Membership and Advocacy Organizations

American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)

• The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) is the primary advocacy organization for the nation’s community colleges. The association represents more than 1,000 2-year, associate degree-granting institutions and nearly 12 million students.

American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)

• AAC&U is a global membership organization dedicated to advancing the democratic purposes of higher education by promoting equity, innovation, and excellence in liberal education.
• Through AAC&U’s programs and events, publications and research, public advocacy and campus-based projects, AAC&U serves as a catalyst and facilitator for innovations that improve educational quality and equity and that support the success of all students.

American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)

• AASCU represents the sector of over 500 regional public colleges, universities, and systems united by a shared commitment to make affordable, high-quality education available to all students.
• AASCU members share a learning- and teaching-centered culture and a dedication to research and creativity that advances their regions’ economic progress and cultural development.

Professional and Scholarly Associations

American Association of University Professors (AAUP)

• The AAUP is a union and membership association of faculty and other academic professionals headquartered in Washington, DC, with members and chapters based at colleges and universities across the country.
• The mission of the AAUP is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.
• Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities. AAUP chapters at campuses across the country work to advance the mission of the AAUP through advocacy, organizing and, where possible, collective bargaining. In some states, state conferences support chapters and work on state level issues.

American College Personnel Association (ACPA)

• The American College Personnel Association (ACPA) – headquartered in Washington, D.C. at the National Center for Higher Education, is the leading comprehensive student affairs association that advances student affairs and engages students for a lifetime of learning and discovery.
• ACPA transforms higher education by creating and sharing influential scholarship, shaping critically reflective practice, and advocating for equitable and inclusive learning environments.
• In engaging in daily practice, ACPA aspires to be higher education’s and student affairs’ most inclusive and community-driven association by leading our profession in centering social justice, racial justice, and decolonization as defining concepts of our time and the foreseeable future.