News
From the President
by Claudia J. Fernandes

Claudia Fernandes

I have the great pleasure in this column to share with you some information on what the board and our committees have been doing on these past six months and to give you a sneak peak into some of the great programs being offered at the upcoming conference. The theme this year is ‘The Future of Judicial Branch Education” and the dates of the conference are August 9-12, 2009. It will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville North Carolina. Rooms are $159 plus tax per night. The conference registration will be available soon. We hope you will join your colleagues at this one-of-kind conference for Judicial Branch Educators.

In February we had our mid-year board meeting to discuss and implement some new ideas for NASJE, and to make some decisions on some of the more important issues facing all of our organizations, our economy, and NASJE. In the spirit of addressing the economic crisis, the board agreed to lower the price of membership this year to $125 for all regular members, for many states it will be a decrease in the cost of their dues. In addition, we instituted a retiree membership fee of $50 per year for those throughout the nation who have retired as judicial educators. We hope to retain our valuable members, who have given so much to this organization through the years: we value their commitment, knowledge, and expertise.

The membership committee and the mentor committee are working together to connect with members, and especially new members, to find out what it is our membership wants and needs today and into the future. How do we provide more education with less money? How do we even provide the same level of service as before? These are questions we ask ourselves time and time again, but these unprecedented times and our economic crisis has had an impact on us all.

The Futures committee is busy exploring the new issues and trends that will face our organizations in the coming years. The International committee is working on a survey to gather information on the skills and abilities we all possess to provide a database that members can use to connect with each other regarding specific topical areas where they may be seeking educational information and experts. This data base would also be used to provide a venue by which educators could be tapped for international work if they were so inclined.

The bylaws committee is working diligently to update our bylaws to reflect the changing world we work in and to bring NASJE up to date. The Newsletter and website committees are bringing you the news of our profession in different ways and looking to the future of communication and how we will learn with the new technologies available and in use today.

The fundraising committee is working diligently to provide the foundational funding to provide our membership with the best education possible and keep our organization healthy. The nominating committee is looking for the future leaders of our organization, so don’t be surprised if you get a call asking for your interest in becoming one of our organization’s leaders.

The education committee has outdone itself for you this year. The upcoming conference has excellent topics that are relevant to the work we do as educators. This year our opening session explores Judicial Education in the New Millennium, the Vision of 2000-3000. Our speaker, Stuart Forsyth, will take us into what will be the wave of the future and how we prepare and survive. Other workshops will include New Skills for Tough Times: Tips on Successful Grant Writing, Technological Innovations for Educators on a Budget, Cultural Competency in Education, the Psychology of Decision Making, How to teach Using a Variety of Learning Activities, Intergenerational Workforce, Literature Review, What’s in store for American Grammar?, The Future of International Education, Elder Abuse, and the COSCA white paper on Performance Measures. Our closing session with author Christopher Crowly, “Younger Next Year”, will be about how important wellbeing is to effective decision making. This conference should prove to be a program that provides educators with new skills and ideas; it will inspire us to move forward in these tough economic times.

My thanks to the board, the committee chairs and their members for the stellar work and commitment that they are providing to NASJE and us all. I personally appreciate the great ideas, and the time and effort everyone is giving on behalf of the membership and educators everywhere.

We hope to see you all in Asheville!

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