Alice Warren, UPCEA President 2016-17
Vice Provost for Continuing Education
Interim Vice Provost for Outreach and Education
North Carolina State University
Welcome to the 102nd Year of UPCEA! It is a pleasure to share this exciting, action packed, information charged Annual Conference with you!
As you know, we have transitioned beyond our 100th Anniversary as an association. We have embraced the Hallmarks of Excellence in Online Leadership by representing creative professionals in the design and delivery of online education as well as the leaders of online programs. We are adapting to new trends of continuing, professional and online education by becoming the providers of alternative credentials, certificates and badge programs. We are uncoupling traditional offerings and strategically presenting these much needed, content loaded programs in shorter time sequences to address immediate educational needs or retraining of adults and non-traditional students. We understand that continuing education will be the leader in this market and are becoming more innovative in our content offerings, pricing structures and delivery modes. We understand and appreciate the need to align collaborative academic partners across our institutions as well as those partners external to our campuses. The reality is education beyond K-12 is significantly different than it was 10 years ago. As professionals in continuing and online education, we understand the changes that must be made, the flexibility of access, affordability, and the use of technology to ensure student success. It is our entrepreneurial spirit that carries us through these challenging times and prepares us to deal with the challenges of higher educationgoing forward.
This year has been very productive for UPCEA. The regional conferences were very successful with dynamic speakers, engaging concurrent sessions, networking galore, and solid registration numbers. The Review of Networks Task Force has conducted an intensive review of the association networks resulting in the “sun setting” of two networks, the renaming of a couple of the networks to more adequately identify their mission areas, reorganizing the leadership positions of the networks, and the creation of a new network for Business and Operations. All of these changes will become effective at the conclusion of the Annual Conference. The Presidential Task Force on Branding has studied the association “brand” to determine market strengths and positioning of UPCEA and its centers of expertise going forward. A national taskforce was organized and charged with the creation of the Hallmarks of Excellence for Professional and Continuing Education. This document will be available for distribution to the membership at the conclusion of the Annual Conference. UPCEA continues to be a strong association because of the vision, expertise and leadership of our national office staff, the purposeful decision making and leadership of the Board of Directors, and Regional and Network volunteer leaders.
It has been an honor for me to serve as the President of UPCEA. I am most grateful to the entire staff of the national office, the UPCEA Board of Directors, the leaders of standing committees and task forces and the leaders within the regions and networks. It has been ajoy to work with you. I am also grateful to the executive leaders of NC State for supporting me to serve in this capacity, and to the leaders of McKimmon Center for Extension and Continuing Education, who have kept the programs and services underway and the “home fires” under controlthis year. Thank you to the Annual Conference Advisory Committee for developing an exceptional conference. Make the most of the conference and return home supercharged to deal with the issues facing us as we continue down the pathway of professional, continuing and online education. I have had a wonderful experience!
Best wishes,
Alice Warren