Scott, Novak to Begin Leadership Terms

From the February 2006 Issue of InFocus

To Barbara Scott, UCEA represents more than just a resource that continuing educators can leverage to improve their day-to-day job skills. While professional development is a key component to what the Association provides, it is the sense of community gained from interacting with peers that helps UCEA members understand the role they play in the greater landscape of higher education. This is particularly important as more and more young members look to the Association for guidance.

For Scott, engaging the next generation of CE professionals ranks high on the list of objectives she hopes to advance during her term as Association President, which begins after UCEA's 91st Annual Conference this April in San Diego.

"We've got younger people coming [to conferences] who are interested, and they're coming to the Association because they want to learn about the profession—they're trying to understand what CE is," says Scott. "The Association can provide that—it has for a number of us over the years. But at the same tiime, the loyalty that these younger people have may be different, so the challenge is: How do you connect with them and help them see that it's not just learning how to do their jobs, but something greater in terms of contributing to a profesion?"

In the past year as UCEA's President-Elect, Scott has given a lot of thought to how to leverage new, young energy. If younger members are engaged, she says, that energy will be retured to the Association as a sense of community builds, and as they contribute back to UCEA as they learn.

Sense of Community

Reinforcing that sense of community is another of Scott's goals. At the threee UCEA regional meetings she attended, she was struck by the commitment to the profession—and the Association—of new and veteran members alike. "Part of what I see as a challenge is to try to capture that and build more of a sense of commujnity within the Association," Scott says. "What I heard is that members want to feel more connected and engaged in shaping the direction of the Association."

The direction may be influenced by what many in the profession feel is rising pressure from institutions on CE units to demonstrate success. "We have a lot of similarities, even though we do different things, and there is increased pressure on our units to perform as Presidents and Provosts come and go," she says. "I think there is a desire to focus our time and energy where we can make the most difference."

Scott, who is Associate Provost for Extended Programs at Southern Oregon University, will succeed Roger Whitaker as UCEA President. "Over the past year, I have really liked working with Roger—he brought a forward-looking philosophy and encouraged us to look into the future and think about what we want this Association to look like 10 years from now, as opposed to from one year to the next," Scott says. "That has helped shape my thinking, and the Board's thinking, about how we approach the next year…We need to identify possible future directions for the Association. We are looking at undertaking a planning effort within the Association that will help us formulate our options, and look at the opportunities and implications ahead."

Scott has been active in UCEA for many years. She served as Chair of UCEA's leadership and Management Commission from 2001-2003, and served on UCEA's Board of Directors from 1999-2003, including two years as the Association's Region West Representative. Scott received her Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Stanford University, and an MBA from Portland State University. She also received a certificate from Harvard's Management of Lifelong Learning Program.

Novak to Serve as UCEA's 2006-07 President-Elect

Richard Novak, Associate Vice President for Continuous Education and Distance Learning at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, will begin serving as UCEA's President-Elect in April.

"It is exhilirating, and an incredible honor, to have been nominated and elected to serve as President of this Association, " Novak says. "At the same time, it is also quite intimidating to follow in the footsteps of some fo the legendary learders of UCEA and the most recent succession of exemplary presidents. I can only commit my best effort, and will approach this with the same vigor and enthusiasm with which I took on the challenges of the Membership Committee."

Novak's extensive involvement with UCEA includes serving as Chair of the Membership Committee, which he has done since 2002. Since 2003, he has served on the Board of Directors and as a member of the Strategic Marketing Committee. He served on the Opportunity and Equity Committee for two years and was a memeber of the 2005 Annual Conference Program Planning Committee. He also has served a three-year term as a member of the Leadership and Management Commission, and he served as Chair for the UCEA Mid-Atlantic Region in 2002-2003.

"From my involvement, I have learned firsthand about many of the concerns of our membership," Novak says. "My role as membership chair has underscored the importance of membership recruitment and retention. Both are integrally linked to the perception of value and the level of involvment of individual members. In my opinion, the cost of membership is a bargain given the suite of services and value-added opportunities that UCEA provides, both regionally and nationally. However, communicating this message is an ongoing challenge."

Other challenges, he says, include involving the Association's membership in its strategic planning process, and ensuring that UCEA reflects and responds to changes in the nature of continuing educaiton on members' respective campuses. "I believe that UCEA has much to contribute to the national conversation about the predominance of adult students in higher education, as well as the growing emphasis on outcomes and affordability," he says. He expects to spend his year as President-Elect in a listening mode, engaging the UCEA membership, leadership, and staff in thinking about the Association's priorities and overall role.

Like Scott, Novak sees UCEA's membership growing in positive ways. "The profile of the Association's membership is exciting on a number of fronts—this year should be the best year we've seen in a long time for both institutional and professional memberships," he says. "The diversity of our members is reflective of the diversity of our profession, and that's exciting because it is in part a testament to the value that continuing education provides to higher education in general."

Novak received the UCEA Mid-Atlantic Region's Outstanding Leadership Award in October 2003, and in April of 2004, he was awarded UCEA's Walton S. Bittner Service Citation. He holds a doctorate in Education from Rutgers University in Adult and Continuing Education; a master's degree in theology and a master's degree in Education; and a bachelor's degree in History.