Chief Mission Officers

​CHEMON is the acronym for the ACCU Catholic Higher Education Mission Officers Network.

In 2020, Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, CM, ACCU President, commissioned a task force to explore how to professionalize the growing role of mission officers in Catholic higher education. After years of exploration and receiving feedback from current mission officers and university presidents, the CHEMON is the result of that task force. 

Consistent with the purpose of the ACCU, the CHEMON strengthens, supports, and champions the ministry of mission officers to advance the Catholic and charism-specific identity and spirit of their institutions of higher education. 

CHEMON is designed to strengthen, support, and champion the ministry of mission officers in several tangible ways. Initially, the focus of CHEMON will be on creating professional development opportunities (i.e., webinars, in-person gatherings, etc.), developing resources for new and experienced mission officers, and creating ways to acknowledge and celebrate excellence.

​Additionally, since CHEMON is situated within the Association, the leadership of CHEMON will work closely with ACCU central staff and board leadership to keep member presidents aware of our work and how it supports mission-integration work on their campuses. 

CHEMON membership is institutional rather than individual. Membership is automatic for all full institutional (i.e., domestic and international colleges and universities) and affiliate members of ACCU. Each member organization will then submit a “Mission Contact Team” to participate in the CHEMON. 

​​The mission contact team is comprised of up to three (3) individuals representing an ACCU member institution that serve on the CHEMON. 

For ACCU full members, the mission contact team members are designated by the member president of the institution. Generally, it will comprise individuals with significant mission-integration responsibilities (i.e., vice president for mission or an equivalent senior mission officer with cabinet-level responsibilities, director of campus ministry, campus chaplain, etc.). 

For ACCU affiliate members, the mission contact team will look slightly different and may include the organization’s executive director or other key mission-integration leaders. 

While we believe that “mission integration” should be in everyone’s job description, at the end of the day, someone must take the lead on it. We understand that some institutions may have a senior leader charged with mission integration, ideally with an office to support them in that regard. However, we also know that in many of our member institutions, our colleagues wear many hats–and multiple folks may have responsibilities for mission integration (e.g., mission integration for academics, student life, human resources, athletics, faculty, etc.).

​The mission contact teams have three members to help account for the fact that each institution’s operating structure is different. Having teams of three allows the CHEMON connections to remain solid and intact even when a particular individual may move on, change roles, or retire.

CHEMON will support the ongoing efforts of existing charism groups. It does not replace these long-standing and vibrant groups but rather serves as a point of connection for the charism groups around mission integration as a professional field. You can think of CHEMON as the network that holds all mission officers together as a field.

​At the same time, charism groups are more specific in nature, often with additional responsibilities around mission integration specific to their charism affiliation (i.e., board development, presidential support, charism-specific programming, education, and support) that is focused differently than this network. The two do not work as replacements for each other but rather enhancements to each other. Mission officers who work at an institution affiliated with a charism will continue to benefit from the offerings of that association while simultaneously being strengthened by this wider network of mission officers at Catholic institutions.

The ACCU Charism Cabinet includes executive leaders representing many member institutions and, in some cases, reaches beyond higher education into K-12 education, health care, and other apostolic ministries.

​As it relates to higher education, the Charism Cabinet will continue to exist as a strategic way for the Association to have a direct line of contact with key executive leaders representing broad constituency groups within Catholic higher education. The Charism Cabinet will benefit from the CHEMON as a source of quality professional development, networking, and exchange of best practices related to mission-integration work.

Mission officers do not need to choose. This is a “both and” approach to supporting mission officers.

​Mission officers will find that CHEMON will keep them connected to a wide and diverse network of mission colleagues across institutional types. At the same time, their charism-specific group will continue to help them deepen and enliven their specific charism on their campus.

We all have our “people.” Our people make up our communities; they offer us support during challenging times, accountability in critical moments, and diverse perspectives during crucial decision-making.

​CHEMON is made up of people like you–committed mission leaders who work tirelessly to ensure our institutions are living out their Catholic character and tradition in deep and meaningful ways. We invite you to lean on the CHEMON as your “people.” CHEMON will provide you with a rich network of colleagues, a vibrant exchange of ideas for best practices, and a venue for collaboration, decision-making, and celebration of our mission-focused accomplishments. You have your “people” with CHEMON!

The future success of CHEMON will come through its members’ creativity, insights, and hard work. The CHEMON board is forming working committees to create professional development opportunities, develop resources for new and experienced mission officers, and create ways to acknowledge and celebrate excellence.

These committees need you! To get involved, please email us.