Journal of Public Affairs Education 9 NASPAA Presidential Address Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico Thursday, November 6, 2014 NASPAA in a Time of Transition J. Edward Kellough University of Georgia It is an honor to stand before you today as the incoming president of NASPAA, an organization at the center of a community of professionals worldwide who are committed to excellence in education for public service. This is a humbling experience, especially when I think of the many prominent leaders who have held this office before me and for whom I have such admiration and respect. I thank you for the confidence you have expressed in me, and I look forward to work- ing on your behalf during the coming year. I want to thank my predecessor, Ethel Williams, for her insightful leadership of NASPAA during the past year. We have come a long way from where we were a year ago, and I credit Ethel for much of that progress. Thankfully, Ethel will remain on the Executive Council and the Exec- utive Committee, and we will continue to have the advantage of her wisdom. I also want to thank Jack Knott, who is finishing his term as immediate past president. Jack will be rotating off of the Executive Council and Committee. We will miss his well-reasoned judgment in those meetings, but I know he will continue to be involved in important ways with NASPAA. I want to thank also Laurel McFarland, our Executive Director, for her effective leadership. NASPAA has prospered under her guidance. My thanks go also to all of our staff members. They do excellent work on our behalf every day. This address affords me, as it does every incom- ing president, the opportunity to speak to you on matters that are important for our field and for NASPAA as an organization. This is one chance I have to speak to the membership to provide some indication of the direction in which I would like to see us move. With this in mind, I have decided to focus on three issues. They are (1) the role of NASPAA within our field, (2) the critical role of accreditation, and (3) the emergence of NASPAA as a global organization. THE ROLE OF NASPAA IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION Let me begin by urging us to remember how fortunate we are to have an organization such as NASPAA. You are an audience that may not need to be convinced of this fact, but it is good, nevertheless, to be reminded of it. When think- ing about my comments today, my thoughts focused on the crucial role that NASPAA plays in the field of public affairs education. Essentially, NASPAA is the organ through which we talk to each other about our programs and the quality of education in our field. NASPAA also provides us a voice enabling us to communicate with other organizations. As such, NASPAA provides an invaluable service. For this, NASPAA should be treasured. NASPAA was born of an era when graduate programs in public affairs, primarily Master of Public Administration programs, were being established with increasing frequency. NASPAA was formed in 1970 from the Council on Graduate Education for Public Administration, a section within the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA). At the time, JPAE 21 (1), 9–12