About UCEA

President's Letters

Think Locally ... Act Globally

I have been a big fan of big meetings for a long time. I look forward to the UCEA annual conference each year as an occasion to join continuing education friends to reflect on the year past, listen in on the frets of the day, and shoulder up with others on challenges lying ahead. Seven or eight hundred of us will gather in San Diego in April from all over the world to do just these things-greet old friends, make new ones, and return to our home institutions more alert to the needs of higher education practice and promise.

That said, I have also become a big fan of smaller meetings. Over the last two years, as president-elect of UCEA and now as president, I have participated in five of six regional meetings, missing only the South due to the cancellation of its meeting last year and a scheduling conflict this time around. What a delight it is to see the energy, imagination, commitment and authenticity that radiates throughout the regional meetings.

Whether in Mexico at last year's Region West meeting or in Rhode Island for this year's New England regional, in Kansas City for the combined Mid-America and Great Plains regional last year, this year's Mid-Atlantic meeting near Philadelphia, or "down under" in Bathurst for the annual meeting of colleagues from Australia and New Zealand, we are discussing much the same thing-the role of C.E. in the issues shaping the future of higher education with respect to access, affordability, accountability, equity and opportunity, and competitiveness.

That UCEA has diverse membership is quite clear. Our member institutions are large and small, private and public, mission-driven and market-driven, urban and rural, not-for-profit and for-profit, etc. Aside from some very general and possibly disputable assumptions, however, the diversity inside regions is more notable than differences among regions.

Successful professional development for UCEA members can happen formally or informally and it can be effective at the national or regional level. This is the conclusion of the Professional Development Committee of UCEA, chaired by Susan Kinsey of the University of Pittsburgh. While the committee's recent report has important recommendations about the direction of professional development activities, especially at the national and formal level, the report also embraces the value of informal experiences, especially at the regional level. The report suggests the regional cabinet may wish to undertake establishment of guidelines for a broad-based model of mentoring aimed particularly for newcomers to the profession-both timely and essential based on the remarkable and most welcome advent of young and first-time participants in this year's regional meetings. This not only bodes well for the Association but also reminds us that we must be vigilant in structuring systematic and purposeful professional development activities-formally and informally, nationally and regionally-for all our membership.

The regions are alive, well, and justifiably buoyant about their role within our Association. The quality of the keynote speakers, the vitality evident in concurrent sessions, the inspiration from regional award ceremonies, the authenticity of personal networks new and continuing, and the diversity of participation from different age groups and levels of current organizational responsibility are inspiring. This affirms that UCEA has a multitude of ways and places for our members to share, learn, and enjoy.