Assistant Chief Audit Executive for the Texas Tech University System. Justin leads a staff of eight auditors in conducting compliance, operational, financial, and fraud reviews...
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Justin Noble
Justin Noble, who is a Certified Internal Auditor, is an Assistant Chief Audit Executive for the Texas Tech University System. Justin leads a staff of eight auditors in conducting compliance, operational, financial, and fraud reviews across the System’s four component institutions. Justin completed his Master of Architecture and Master of Business Administration from Texas Tech. After graduating from Tech, Justin started his career with The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and worked for Southwest Airlines prior to returning to his alma mater in 2009.
Justin is active in the profession currently serving as Immediate Past President for ACUA. In addition to his board service, Justin has chaired ACUA’s NCAA Taskforce and previously led the Association’s Distance Learning efforts. Justin is a regular at the Association’s conferences serving as a proctor and frequent speaker at both the Annual and Midyear conferences. Justin also serves on the Texas Tech Federal Credit Union’s Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee. Outside of the profession, Justin is active in the South Plains Council of the Boy Scouts of America and serves in his church.
jtnoble@vt.edu
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Connect ACUA: Your Higher Education Auditing Connection
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