President's Message

In the spring of 1998, a new Board was assembled to support the Alberta Association of Continuing Education membership. That Board is identified in this newsletter and they should be commended for coming forth and volunteering their time to contribute to this Association. For my part, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for being nominated and selected to be the President of the Association for the coming year.

My appreciation comes from the fact that I believe that AACE is set for renewed definition of the role it can play in the province. As we look over the past year, we see some significant contributions that AACE has made to its members. Under the previous Board, we were able to continue the production and distribution of a periodic newsletter and an annual journal that shared information and thoughts with our members. In addition, we took our first steps toward a list serve, working with FreeNet to connect electronically to our membership. Although this has yet to be fully implemented, it bodes well for our communication across the province.

The past year also continued the tradition of the Association, through its Board, of meeting with the Minister of Advanced Education and Career Development on issues important to our membership. In this past meeting, we were able to express the Association's concern with developments in the adult learning network and the need for the Association's members to be electronically connected to the Department as much as possible to ensure the ongoing communication that would best serve the members and the organizations which form AACE.

Perhaps the most important activity of our Association is the Annual Meeting that occurs in the spring of each year. This past conference was no different. It provided a forum for adult educators from across the province to come together, share perspectives, and learn from the activities of our colleagues across the province.

The coming year promises similar simple and yet important activities. We will work to improve the communication to our members and between our members. We will again meet with the Minister in the spring of 1999 and share with him our observations about the system of adult education in the Province of Alberta. We will continue with newsletters and the journal which bring important information to our membership.

And, finally, we will again bring you a conference on issues that we as a membership have identified to be of concern to us. This year's conference will happen in April 25 - 27th. The location will again be in Edmonton in a downtown location close to the many resources that the city has to offer. The year 98-99 promises to be a pivotal one for this Association as we help to establish the concept of "Campus Alberta" where all organizations and stakeholders in adult and continuing education work together to provide a comprehensive system to the citizens of Alberta.

The goals of the Association cannot be realized through the Board alone. I strongly encourage you, as a member, to contact any one of the representatives on the Board to see how the objectives of yourself, of your organization, and of AACE can be realized. It is my observation that there is no other association that can serve the function that AACE can in the province, but it can only be successful through the shared responsibility of its membership.

I wish all the membership a happy and prosperous year.

Paul Little