About UCEA

President's Letters

Vision and Values

Beginning in April, the UCEA Board began a strategic visioning process that will focus on the future of continuing education and its impact on our Association. We want to be able to clearly state what is important about this field and how we add value to the students, universities, and communities we serve. We expect that having a clearer vision of where this profession is headed will help us set priorities and make thoughtful decisions about the future of the Association. If we do this well, it should enable UCEA to influence our field, and not just react to the changes we anticipate.

Under Rich Novak's capable leadership, Board members worked electronically during April and early May to develop a list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of the profession. The Executive Committee of the Board then convened in mid-May to analyze the information and prepared a summary for the Board meeting. This summary was also reviewed during the Commission meetings just prior to the Board meeting. All of this preparation made it possible for Board members to participate in what was a rich and thoughtful discussion about where the profession is headed and the role of UCEA in the future.

We acknowledged that our institutions are becoming better at handling some of those areas which we traditionally have taken pride in being responsible for, including forming partnerships, incorporating technology into teaching, program innovation, and serving adult students. We agreed that some of our language may be outdated, such as "noncredit", "nontraditional students", and even "continuing education" as the way we describe our profession and what we do. Here are some of the questions we considered and others that have emerged since we met:

• What role do we currently play in our institutions? Why do we do what we do? What do we want to be known for?

• What will remain distinctive about our field or profession in the coming years as higher education evolves to meet the pressing needs for education in our society?

• How do we lead within higher education, while maintaining a perspective "from the margin" that allows us to be program innovators and boundary spanners?

• How do we design organizations that will be responsive to educational needs that have not yet surfaced in our society?

• How should UCEA change to respond to emerging needs of its members?

• How do we maintain our institution's connection with UCEA if continuing education is decentralized and how can we ensure that membership in UCEA will remain critical to the larger institution's long-term viability?

• With which other organizations should UCEA partner?

• Should UCEA measure its success by the number of continuing education professionals who are members or by the number of professionals outside of our area who join and find value in the perspectives we provide?

Initially, the visioning process has involved SWOT analyses, deliberations by the Commissions, and extended discussions by UCEA's Board of Directors at its June meeting. The next step in the process will be development of a draft vision statement. This statement will be shared with participants at the September Executive Assembly in Chicago and later presented at the UCEA autumn regional conferences. Rich Novak and I look forward to seeing many of you at these regional meetings and to participating in conversations about UCEA's future.

All of us in this field do good work, which is vital to the sustainability of our institutions. This strategic visioning process should provide direction for UCEA as it supports the important work we do in partnering with institutional colleagues to successfully respond to the challenges facing higher education and develop creative solutions that will meet the on-going need for education throughout one's lifetime.