¡Bienvenido! I am pleased to invite ACHE members, our colleagues from continuing higher education, and all professionals in adult learning programs to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the ACHE 2010 conference from October 21-23, 2010. If you have never been to New Mexico, now is the time to come and explore the Land of Enchantment. Albuquerque is a wonderful venue for our conference because, like continuing higher education, it is unique. It is New Mexico’s unique richness that inspires creativity, such as Georgia O’Keefe, Ansel Adams, Rudolfo Anaya, Tony Hillerman, and R.C. Gorman. Its richness is evident in the beauty of the mountains, deserts, and canyons. In addition to adding to the richness of the arts, New Mexico is also at the forefront of technology, pioneering advancements in atomic energy, privatization of space travel, and advanced research. New Mexico is also a land of diverse cultures: Native American, Hispanic, and cowboy. And finally, New Mexico provides spirituality inspired by ancient ruins such as Chaco Canyon and many cliff dwellings. The conference hotel is within walking distance to historic Old Town, museums, art galleries, adobe churches, dining, shops, and a quick bus ride across the Rio Grande to the botanical gardens, an aquarium, and zoo.
The planning committee, led by Roger Maclean and Marthann Schulte, has been working with a wonderful team to bring you the best experience in professional development. If you recall, a survey was sent out to the ACHE membership in February asking what you would like to see on this year’s program, and our team is working hard to ensure that most of your top topics will be addressed in our keynote speakers, workshops, and concurrent sessions. The conference will not only include concurrent sessions, but we will also have targeted workshops to provide practical skills you can apply as soon as you return to your continuing education office. We also have a team working on the exhibitors and sponsors, so if you know of a potential exhibitor or sponsor please send the information to Charles Hickox at charles.hickox@eku.edu and his team will take over from there. All in all, Albuquerque promises to provide attendees with excellent learning and networking opportunities.
We are all concerned with budget constraints, and I know we must pick and choose how we spend our professional development funds. Albuquerque is actually going to be a reasonably priced conference to attend. The conference registration rate is not going up this year, the hotel rate is lower than the last few years, and Albuquerque is easy to access by air and train; in addition, most flights to Albuquerque are reasonably priced.
The conference theme for Albuquerque is Continuing Education - Reflecting upon and Responding to the National Agenda. As you know, our world of continuing higher education has always been at the forefront of meeting the needs of our learners and society. Today’s economic environment provides an urgency for continuing educators to refocus on the national agenda in a manner that touches literacy, education, training, economic development programs, programming in new and creative models, partnerships, and new ways of doing business within our institutions.
To meet these needs, academic institutions, agencies, and corporations are asked to address a new national agenda where working adults must continuously improve their skills to advance and remain competitive in the workplace. Continuing higher education has responded to shifting national agendas since the inception of correspondence schools in the late 1890s and has continued to be at the forefront of new educational models and learning modalities. Historically at the cutting edge, continuing higher education faces a great challenge to meet the demands of the national agenda in today’s very competitive education market and climate of scarce resources.
Join us in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the 2010 ACHE Annual Conference and Meeting and work with other professional in continuing higher education as we take up the call in meeting the national agenda for adult learners!
