History

The College Student Personnel Association of New York State, Inc. was originally founded as the New York State College Personnel Association (NYSCPA) in 1967 and chartered as a state Division of the American College Personnel Association in 1968. Dr. Daniel Bratton served as the first president of the new organization.

In 1977, another professional organization was founded, Student Personnel Association of New York State (SPA-NYS). Mike D’Attilio served as the initial president of this organization. Mike also served as president of CSPA later on and holds the distinction of being the only individual to serve twice as president over the history of the organizations. In the fall of 1980, discussions were begun on the possibility of merging these two professional organizations into one entity. After a series of meetings and a vote of both memberships, the merger was approved and CSPA-NYS was born in July of 1981. Dr. Carl Glenister served as the first president of CSPA, after winning a coin toss with Dr. Patrick Smith. The coin toss occurred on the grounds of Silver Bay.

Also in 1981, NYS-CPA made the decision to disaffiliate from the New York State Personnel and Guidance Association (NYSPGA). The membership of the NYS-CPA felt that the interests of Student Affairs professionals were not being adequately addressed by the PGA organization. This sounds familiar to the arguments that were used ten years later when ACPA decided to disaffiliate from the American Counseling Association.

Within all of this change, the one constant was the retention of the State Division Charter from ACPA. In addition to being one of the most active of the ACPA state divisions, CSPA-NYS is one of the two oldest. CSPA has been consistently recognized for its involvement with ACPA. The organization was recognized as the Outstanding State Divisions National Award for Membership, Recruitment & Retention in 1983. In addition, the Association was Awarded the Innovative Program Award in 2001 for the Chief Student Affairs Officers Symposium and in 2002 for the Student Leadership Conference. CSPA was also named Outstanding ACPA State Division for 1986 & 1988, and once again in 1998! Four of our Presidents have been recognized by ACPA as Outstanding State Leaders, Dr. Pat Smith, Madison Boyce, Christine Strong, and Dennis McDonald. In 2003, Chris Strong was selected for ACPA's Senior Student Affairs Practitioner Program.

A professional development conference is held during the fall of each year. The first conference was held at Ithaca College in 1981 with a total of 60 people in attendance. In 1982, 386 professionals and students attended the first conference held at Silver Bay and a tradition was born. Silver Bay was the location of the conference every other year between 1983 and 2003.

CSPA-NYS has a rich heritage and a legacy that continues to be lived today through its executive board but most of all through its members. We have much for which to be proud!