By Carol Olechowski Ruth Kellogg�s recent appointment as executive director of the Capital Area School Development Association brings her full circle with the organization: As an administrator with several area school districts, she has had an ongoing relationship with CASDA for more than 25 years. Kellogg, an adjunct professor in the School of Education�s Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, took over as CASDA executive director last August, succeeding Richard Bamberger, who served in that capacity for 15 years. Through the school, she teaches Administration of the Public School; next spring, Kellogg will teach another EAPS course, Principalship. Through CASDA, which is located at the East Campus, the State University of New York at Geneseo graduate works with the School of Education, meeting regularly with Dean Ralph Harbison and his management team. Incorporated by the New York State Department of Education in 1949, CASDA — �one of the oldest study councils in the United States� — boasts a membership of 117 Capital Region school districts. Kellogg, who earned her Ed.D. at UAlbany, is quick to point out that the association serves many functions. Through CASDA�s planning and development activities, �affiliated schools and educational agencies more effectively define and fulfill their purposes and functions in serving the educational needs of their communities.� In addition, the organization �promotes cooperative interaction between the University at Albany and the affiliated school districts, educational and social agencies, and businesses. CASDA also responds to requests for information by providing research, as required; and plans seminars, conferences, workshops, and �think tanks� to meet the ongoing needs of school personnel.� Kellogg and her staff also �act as consultants, providing services to affiliated school districts.� In short, CASDA �provides a variety of programming to meet the needs of teachers, administrators, and support staff in the school districts,� Kellogg continues. �CASDA does offer on-site programs that are �custom-designed� for a particular school. With this model, CASDA selects presenters, prepares the materials, makes meeting arrangements, and conducts follow-up evaluations. I personally facilitate the work for several of the special services, and I present on specific topics related to my background and administrative experience, such as the Principal/Mentor Program, the Select Seminars Series (Developing Teachers for the 21st Century), and Board/Superintendent Workshops, to name a few.� Kellogg has been well acquainted with CASDA�s offerings for many years. �I have not worked for CASDA previously, but I have been affiliated with CASDA since the early 1970s, when I started working for schools in the area. Capital Region BOCES and the South Glens Falls, Scotia-Glenville, Cobleskill, and Greenville central school districts, where I have been employed, were consumers of CASDA programs and services,� explains Kellogg, who served on CASDA�s executive committee for seven years and chaired that body from 1996-97. (The executive committee, which consists of 13 superintendents and School of Education representatives, governs the organization.) Kellogg will direct CASDA for the next three years. The assignment marks a homecoming, of sorts, as well as a continuation of her recent career track: three years ago, Kellogg and her husband, longtime Union College professor and physicist Allen Anderson, traveled to Pakistan, where she spent a year as director of an international school in Lahore. In 1998 and 1999, the couple lived in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, where they �actually started a new school enrolling children of 15 different nationalities, including Pakistani, Lebanese, Egyptian, American, and British. It was a real learning experience for me,� she says. The new executive director sings the praises of her CASDA staff: interim associate director Dee Warner (a new associate director is being recruited); assistant directors Arlene Sampson and Pamela Arnold; office manager Karen Dockal; and secretary Joan Charnews. Kellogg describes them as �truly wonderful people with a great deal of expertise, vision, and commitment.� And she is �delighted� to be CASDA�s executive director, �since the organization has been very important to me for almost 30 years. I am thoroughly enjoying my position and the opportunity to work so closely with the University�s School of Education and the school districts in the region. It is truly an exciting time to be involved in providing a variety of professional development activities to all segments of the school community.� Kellogg looks forward to meeting with the executive committee and its chair, Mohonasen Central School District Superintendent Audrey Farnsworth, and with her own staff in early January. At that one-day session, the two groups will �review CASDA�s purposes, discuss the programs and services offered, and project how CASDA can meet the future needs of the changing professional landscape.�