Valenzuela Co-Chairs NASPA Western Regional Conference

Marco Antonio Valenzuela, vice president for student affairs and dean of students at Harvey Mudd College, co-chaired the 2022 NA­­­­SPA Western Regional Conference. His experience in higher education and service on a previous NASPA conference planning committee were employed to plan and manage this year’s conference held in Anaheim, California, Nov. 13-16.

The first in-person Western Regional Conference since 2019, the event, themed “The Challenge of Change,” attracted over 850 student affairs professionals seeking to reflect upon the challenges of the past few years, embrace their impact and chart a new course to move forward.

“These conferences are vital and act as a reminder of why people go into the student affairs profession,” Valenzuela said. “Meeting in person allows us to collaborate and share what has worked for others and gives us insight and inspiration that we can then bring back to our respective colleges.” As co-chair, Valenzuela provided conference attendees with “dive sessions” that lasted 120 minutes instead of the usual 50 minutes.

Valenzuela joined HMC in 2018 and has more than 18 years of experience in student affairs. An active member of the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education and the American College Personnel Association, Valenzuela also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Claremont Graduate University. He and his team in the Division of Student Affairs support the HMC community by developing programming and activities that best meet students’ needs.

NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, was founded in 1978 and continues to be one of the largest associations designed to advocate for students and their success. The Western Regional Conference is attended by members of NASPA Regions V and VI, which include Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai’i, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, China, Guahan (Guam), Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.