President's Letters

A Satisfying Year

(UCEA InFocus, March 2005)
James Broomall, UCEA President 2004-2005

It is somewhat bittersweet to write this final column as your President. The past year has been a highlight of my professional life, and has reaffirmed my conviction that UCEA is the premier continuing higher education association. Its signal position is a product of the synergy among a highly skilled national office and creative, motivated, and talented members. Your willingness to devote time and energy to UCEA made the past year a pleasure. The satisfaction and sense of accomplishment far outweighed the hours away from my "day job." Thank you for the vote of confidence and the support you have given me.

In my inaugural column, I outlined the initiatives for 2004-2005. Now is the time for the report card, to see if the agenda has moved forward.

Customize Professional Development Opportunities

Our members represent several stages in the career life cycle. Accordingly, their professional development needs and goals vary. To this end, we have established the First UCEA Executive Leadership Academy to build on the annual Summer Institute at Boston University. Scheduled for July 17-22, 2005 at New York University, the Academy will be led by Dr. Harvey Stedman, former Provost and Dean at New York University and a past UCEA President. Geared to senior-level continuing higher education leaders, the program will center on the personal and professional challenges of transformational leadership. Significant opportunities will be provided for networking activities.

Each of the three UCEA Commissions has responded creatively to my call for one "deliverable" from their annual plan of work. The Commission on Futures and Markets has focused on exploiting the potential of the Web-based Member Forum to facilitate dissemination of relevant trends, best practices, and data in a demand-driven format. The Commission on Leadership and Management will sponsor a session at the national conference on "How For-Profits Are Changing the Market Place." An update on the digital divide and its future in cosponsorship with Walden University is the contribution of the Commission on Learning, Instruction, and Technology to the Annual Conference.

Foster the Next Generation of Leaders

The pathway to leadership in continuing higher education has changed radically over the past decade. Further, the role of the professions and academic disciplines in the field is more pronounced than ever. Two initiatives this past year as implemented by task forces moved the dialogue forward so that UCEA more fully represents the spectrum of members and potential members. As a result of a recommendation from the task force on arts and humanities, an open forum will be held at the UCEA annual meeting to explore reconstituting the Humanities, Arts, and Sciences arm of the Association, to provide an organizational home for those in the disciplines but involved in liberal adult education as well as cultural and public affairs programming. The task force on continuing professional education recommended UCEA pursue collaborative enterprises with a select group of professional continuing education organizations and continuing education arms of professional societies. Also, a strategy to broaden the professional membership within an institution to more accurately reflect the different roles of continuing educators will be pursued.

Identify Strategic Research Topics

Focus groups were conducted with representatives of diverse types of continuing education units-ranging from those in comprehensive colleges and universities to research extensive institutions-to begin to build inductively an organizational typology. As a first step in this applied research, several variables affecting the organization emerged during our conversations. These included the degree to which the mission was fundamentally academic and involved in teaching and learning, compared to being outreach and public service oriented. A second variance turned on whether the financial model was one of revenue generation or revenue allocation. Third, centralized authority ranged along a continuum from highly-centralized to decentralized. A related research study was the Lumina Foundation's inquiry into adult and nontraditional learners, in which UCEA participated in cooperation with the University of Virginia.

In summary, I am confident that these initiatives have positioned UCEA to respond quickly to the ever-changing needs of individual and organizational members. I look forward to Roger Whittaker becoming President at our annual meeting in Boston, and to Barbara Scott serving as President- Elect. Their innovations and personal goals will continue to advance UCEA, continuing higher education, and the learners whom we serve. It will be exciting working with them.