ACUI Volunteers from Kansas, Vermont, Colorado and Virginia to Lead Regions II, IV, VI, and VIII 

Lina Balcom of the University of Vermont, Lauren Gyurisin from Virginia Commonwealth University, Beth Goad from the University of Denver, and Audrey Taggart-Kagdis from Kansas State University have been elected by eligible ACUI voters to serve as new regional directors. Two-year terms of office begin during the 2025 Regional Conferences this fall. 

Taggart-Kagdis will represent Region II, which consists of six states in the mid-south—Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas—in addition to Mexico. Gyurisin currently represents Region VI as director after being appointed by the ACUI Board of Trustees in February to fill an unexpired term left vacant through a resignation. The region includes Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ontario. The University of Denver’s Beth Bare Goad will serve as the new director of Region IV, which consists of Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. Balcom will represent the Northeast states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, in addition to international representatives from Great Britain, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ireland, Prince Edward Island, and Qatar. 

Balcom currently serves as conference chair for the 2025 ACUI Region VIII Conference and has volunteered for the Association in various capacities since 2013, including as a member of the Conference Program Team. She is currently director of student life at the University of Vermont, where she is responsible for student center operations, student government association, clubs and organizations, outdoor programs, civic engagement, fraternities and sororities, leadership development, and campus programs. Prior to her current role, Balcom was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Dudley H. Davis Student Center for 10 years. 

Balcom said the two most important strategic issues facing ACUI were the rapidly evolving landscape of higher education and enhancing membership engagement.  

“The most significant factor in this changing landscape is the weighty executive orders and dear colleague letters coming from the U.S. federal administration which are focused on higher education, and the pace at which those changes are happening. This is resulting in uncertainty on campuses across the country and our members’ needing to develop a rapid response to challenging situations,” Balcom wrote in her candidacy statement.

As for enhancing membership engagement, Balcom wrote that a “key strategy is to build on ACUI’s hallmark strength—its personal touch. One option is to develop a two-pronged outreach campaign. First to develop interest from non-member institutions, and second to inspire current members who don’t participate to become involved with an ACUI program or volunteer opportunity. In both cases, engaged ambassadors from our active member base can share their positive experiences and showcase the benefits of ACUI membership.”  

In 2023, Gyurisin received the Winston Shindell Outstanding Emerging Leader Award for Region VI, which recognizes a professional in the region who has made significant contributions to the advancement of ACUI during his or her first five years of full-time service in the college union field. Earlier this year at the ACUI Annual Conference in New York City, Gyurisin received the Don Rohel Scholarship, which is intended to assist professionals with their growth and development in managing and operating college union facilities by assisting with the registration cost to an ACUI event focused on college union operations, facility management, or administration. 

Gyurisin is currently assistant director for operations and facilities at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Student Commons. In that role, she supervises professional staff members and student teams managing the day-to-day operations of two union buildings. She is co-lead of the department’s Student Development & Recognition Committee, serves on divisional committees related to human resources and graduate/professional student needs, and teaches a course for first year students related to resources and engagement. 

“I believe the most important issue the Association is facing is maintaining and expanding membership while also responding to the shifting political climate,” Gyurisin wrote in her candidacy statement. “Institutions are questioning the return on investment in association memberships and professional development, especially focusing on budget constraints. This requires associations like ACUI to demonstrate clear value and offer relevant resources that directly address members’ needs. Declining or stagnant enrollment in some areas of higher education also affects institutional budgets and, consequently, association memberships. The Association must adapt to institutional types and needs and continue to focus on the services provided to, and recruitment of, community colleges, online institutions, and technical programs.” 

Goad has been a member of ACUI since 2005 and served as a volunteer in a variety of regional and Association-wide roles. Those have included as an I-LEAD® facilitator, a Regional Leadership Team member in three different regions at various times, as a member of the Education Council from 2012–15, and on two Conference Planning Teams (2012 and 2024).

She currently serves as the associate director of operations at the University of Denver’s Driscoll & Community Commons. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from the University of Northern Colorado and a Master of Arts in organizational communication from the University of Colorado, where she worked as a graduate assistant for two years in student affairs.

In discussing what Association strategic issues are on her mind, Goad stressed the continued success of ACUI program and services like online learning and webinars, along with the use of online forums like the communities of practice. “One way I have seen ACUI make space for evolving networks is the establishment of new communities of practice, such as the Basic Needs Community, that came together over a year ago in response to more campuses having a food pantry/basic needs center and not having a professional network of colleagues also doing similar work.”

Having been involved at the volunteer level with three different regions gives her a broad view of the challenges they face. “I know from having been part of different regions over the years, involvement varies and sometimes that is due to geography and the ability to get to programs more easily. For example, in Region VIII, we could easily drive a few hours to do a summer drive-in, while a similar idea would be much more expensive in Region IV because it would take hours, if not days, to drive across the region,” she said.

In 2016, Taggart-Kagdis received the William H. Smith Outstanding Professional Award from Region II, which is designed to honor and recognize active volunteers who have been regional student union or student activities professionals for five to 10 years, and who have made exceptional contributions and demonstrated a significant commitment to the student union/student activities profession. She is a past regional conference chair, regional conference host, and member of the Conference Program Team. 

Taggart-Kagdis currently serves as director of marketing and student programs at the Kansas State University K-State Student Union and has more than 20 years of experience in higher education, technology planning, business strategy, and team development. 

Taggart-Kagdis said the most crucial issues and recommendations evolve around student needs and expectations, as today’s students are more diverse, digitally native, and socially conscious. “They demand inclusive, flexible, and engaging campus experiences that reflect their values and support well-being,” she wrote in her candidacy statement.  

Some of her recommendations for ACUI to help meet those demands included investing in student-centered programming that is culturally responsive and inclusive; promoting best practices for welcoming spaces; providing professional development on community building, mental health support, and generational engagement for college union professionals; supporting data-driven advocacy by equipping members with tools to demonstrate the value of college unions to student success and retention; facilitating shared services, consortia, and cross-campus partnerships to optimize resources; exploring new revenue models, including digital membership offerings, corporate partnerships, and alternative conference formats; and leading a national narrative campaign positioning the college union as centers for belonging, leadership, and democratic engagement. 

“With evolving campus priorities, the role of college unions must be rearticulated to remain vital,” Taggart-Kagdis wrote.