About Task Force for Program Advancement

The mission of the cross-organizational Task Force on Program Advancement is "to proactively and collaboratively strengthen higher education programs in the Human Sciences/Family and Consumer Sciences (HS/FCS) community. The organizations involved are:

• Board on Human Sciences, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
• Council of Administrators of Family and Consumer Sciences
• Higher Education Unit and College and University Section, American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
• Cooperative Extension Service.

The Task Force strives to fulfill its purpose through such efforts as:

• Providing experienced assistance to administrators by means of a list of consultants available to HS/FCS unit leaders, program coordinators, department heads/chairs, deans, and central administrators that is available from this website.
• Updating the name of the profession in various databases such as those of the Chronicle of Higher Education, College and University Professional Association (CUPA), Library of Congress, Educational Testing Service/Graduate Record Examination, and others that identify college and university programs.
• Supporting and encouraging the development of administrators though workshops such as the Emerging Administrators' Workshops sponsored by the Board on Human Sciences, the Council of Administrators of Family and Consumer Sciences, and Kappa Omicron Nu Honor Society in recent years.
• Investigating and identifying factors leading to viable and vulnerable units by conducting a survey of campus leaders to determine criteria that lead to unit advancement and compiling readily available literature as resources for administrators to use as needed.
• Educating decision makers.
• Stimulating dialogue on issues relevant to the state of the profession via:
  • Presentations at professional conferences on issues of the profession & work of the Taskforce.
  • Publication of white paper/articles on issues facing HS/FCS in higher education with responses from different perspectives.
  • Encouraging collaboration among the diverse HS/FCS administrative organizations through
    • Taskforce for Program Advancement efforts
    • Joint meetings of two or more organizations
• Creating a database to provide data currently available about all HS/FCS units and programs whether or not the units or administrators belong to any HS/FCS organizations. Information in the database includes program structures, accreditation of program areas, and contact information for programs/administrators.