About UCEA

President's Letter

Presidential Priorities

It has been customary for the incoming UCEA President to present a list of personal initiatives for the coming year. This year, in the spirit of a more integrated and shared leadership vision, I am presenting a set of Presidential Priorities that advance the core goals of UCEA. During the past year, as President-Elect, I led a strategic visioning process that engaged members in a process to identify where UCEA should concentrate its efforts in the next several years (posted on the UCEA website). My priorities, grouped in four major areas, derive from these findings and build upon the initiatives of the UCEA Presidents who have directly preceded me.

Advocacy

The Board of Directors has approved an expenditure of funds to conduct a national Advocacy Campaign designed to raise awareness of the important role that college and university professional and continuing studies organizations play in advancing regional economic development and in preparing tomorrow's workforce for knowledge economy jobs. The Campaign will develop media resources for use both nationally and by UCEA member institutions, internally and externally.

The second component of this effort is to promote federal and state legislation designed to facilitate part-time adult students' pursuit of higher education; and highlight innovative and successful strategies developed by UCEA member institutions for serving part-time students.

Member Networking and Global Outreach

A second major set of priorities is related to member networking and global outreach. Robust communications-especially electronic communications-are not just vital to organizations today, they are essential. In addition, the need for perceived value from our professional Association continues to expand, exponentially.

To help address these issues, we are continuing to enhance the UCEA website. We are engaging the regional leadership in assessing member needs and preferences. We are launching a new social networking portal with an organizational focus that will connect to the UCEA website. The portal will eventually replace the current Member Forum and is designed to provide state of the art communication and file storage features to support the work of the Board, the various Committees, the Commissions and the Regions.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson in 1946 stated that there is "no refuge in remoteness." Taking this admonition seriously, UCEA has instituted a fourth Commission, one dedicated to International Affairs. Its inaugural meeting was held at the end of the 2007 Annual Conference. UCEA will co-sponsor a Forum in November 2007 in Beijing, China in collaboration with its counterpart organization-the Chinese Continuing Education Association (CCEA). The Forum will enable UCEA members to meet with dozens of representatives from Chinese higher education institutions who are members of CCEA.

Research

The third major area can be clustered under the rubric of Research. We anticipate the dissemination of the results of a major research study of degree completion programs funded by the Lumina Foundation.

You may have noticed that the recent Annual Conference, Marketing, and Management surveys were conducted online this year, making it easier to respond to the surveys and to compile the results. This will continue. In addition, we will use this new technology tool to assess the needs of our professional members.

Professional Development

The fourth area is that of professional development. The plan for this year is to "walk the talk," as outlined in the strategic visioning document, taking advantage of technology tools to enhance the professional development opportunities offered through UCEA. We will be exploring various online options to provide robust, engaging and interactive education offerings.

Finally, we will be offering a service engagement learning opportunity as a prelude to our national conference next year in New Orleans. This has tremendous symbolic value that our Association cares enough to make this a priority and provide it as an option to our members.

It promises to be an exciting year, with many new happenings, all related to the strategic visioning process and the core goals of UCEA. I urge you to be an active participant this year.