Bloomington, Indiana, March 1, 2021
Coretta King, director of operations and events at Northwestern University’s Norris University Center, has been named to serve as an at-large member of the board of directors of ACUI, the Association of College Unions, during the association’s 101st annual conference that ended Friday. King will serve in the post for two years, until the ACUI Annual Conference set for Orlando in March 2023. Since 1914, ACUI has served as a nonprofit educational organization that brings together college union and student activities professionals with the primary mission of building campus community through education, advocacy, and the delivery of services.
King has served as a volunteer to ACUI in various capacities, including as a member of the 2020 annual conference planning team and the association’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programming team. She has served as host emcee for the 2019 Women’s Leadership Institute and has presented educational sessions at both regional and annual conferences. King holds a master of education degree in community counseling from the University of West Georgia and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in organizational leadership and change management.
As an at-large member King will serve a two-year term and be responsible for:
- Advancing the principles articulated in the Association’s vision and core values.
- Performing various ceremonial duties such as attending regional conferences, speaking at various functions, writing articles for the bulletin or other ACUI publications at the delegation of the president.
- Designing and directing the work of ad hoc and task force groups as requested by the president.
- Serving as liaison on the Board of Trustees for any presidential special appointees as assigned by the president and assisting such appointees in the preparation of annual reports.
- Nominating qualified members that reflect the diversity of the Association for the leadership positions.
- Serving as a voting member of the Board of Trustees.
- Serving on all board committees, and perhaps serving as a committee chair if appointed by the president-elect.
- Participating in all scheduled meetings of the Board of Trustees.
- Attending required on-site meetings of the Board of Trustees (at the Annual Conference, the Leadership Team meeting in Bloomington, Indiana, and other potential additional face-to-face board meetings); the cost for attendance at these meetings is covered by the Association.
- Participating in the review of the Association’s budget.
- Participating in the strategic planning of the Association.
King described herself as a successful organizational leader who uses a justice-based lens to ensure leaders are challenged and equipped for growth and that policies and programs are vetted for intentionality and equity.
“ACUI has the opportunity to pave the way for open candor with care around our history as unions and the institutional, systemic, and cultural roots of racism,” she said. “We can model for our communities, using research and dialogue, how to build forward with acknowledgement and the integration of local community partnerships with our current student populations, especially in a time when hybrid or virtual engagement is at an all-time high.”
ACUI Chief Executive Officer John Taylor said board members must be willing to engage with long-term goals related to the Association’s strategies, finances, governance, and the representation of other members. He noted ACUI’s member voters saw that King had the qualifications to do that.
“Coretta is one of those professionals who understands how important it is for our association to equip its members with the knowledge, awareness, and behavioral tools to address equity and sustainability within our unions and the personnel that lead these spaces,” Taylor said. “And she has the experience to help the association model and integrate best practices for sustaining our greatest resource, which is our membership.”
About ACUI:
Founded in 1914, ACUI is a nonprofit educational organization that brings together college union and student activities professionals from hundreds of schools in seven countries. Its members work on urban and rural campuses, in two-year and four-year institutions, and at large and small schools. They are students and administrators whose mission is to build campus community. ACUI enriches them all through education, advocacy, and the delivery of services.