Message From The President

Dear NACCTEP Members:

The work of the Board began in July 2008 with a telephone conference call of new Board members. The call was made during the Presidents’ Transition Meeting held in Phoenix with the immediate Past President, Dr. Susan Wood, the Interim NACCTEP Director, Ray Ostos, the NACCTEP Executive Assistant, Pam Asti, and myself. The resultant training and team building certainly strengthened the group and helped facilitate the Fall Board Meeting agenda. It was clear that the Board’s productivity was positively impacted by this action.

The 2008 Fall Board Meeting provided yet more evidence of the growth and maturity of NACCTEP as an organization. As is now traditional for NACCTEP, the current President, the immediate Past President, and the Executive Assistant spent Wednesday, September 10 in a full day of advocacy visits to legislative offices on Capitol Hill and partner organizations. These very successful appointments and conversations were arranged in advance on behalf of NACCTEP and were perhaps the best such visits to date. Some of the education staffers we were able to meet were in the offices of Senator Ted Kennedy (Massachusetts), Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Senator Lamar Alexander (Tennessee), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Congressman George Miller (California), Chairman, House Education and Labor Committee. We engaged in very fruitful conversations about community colleges in general with these individuals who are leading players in teacher education legislation. In particular, we talked about the role of two-year colleges in teacher education through two-plus-two arrangements, professional development for teacher practitioners, and alternate certification. Some staffers clearly learned a good bit as a result of the dialogues.

The Board convened on Thursday, September 11 for two full days of reports and planning. Regrettably, Interim Director Ray Ostos was not able to be present due to the impending birth of his second child. He was missed!

The Board met as guests of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in a conference room at AACC headquarters. NACCTEP is an Affiliated Council of AACC and derives significant benefits from that relationship. Over the course of the NACCTEP Board meeting, the following AACC staff members made presentations to the Board: George Boggs, President; Lynn Barnett, Vice President for Academic, Student and Community Development; David Baime, Vice President for Government Relations; and Jim Hermes, Senior Legislative Associate.

Each year, Mary Harrill-McClellan, Director, Government Relations, with the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), presents to the Board. These interactions with AACTE have proven to be mutually beneficial.

In addition, Denise Smith from the Space Telescope Science Institute joined the Board. Denise first addressed the NACCTEP Board several years ago and began a conversation that has led to a three-year funded partnership between NACCTEP and NASA. Beginning in March 2009 at the NACCTEP conference in Reno, a pre-conference science workshop, Cosmic Science, will be offered. The first year workshop’s theme is The International Year of Astronomy. This is an excellent offering for those who prepare teachers to interact with this expertise and bring signal recognition to NACCTEP for this STEM leadership role.

Board discussions are always in-depth. The 2009 and 2010 annual conferences were examined and explored, as were multi-year fiscal forecasts. The Board then divided into three committees to work on membership, finances, and marketing. There will be a follow-up Board conference call in December 2008 to discuss these important topics.

Lately, other professional organizations have contacted NACCTEP for joint presentations and other connections. Just this fall, invitations have come from the American Association of Physics Teachers, Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators, American Association of Community Colleges, and the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences. The groundwork these ventures represent will certainly lead us in new directions.

As you see, NACCTEP is a thriving healthy organization these days. Of course, much credit goes to Maricopa Community Colleges, the mainstay of the group. This support is essential to our well-being. NACCTEP gives back to Maricopa by providing information and national exposure to their work as well.

I am truly proud of the progress that NACCTEP continues to make and know that each of you is contributing in some way. Please know that the NACCTEP Board takes its responsibilities very seriously and serves you to the fullest extent.

I look forward to seeing you in March in Reno!

All best wishes,

Virginia M. Carson, Ph.D.