President's Message - May 2025 - Welcome!
My name is Dave Baugh and i just started my term as HEDW President.As someone who has been involved in multiple professional organizations over the years, I couldn't be more excited to have this opportunity. Yes, we currently find ourselves in a chaotic and uncertain environment. However, successfully navigating that environment will largely depend on data and as such, HEDW and its community of higher education data professionals (that would be you) have an important role to play. How do we accomplish that?
First, the planning for the HEDW 2026 Conference in Austin (April 26-29, 2026) is already underway. The current chaos and uncertainty in our business is on everyone's mind and the Board is working diligently to navigate our way through that. Look for more information starting in the fall.
Second, the Board is committed to our legacy of providing learning and sharing opportunities for the HEDW community. Work is already underway to provide webinars and training in the coming year and the first announcements should be coming soon.
Third, don't keep HEDW to yourself. The HEDW community continues to grow and based on feedback from some of you, the HEDW experience by colleagues is the #1 reason people join HEDW. Membership in HEDW is open to anyone employed at a higher education institution and is currently free. So, be generous in sharing the good news about HEDW so others get to join and be part of the community.
Last, HEDW is a user-driven community. We are completely volunteer-run and the members of the HEDW Board are higher education data professionals just like you. We always appreciate your feedback and are continually looking for volunteers interested in helping the community. Just reach out to hedwcomm@hedw.org.